ry enough to see it,
I shan't be sorry to know thou art out of it. Art thou glad to come
back or not, my lass?"

"I don't know, Granny," said Jenny.

Kate laughed. "Have you had your fling and come down, Jenny?" she
asked; "or haven't you had fling enough?--which is it?"

"I think it's a bit of both," said Jenny. "It's grand to be at the
Hall, and ride in the coach, and sit in the pew at church, and that; but
I used to get dreadful tired by times, it seemed so dull. There's a
deal more fun here, and I'm freer like. But--"

Jenny left her "but" unfinished.

"Ay, there's a many buts, I shouldn't wonder," said Kate, laughing.
"Well, Jenny, you've seen somewhat of high life, and you've got it to
talk about."

Jenny felt very sad when she went to church on the following Sunday.
The Hall pew was empty, and Jenny herself was once more a mere nobody in
the corner of her father's seat. There was no coach to ride in; and
very humiliated she felt when Dorothy Campion gave her a smart blow on
the back as she went down the churchyard.

"Well, _Mrs_. Jenny! so you've come down from your pedestal? Going to
be very grand, weren't you?--couldn't see your old acquaintances last
Sunday! But hey, presto, all is changed, and my fine young madam come
down to a farmhouse lass.

"How was it, Jenny? Did Mrs Jane catch you at the mirror, trying on
her sky-coloured gown? or had her necklace slipped into your pocket by
accident? Come, tell us all about it."

"She gave me a gown, then," said Jenny, with spirit; "and that's more, I
guess, than she ever did to you, Dolly Campion. And as for why I'm come
home, it's neither here nor there. Mrs Jane's a-going to France, to be
one of the Queen's ladies, maybe, and that's why; so you can take your
change out o' that."

Miss Campion immediately proceeded to take her change out of it.

"Dear heart, Jenny, and why ever didn't you go and be one of the Queen's
ladies, too?"

"Oh, she's climbed up so high, queens isn't good enough company for
her," suggested Abigail Walker, coming to Dolly's help.

"Now, you two go your ways like tidy maids," said the voice of Tom
Fenton behind them; "and don't make such a to-do of a Sabbath morning.

"Jenny, I'll see you home if you give me leave."

He spoke with a quiet dignity, which was not like the old Tom Fenton
whom Jenny had known; and his manner was more that of a friend helping
her to get rid of an annoyance, than that of a suitor who g