e each other in all parts of the world, as
by the tokens of freemasonry. I felt perfectly acquainted with Mrs.
McIntyre from the first glance at her parlor,--where the books, the
music, the birds, the flowers, and that everlasting variety of female
small-work prepared me for a bright, chatty, easy-going, home-loving
kind of body, such as I found Mrs. McIntyre to be. She was, as English
and Scotch ladies are apt to be, very oddly dressed in very nice and
choice articles. It takes the eye of the connoisseur to appreciate
these oddly dressed Englishwomen. They are like antique china; but a
discriminating eye soon sees the real quality that underlies their
quaint adornment. Mrs. McIntyre was scrupulously, exquisitely neat.
All her articles of dress were of the choicest quality. The yellow and
tumbled lace that was fussed about her neck and wrists might have been
the heirloom of a countess; her satin gown, though very short and very
scanty, was of a fabulous richness; and the rings that glittered on
her withered hands were of the fashion of two centuries ago, but of
wonderful brilliancy.

She was very gracious in her reception, as my letter was from an old
friend, and said many obliging things of me; so I was taken at once to
her friendship, with the frankness characteristic of people of her
class when they make up their minds to know you at all.

"I must introduce you to my Mary," she said; "she has just gone into
the garden to cut flowers for the vases."

In a moment more "Mary" entered the room, with a little white apron
full of flowers, and a fresh bloom on her cheeks; and I was--as the
reader has already anticipated--to my undisguised amazement, formally
introduced to Miss Mary McIntyre, our second girl.

Of all things for which I consider women admirable, there is no trait
which fills me with such positive awe as their social tact and
self-command. Evidently this meeting was quite as unexpected to Mary
as to me; but except for a sudden flash of amused astonishment in the
eyes, and a becoming flush of complexion, she met me as any
thoroughbred young lady meets a young man properly presented by her
maternal guardian.

For my part, I had one of those dreamy periods of existence in which
people doubt whether they are awake or asleep. The world seemed all
turning topsy-turvy. I was filled with curiosity, which I could with
difficulty keep within the limits of conventional propriety.

"I see, Mr. Seymour, that you are