ch like other people.'

'Are you all at home, and in "statu quo"?'

'Yes, except that my aunt is more aged and feeble.'

'And Master Arthur has set up for a domestic character. It must be after
a fashion of his own.'

'Rather so,' said John, smiling; 'but it has done him a great deal of
good. He has more heart in him than you and I used to think; and home is
drawing it out, and making a man of him in spite of himself.'

'How came she to marry him?'

'Because she knew no better, poor thing; her family promoted it, and
took advantage of her innocence.'

'Is she a sensible woman?'

'Why, poor child, she has plenty of sense, but it is not doing her
justice to call her a woman. She is too fine a creature to come early to
her full growth--she is a woman in judgment and a child in spirits.'

'So, Arthur has the best of the bargain.'

'He does not half understand her; but they are very much attached, and
some day she will feel her influence and use it.'

'Form herself first, and then him. I hope Mark Gardner will keep out of
the way during the process.'

'He is safe in Paris.'

'And how have you been spending the summer?'

'I have been at Ventnor, getting through the Crusaders, and keeping
house with Violet and her child, who both wanted sea air.'

'What's her name?'

'Violet.'

'Well, that beats all! Violet! Why, Vi'let was what they called the old
black cart-horse! I hope the child is Cowslip or Daisy!'

'No, he is John, my godson.'

'John! You might as well be called Man! It is no name at all. That
Arthur should have gone and married a wife called Violet!!'

Meanwhile Violet was wondering over the honour she had received,
caressing the gift, and thinking of the hopes that had faded over it
till patience had done her perfect work. She did not remember her other
present till she heard sounds betokening the return of the riders. She
placed it on her head, and behold! the cheeks had no more than their own
roseate tinting, and she was beginning to hope Arthur would be pleased,
when she became aware of certain dark eyes and a handsome face set in
jet-black hair, presenting itself over her shoulder in the long glass.

'You little piece of vanity! studying yourself in the glass, so that you
never heard me come in? Well, you have done it to some purpose. Where
did you get that thing?'

'John brought it from Madeira.'

'I did not think he had so much taste. Where have you bottled it up all
this time!'