ter of Lord Courtleroy.

With a deep sigh, Lesley ceased at last to meditate, and began to look
about her. The room was large and lofty, and had three windows, opening
upon a balcony. There were more books than Lesley had usually seen in
drawing-rooms, and there was a very handsome Broadwood grand piano. The
furniture was mostly of the solid type, handsome enough, but very heavy.
Lesley, noticed, however, that the prints and paintings on the walls
were really good, and that there was some valuable china on the
mantlepiece. It was not an ugly room after all, and it displayed signs
of culture on the part of its occupants; but Lesley turned from it with
an impatient little shake of her head, expressive of deep disgust. And,
indeed, it was sufficiently unlike the rooms to which she was accustomed
to cause her considerable disappointment.

She drew aside the curtains which hung from the archway between the back
room and the front; and here her brow cleared. The one wide window
looked out on a space of green grass and trees, inexpressibly refreshing
to Lesley's eye. The walls were lined with rows of books, from floor to
ceiling; and some easy chairs and small tables gave a look of comfort
and purpose to the room. It was Mr. Brooke's library, though not the
room in which he did his work. That was chiefly done in his little den
downstairs, or at his office in the city.

Lesley looked at the books with great and increasing pleasure. Here,
indeed, was a joy of which her father could not rob her. No one would
take any notice of what she read. She could "browse undisturbed" over
the whole field of English literature if she were so minded. And the
prospect was a delight.

She sauntered back into the front room, and stood at one of the windows
for a minute or two. Her attention was speedily attracted by a little
pantomime at a window opposite her own--a drawing-room window, too, with
a balcony before it, like the window at which she stood. A young lady in
a white dress was talking to a black poodle, who was standing on his
hind-legs, and a young man was balancing a bit of biscuit on the dog's
nose. That was all. But the young lady was so extremely pretty, and the
young man looked so cheerful and bright, and the poodle was such an
extremely fascinating dog, that Lesley sighed in very envy of the
felicity of all three. And it never crossed her mind that the pretty
girl in the white costume, who had such a simple and natural look, co