his foot, he is all mirth.
He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper;
For what his heart thinks, his tongue speaks.
"I hope he is in love."
--_Much Ado about Nothing_.

"FRANK, I am not at all satisfied about your sister," began Oaklands,
as the door closed after her. "She does not look well, and she seems
entirely to have lost her spirits."

"I thought as you do before I went up for my degree," replied I; "but
since my return I hoped she was all right again. What makes you imagine
her out of spirits?"

"Oh! several things; she never talks and laughs as she used to do. Why,
all this afternoon I could scarcely get half a dozen words out of
her; and she seems to have no energy to do anything. How unwilling
she appeared to enter into my scheme about the riding! She evidently
dislikes the idea of exertion of any kind: I know the feeling well; but
it is not natural for her; she used to be surprisingly active, and was
the life and soul of the party. But what, perhaps, has caused me to
notice all this so particularly, and makes me exceedingly uncomfortable,
is, that I am afraid it is all owing to me."

"Owing to you, my dear Harry! what can you mean?" inquired I.

"Why, I fear that business of the duel, and the great care she and your
mother took of me (for which--believing as I do that, under Providence,
it saved my life--I can never be sufficiently grateful), have been too
much for her. Remember, she was quite a girl; and no doubt seeing an
old friend brought to the house apparently dying, must have been a very
severe shock to her, and depend upon it, her nerves have never recovered
their proper tone. However, I shall make it my business to endeavour
to interest and amuse her, and you must do ~323~~ everything you can to
assist me, Frank; we'll get all the new books down from London, and have
some people to stay at the Hall. She has shut herself up too much; Ellis
says she has; I shall make her ride on horseback every day."

"Horseback, eh!" exclaimed Lawless, who had entered the cottage without
our perceiving him. "Ay, that's a prescription better than all your
doctor's stuff; clap her on a side-saddle, and a brisk canter for a
couple of hours every day across country will set the old lady up again
in no time, if it's your mother that's out of condition, Frank. Why,
Oaklands, man, you are looking as fresh as paint; getting sound again,
wind and limb, eh?"

"I hope so, at