er, and how sorry
they had been to leave her so long, but they knew she was in the best
hands.

"Yes, I should have been so sorry you had been over-tired. I was quite
well off," said Meta.

"And you must look on us as your home," added Flora.

"How can she?" thought Ethel. "This is taking possession, and making
Meta a guest already!"

However, Meta did not seem so to feel it--she replied by caresses, and
turned again to her brother. Poor George was by far the most struck down
of all the mourners, and his whole demeanour gave his new relations
a much warmer feeling towards him than they could ever have hoped to
entertain. His gentle refined father had softly impressed his duller
nature; and his want of attention and many extravagances came back upon
him acutely now, in his changed home. He could hardly bear to look at
his little orphan sister, and lavished every mark of fondness upon her;
nor could he endure to sit at the bottom of his table; but when they had
gone in to dinner, he turned away from the chair and hid his face. He
was almost like a child in his want of self-restraint; and with all Dr.
May's kind soothing manner, he could not bring him to attend to any of
the necessary questions as to arrangements, and was obliged to refer to
Flora, whose composed good sense was never at fault.

Ethel was surprised to find that it would be a great distress to Meta
to part with her until the funeral was over, though she would hardly
express a wish lest Ethel should be needed at home. As soon as Flora
perceived this, she begged her sister to stay, and again Ethel felt
unpleasantly that Meta might have seen, if she had chosen, that Flora
took the invitation upon herself.

So, while Dr. May, with George, Norman, and Tom, went to London, she
remained, though not exactly knowing what good she was doing, unless by
making the numbers rather less scanty; but both sisters declared her to
be the greatest comfort possible; and when Meta shut herself up in her
own room, where she had long learned to seek strength in still communing
with her own heart, Flora seemed to find it a relief to call her sister
to hers, and talk over ordinary subjects, in a tone that struck on
Ethel's ear as a little incongruous--but then Flora had not been here
from the first, and the impression could not be as strong. She was very
kind, and her manner, when with others, was perfect, from its complete
absence of affectation; but, alone with Ethel, there