g
to a Virginia family?"

Carrie looked mysterious and answered, "I never knew anything of her
father, and indeed, I reckon no one does"--then after a moment she
added, "Almost every family has some objectionable relative, with
which they could willingly dispense."

"Very true," returned Mrs. Graham, "What a pity we couldn't all have
been born in England. There, dear, you can leave me now."

Accordingly Carrie started for the parlor, meeting in the hall her
mother, who was in a sea of trouble concerning the dinner. "Old
Milly," she said, "had gone to bed out of pure hatefulness,
pretending she had got a _collapse_, as she called it."

"Can't Hagar do," asked Carrie, anxious that Mrs. Graham's first
dinner with them should be in style.

"Yes, but she can't do everything--somebody must superintend her, and
as for burning myself brown over the dishes and then coming to the
table, I won't."

"Why not make 'Lena go into the kitchen--it won't hurt her to-day
more than it did yesterday," suggested Carrie.

"A good idea," returned her mother, and stepping to the parlor door
she called 'Lena from a most interesting conversation with Mr.
Graham, who, the moment his wife was gone, had taken a seat by her
side, and now seemed oblivious to all else save her.

There was a strange tenderness in the tones of his voice and in the
expression of his eyes as they rested upon her, and Durward, who well
knew his mother's peculiarities, felt glad that she was not present,
while at the same time he wondered that his father should appear so
deeply interested in an entire stranger.

"'Lena, I wish to speak with you," said Mrs. Livingstone, appearing
at the door, and 'Lena, gracefully excusing herself, left the room,
while Mr. Graham commenced pacing the floor in a slow, abstracted
manner, ever and anon wiping away the beaded drops which stood
thickly on his forehead.

Meantime, 'Lena, having learned for what she was wanted, went without
a word to the kitchen, though her proud nature rebelled, and it was
with difficulty she could force down the bitter spirit which she felt
rising within her. Had her aunt or Carrie shared her labors, or had
the former _asked_ instead of commanded her to go, she would have
done it willingly. But now in quite a perturbed state of mind she
bent over pastry and pudding, scarcely knowing which was which, until
a pleasant voice at her side made her start, and looking up she saw
Anna, who had just retur