he was introduced to the family; and her manner
consequently left nothing to be desired. Yet house and grounds and
establishment were on a scale to which Dolly hitherto had been entirely
unaccustomed.

There was a small dinner party gathered, and Dolly was taken in to
table by young Mr. St. Leger, the son of their host. Dolly had seen
this gentleman before, and so in this concourse of strangers she felt
more at home with him than with anybody. Young Mr. St. Leger was a very
handsome fellow; with regular features and soft, rather lazy, blue
eyes, which, however, were not insipid. Dolly rather liked him; the
expression of his features was gentle and good, so were his manners. He
seemed well pleased with his choice of a companion, and did his best to
make Dolly pleased also.

"You are new in this part of the world?" he remarked to her.

"I am new in any part of the world," said Dolly, dimpling, as she did
when something struck her funnily. "I am not very old yet."

"No, I see," said her companion, laughing a little, though in some
doubt whether he or she had made the fun. "How do you like us? Or
haven't you been long enough here to judge?"

"I have been in England a good many months."

"Then is it a fair question?"

"All questions are fair," said Dolly. "I like some things here very
much."

"I should be delighted to know what."

"I'll tell you," said Dolly's father, who sat opposite and had caught
the question. "She likes an old suit of armour or a collection of old
stones in the form of an arch or a gateway; and in the presence of the
crown jewels she was almost as bad as that Scotch lady who worshipped
the old Regalia of the northern kingdom. Only it was the antiquity that
Dolly worshipped, you know; not the royalty."

"What is there in antiquity?" said Mr. St. Leger, turning his eyes
again curiously to Dolly. "Old things were young once; how are they any
better for being old?"

"Not any better; only more interesting."

"Pray tell me why."

"Think of what those old stones have seen."

"Pardon me; they have not _seen_ anything."

"Think of the eyes that have seen them, then. Or stand before one of
those old suits of armour in the Tower, and think where it has been.
Think of the changes that have come; and what a strange witness it is
for the things that were and have passed away."

"I am more interested in the present," said the young man. "I perceive
you are romantic."

Dolly was silent. She thou