ded and erring Charles.

"They are not expecting you just yet, Mr. Malcolm," observed Anderson
respectfully; "the mistress has a committee in the library, and Miss
Anna is in the drawing-room along with Charles and the carpenter,
arranging the seats."

"What time do they dine, Anderson?" Malcolm put the question with some
indifference--he knew quite well what the answer would be.

"Why, you see, Mr. Malcolm, it is past six now," returned Anderson
apologetically, "and the meeting's for eight, and the mistress said
there would be no time for dinner as the committee would not break up
until seven, so she will have a cup of tea and a sandwich."

"Oh, indeed," returned Malcolm drily. "I suppose Miss Anna and I are to
be regaled on the same fare."

"No, sir, I think not. I believe Miss Anna and Dawson have contrived
some sort of meal for you in the schoolroom. They have done their best,
Mr. Malcolm; but what with committees and deputations and Heaven knows
what, my mistress has been driven almost out of her senses. The maids
are in the dining-room now, for there's to be tea and light
refreshment; and they've been behindhand too with the plants from
Covent Garden, drat them," muttered the old man irritably. He was a
faithful servant, and true to his mistress's interests; but he was
growing old, and there were times when he longed to sit quietly under
his own fig tree, in the Surrey village where he was born, where
meetings and committees were unknown.

"Never mind, Anderson," returned Malcolm pleasantly, "we cannot
entertain a Bishop without some degree of fuss and discomfort. I will
go up and find Miss Anna; I daresay she has nearly finished." But as he
ascended the handsome staircase, he was not so certain in his own mind
that this was a foregone conclusion; and again he blessed the day when
he had pitched his tent in the quiet pasturage of Chelsea, where
bishops and committees and drawing-room meetings never interrupted his
lawful meals, or impaired his digestion; for Malcolm, like many other
men, abhorred that nondescript meal so dear to the feminine mind, a
meat tea. The wide, softly-carpeted staircase led to a spacious
landing-place, fitted up with couches and easy-chairs, and ending in a
small but pretty conservatory.

The drawing-room was a large, well-proportioned room, with a curtained
archway opening into a smaller one, which went by the name of the music
room. Here there was a grand piano and a fine harmoni