him a general invitation to the Grange."

"Do you like him?" said Ethel, while Margaret looked on, amazed at her
audacity.

"I liked him very much in London," said Meta; "he is pleasant enough to
talk to, but somehow, he is not congruous here--if you understand me.
And I think his coming oppresses Flora--she turned quite pale when he
was announced, and her voice was lower than ever when she spoke to him."

"Does he come often?" said Ethel.

"I don't think he has anything else to do," returned Meta, "for our
house cannot be as pleasant as it was; but he is very kind to George,
and for that we must be grateful. One thing I am afraid of, that he will
persuade us off to the yachting after all."

"Oh!" was the general exclamation.

"Yes," said Meta. "George seemed to like the plan, and I very much fear
that he is taking a dislike to the dear old Grange. I heard him say,
'Anything to get away.'"

"Poor George, I know he is restless," said Margaret.

"At least," said Ethel, "you can't go till after your birthday, Miss
Heiress."

"No, Uncle Cosham is coming," said Meta. "Margaret, you must have your
stone laid before we go!"

"Dr. Spencer promises it before Hector's holidays are over," said
Margaret, blushing, as she always did, with pleasure, when they talked
of the church.

Hector Ernescliffe had revived Margaret wonderfully. She was seldom
downstairs before the evening, and Ethel thought his habit of making her
apartment his sitting-room must be as inconvenient to her as it was
to herself; but Hector could not be de trop for Margaret. She exerted
herself to fulfil for him all the little sisterly offices that, with her
brothers, had been transferred to Ethel and Mary; she threw herself into
all his schemes, tried to make him endure Captain Gordon, and she
even read his favourite book of Wild Sports, though her feelings were
constantly lacerated by the miseries of the slaughtered animals.
Her couch was to him as a home, and he had awakened her bright soft
liveliness which had been only dimmed for a time.

The church was her other great interest, and Dr. Spencer humoured her
by showing her all his drawings, consulting her on every ornament,
and making many a perspective elevation, merely that she might see the
effect.

Richard and Tom made it their recreation to construct a model of the
church as a present for her, and Tom developed a genius for carving,
which proved a beneficial interest to keep him from surl