ariamne--the
Jew?"

"Don't exasperate me with those abominable nicknames. They will give you
one next. She is an exceedingly ill-bred and ill-mannered woman. Picking
up a little fun in the evening! What does she mean by picking up a
little fun----"

"They will perhaps go to the theatre--a number of them; and as nobody is
in town they will laugh very much at the kind of people, and perhaps the
kind of play--and it will be a great joke ever after among themselves--for
of course there will be a number of them together," said Elinor,
disclosing her acquaintance with the habits of her new family with
downcast eyes.

"How can well-born people be so vulgar and ill-bred?" cried Mrs.
Dennistoun. "I must say for Philip that though he is careless and not
nearly so particular as I should like, still he is not like that. He has
something of the politeness of the heart."

Elinor did not raise her downcast eyes. Phil had been on his very good
behaviour on the occasion of his last hurried visit, but she did not
feel that she could answer even for Phil. "I am very glad anyhow, that
she is not coming, mamma: at least we shall have the last night and the
last morning to ourselves."

Mrs. Dennistoun shook her head. "The Tathams will be here," she said;
"and everybody, to dinner--all the party. We must go now and see how we
can enlarge the table. To-night's party will be the largest we have
ever had in the cottage." She sighed a little and paused, restraining
herself. "We shall have no quiet evening--nor morning either--again; it
will be a bustle and a rush. You and I will never have any more quiet
evenings, Elinor: for when you come back it will be another thing."

"Oh, mother!" cried Elinor, throwing herself into her mother's arms: and
for a moment they stood closely clasped, feeling as if their hearts
would burst, yet very well aware, too, underneath, that any number of
quiet evenings would be as the last, when, with hearts full of a
thousand things to say to each other, they said almost nothing--which
in some respects was worse than having no quiet evenings evermore.

In the afternoon Phil arrived, having returned from Ireland that
morning, and paused only to refresh himself in the chambers which he
still retained in town. He had met all his hunting friends during
the three days he had been away; and though he retained a gallant
appearance, and looked, as Alice Hudson thought, "very aristocratic,"
Mrs. Dennistoun caught with an