walking volume will be opened
at his mother's fete?"

"I should imagine B," said Caroline, smiling.

"B--B--what does B stand for? I have forgotten how to spell--let me see.
Ah! I have it,--excellent, admirable! Miss Hamilton. Lecture on Botany
from the Walking Cyclopaedia--bravo! We had better scrape up all our
learning, to prove we are not perfect ignoramuses on the subject."

Caroline laughingly agreed; and the quadrille being finished, Lord
Henry succeeded in persuading her to accompany him to the
refreshment-room.

In the meanwhile, perfectly unconscious that he had been the subject of
the animated conversation of his _vis a vis_, St. Eval was finding more
and more to admire in Miss Hamilton. He conducted his partner to her
seat as she desired, and then strolled towards Mr. Hamilton's party, in
the hope that Caroline would soon rejoin her mother; but Annie had been
in the refreshment-room, and she did not reappear for some little time.
Mrs. Hamilton had at length been enabled to seek Lady Helen Grahame,
with whom she remained conversing, for she felt, though the delay was
unavoidable, she partly deserved the reproach with which Lady Helen
greeted her, when she entered, for permitting the whole evening to pass
without coming near her. Mrs. Hamilton perceived, with regret, that she
was more fitted for the quiet of her own boudoir, than the glare and
heat of crowded rooms. Gently she ventured to expostulate with her on
her endeavours, and Lady Helen acknowledged she felt quite unequal to
the exertion, but that the persuasions of her daughter had brought her
there. She was too indolent to add, she had seen nothing of Annie the
whole evening; nor did she wish to say anything that might increase the
disapprobation with which she sometimes felt, though Annie heeded it
not, Mrs. Hamilton regarded her child. It was admiration, almost
veneration, which Lady Helen felt for Mrs. Hamilton, and no one could
have imagined how very frequently the indolent but well-meaning woman
had regretted what she deemed was her utter inability to act with the
same firmness that characterised her friend. She was delighted at the
notice Lilla ever received from her; but blinded by the artful manners
of her elder girl, she often wished that Annie had been the favourite
instead. There was somewhat in Mrs. Hamilton's manner that night that
caused her to feel her own inferiority more than ever; but no
self-reproach mingled with the feeling. She