hoolmistress were both frightened; Mrs. Taylor thought
the easels were new-fashioned instruments of torture; and Ethel found
herself in a condition to be liberal to Stoneborough National School.

Flora was a capital correspondent, and made it her business to keep
Margaret amused, so that the home-party were well informed of the doings
of each of her days--and very clever her descriptions were. She had
given herself a dispensation from general society until after Easter;
but, in the meantime, both she and Meta seemed to find great enjoyment
in country rides and drives, and in quiet little dinners at home, to
George's agreeable political friends. With the help of two such ladies
as Mrs. and Miss Rivers, Ethel could imagine George's house pleasant
enough to attract clever people; but she was surprised to find how full
her sister's letters were of political news.

It was a period when great interests were in agitation; and the details
of London talk and opinions were extremely welcome. Dr. Spencer used to
come in to ask after "Mrs. Rivers's Intelligencer"; and, when he heard
the lucid statements, would say, she ought to have been a "special
correspondent." And her father declared that her news made him twice
as welcome to his patients; but her cleverest sentences always were
prefaced with "George says," or "George thinks," in a manner that made
her appear merely the dutiful echo of his sentiments.

In an early letter, Flora mentioned how she had been reminded of poor
Harry, by finding Miss Walkinghame's card. That lady lived with her
mother at Richmond, and, on returning the visit, Flora was warmly
welcomed by the kind old Lady Walkinghame, who insisted on her bringing
her baby and spending a long day. The sisters-in-law had been enchanted
with Miss Walkinghame, whose manners, wrote Flora, certainly merited
papa's encomium.

On the promised "long day," they found an unexpected addition to the
party, Sir Henry Walkinghame, who had newly returned from the continent.
"A fine-looking, agreeable man, about five-and-thirty," Flora described
him, "very lively and entertaining. He talked a great deal of Dr.
Spencer, and of the life in the caves at Thebes; and he asked me whether
that unfortunate place, Cocksmoor, did not owe a great deal to me, or to
one of my sisters. I left Meta to tell him that story, and they became
very sociable over it."

A day or two after--"Sir Henry Walkinghame has been dining with us. He
has a very g