refinement
should make him very disagreeable to Arthur; and she almost feared to
look up as she held out her hand to him.

In a moment her mind was relieved; voice, look, and manner, all showed
that the knightly soul was in him, and that he had every quality of the
gentleman, especially the hatred of pretension, which made him retain
the title of English yeoman as an honourable distinction.

It was a pretty group of contrasts; the soldierly, high-bred, easy grace
of the pallid black-haired Colonel, with the native nobleness of bearing
of the stalwart farmer, equally tall, and his handsome ruddy face
glowing with health; and the two sisters, the one fresh, plump, and
rosy, the picture of a happy young mother, and the other slender and
dignified, with the slightly worn countenance, which, even in her most
gladsome moods, retained that pensive calmness of expression.

The baby occupied the ladies, the horse their husbands; and on hearing
what guests were in the drawing-room, Mr. Hunt, with a tell-tale 'then,'
said he would drive on to his business at Coalworth, inviting the
Colonel to take the vacant seat.

With Arthur off her mind, Violet was free to enjoy, and soon found
that the only flaw in Olivia's felicity was the Wrangerton fashion of
sneering at her husband, and trying to keep her up to Matilda's measure
of gentility. Proud as she was of her 'George,' he had not made her bold
enough to set those censures at nought; but when she found Violet of
his way of thinking, she joyfully declared that she would never allow
herself to be again tormented by Matilda's proprieties. How glad she was
that George had insisted; for, as she confided to Violet and Annette,
she knew that bringing the baby without a maid would be thought so
vulgar that she would have stayed at home, in spite of her desire to see
Violet; but her husband had laughed at her scruples, declaring that if
her sister could be offended by her coming in this manner, she must be a
fine lady not worth pleasing.

Perhaps Mr. Hunt so expected to find her. He was a breeder of horses on
an extensive scale, and had knowledge enough of the transactions of Mark
Gardner and his set, not to be very solicitous of the acquaintance
of Colonel Martindale, while he dreaded that the London beauty would
irretrievably fill his little wife's head with nonsense.

One look swept away his distrust of Mrs. Martindale; and the charm of
the Colonel's manner had gained his heart befor