nd again at Ryde the other day."

"Oh yes! dear Julia was very lovely once, but she has gone off. The
Gardiners are very old friends of ours." Miss Burleigh turned aside her
face as she spoke. She had not heard before that Miss Fairfax had met
her rival and predecessor in Mr. Cecil Burleigh's affections: why had
her dear Cecil been so rash as to bring them in contact and give her the
opportunity of drawing inferences? That Bessie had drawn her inferences
truly was plain, from a soft blush and glance and a certain tone in her
voice as she mentioned the name of Miss Julia Gardiner, as if she would
deprecate any possible idea that she was taking a liberty. The subject
was not pursued. Miss Burleigh wished only to forget it; perhaps Bessie
had expected a confidential word, and was abashed at hearing none, for
she began to talk with eagerness, rather strained, of Lady Latimer's
promised visit to Hartwell.

Lady Latimer's arrival was signalized by an immediate invitation to Mr.
Fairfax and his granddaughter to go over and lunch on a fixed day.
Bessie was never so impatient as till the day came, and when she mounted
Janey to ride to Hartwell she palpitated more joyously than ever she had
done yet since her coming into Woldshire. Her grandfather asked her why
she was so glad, but she found it difficult to tell him: because my lady
had come from the Forest seemed the root of the matter, as far as it
could be expressed. The squire looked rather glum, Macky remarked to
Mrs. Betts; and if she had been in his shoes wild horses should not have
drawn her into company with that proud Lady Latimer. The golden harvest
was all gone from the fields, and there was a change of hue upon the
woods--yellow and red and russet mingled with their deep green. The
signs of decay in the vivid life of Nature could not touch Bessie with
melancholy yet--the spring-tides of youth were too strong in her--but
Mr. Fairfax, glancing hither and thither over the bare, sunless
landscape, said, "The winter will soon be upon us, Elizabeth. You must
make the best of the few bright days that are remaining: very few and
very swift they seem when they are gone."

Hartwell was as secluded amongst its evergreens and fir trees now as at
midsummer, but in the overcast day the house had a dull and unattractive
aspect. The maiden sisters sat in the gloomy drawing-room alone to
receive their guests, but after the lapse of a few minutes Lady Latimer
entered. She was dresse