as_ a rose--not a white rose; and anything
shading on red I could not wear; not purple, nor claret, nor even ashes
of roses. It was a regular perplexity, to get variety enough with the
small number of shades at my disposal; for orange did not become me,
either. Well, I can wear anything now, too," she added with a half
laugh. "And it is nothing to anybody."

"Mamma, you know better than that," said Christina.

"Now," said Lawrence, "the question is, when shall we take possession?
The house is all ready for us."

"There is no use in taking possession till we are ready to keep it; and
it would be dull to stay in town all winter, wouldn't it?" said
Christina. "Whatever should we do?"

"Very dull," said Mrs. Thayer. "It is a long while yet before the
season begins. Better be anywhere else."

"I was thinking of Brighton," said Christina. "I think I should like
that."

"After the Peacocks," said Lawrence. "We are due there, you know, for a
visit."

"Oh, after the Peacocks, of course. But then,--do you think, Lawrence,
we could do anything better than go to Brighton? Till the season opens?"

Brighton quite met Mr. St. Leger's views of what was desirable.

It was a month or two later, as it happened, that another house was
undergoing inspection, a house at a very great distance from Harley
Street, geographically and otherwise; but let the reader judge. This
was a country house in a fair New England village; where there was land
enough for everybody, and everybody had land, and in consequence the
habitations of men were individually, as the habitations of men should
be, surrounded with grass and trees and fields; the very external
arrangements of the place giving thereby a type of the free and
independent life and wide space for mental and characteristic
development enjoyed by the inhabitants. The particular house in
question was not outwardly remarkable above many others; it stood in a
fair level piece of ground, shaded and surrounded with beautiful old
American elms. The inspectors of the same were two ladies.

Dolly had come to the village a week or two before. Mr. Copley was not
just then in condition to be left alone; so as her mother could not be
with her, she had summoned her dear Aunt Hal, from Philadelphia; and
Mr. Eberstein would not be left behind. All three they had come to this
place, found quarters at the inn, and since then Dolly and Mrs.
Eberstein had been very busy getting the house cleaned and put