geful blushes of
that soft cheek where tears of joy and grief are mingled. Neither would
we care to accompany Grounsell, as with deeds and bonds, codicils and
conveyances, he actually hunted poor Frank from place to place, urgently
impressing on him the necessity for those "business habits," the
sad neglect of which had been the ruin of all the Daltons. As little
inducement is there to follow Lady Hester, whose restless activity
was interfering with every one and everything, taking the most lively
Interest in the property the very moment it ceased to be her own, and
devoted to all the charities which no longer could lay claim to being
duties.

Pleasanter, perhaps, would it be to follow the old Count, as he
sauntered alone for hours, trying to trace out in the long-forgotten
scenes the stories of his boyhood. What pleasant reveries they
were!--what glorious compensations for all the tumultuous passages of an
eventful life! And so he felt them! And so he recognized with grateful
heart the happy destiny which had befallen him, to close his days where
he had begun them--in the midst of his own--loving and beloved.

And yet with such scenes and emotions we must not dally. Story-tellers,
like Mother Carey's chickens, have no sympathies with sunny skies and
soft airs,--their province is amidst the hurricane and the storm. In
truth, too, it is the very essence of tranquil enjoyment that it must be
left to the imagination of each to conceive.

But one care weighed on all, and that was the absence of poor Nelly.
Why was she not amongst them, to see their happiness, and heighten its
enjoyment by all the benevolence of her kindly nature? It was true
they were relieved of all anxiety regarding her by a letter which had
followed them from Vienna, and which told how she had arrived in that
city a few days after they had left it.

"I stood," she said, "looking at the great palace where they
told me Count Stephen lived, and could not bring myself to
think it was not a dream that such as _I_ should have
business there!

"I sat down on the steps of a church in front of it, and
gazed for hours long at the great door through which you
must have passed so often, and the windows which doubtless
you stood at--perhaps thinking of poor Nelly! At last came
Hanserl to say that he had obtained leave to see the palace;
and oh, how my heart beat at the words,--for there was pride
as well a