lousy of the
superiority of their juniors, spent a good happy hour in dwelling on the
shining qualities they loved so heartily.

And Richard was drawn into talking of his own deeper thoughts, and
Margaret had again the comfort of clerical counsel--and now from her own
most dear brother! So they sat till darkness closed in, when Ethel came
down, bringing Gertrude and her great favour, very full of chatter, only
not quite sure whether she had been bride, bride's-maid, or bridegroom.

The schoolroom set, with Tom and Aubrey, came home soon after, and
tongues went fast with stories of roast-beef, plum-pudding, and
blind-man's-buff. How the dear Meta had sent a cart to Cocksmoor to
bring Cherry herself, and how many slices everybody had eaten, and how
the bride's health had been drunk by the children in real wine, and how
they had all played, Norman and all, and how Hector had made Blanche
bold enough to extract a raisin from the flaming snap-dragon. It was
not half told when Dr. May came home, and Ethel went up to dress for
her dinner at Abbotstoke, Mary following to help her and continue her
narration, which bade fair to entertain Margaret the whole evening.

Dr. May, Richard, and Ethel had a comfortable dark drive to the Grange,
and, on arriving, found Hector deep in 'Wild Sports of the West', while
Norman and Meta were sitting over the fire talking, and Mr. Rivers was
resting in his library.

And when Ethel and Meta spent the time before the gentlemen came in
from the dining-room, in a happy tete-a-tete, Ethel learned that the
fire-light dialogue had been the pleasantest part of the whole day, and
that Meta had had confided to her the existence of Decius Mus--a secret
which Ethel had hitherto considered as her own peculiar property, but
she supposed it was a pledge of the sisterhood, which Meta professed
with all the house of May.

CHAPTER VIII.

The rest all accepted the kind invitation,
And much bustle it caused in the plumed creation;
Such ruffling of feathers, such pruning of coats,
Such chirping, such whistling, such clearing of throats,
Such polishing bills, and such oiling of pinions,
Had never been known in the biped dominions.
Peacock at Home.

Etheldred was thankful for that confidence to Meta Rivers, for without
it, she would hardly have succeeded in spurring Norman up to give the
finishing touches to Decius, and to send