ack
and the nuns in gray in those dim chambers, which now a life so
different inhabited. Behind the house was a plot of grass, and thence
the wooded hill rose steep.

"But come up stairs," said the ardent little hostess to Kitty, when her
husband came in, and had civilly welcomed the strangers, "and I'll show
you my own room, that's as old as any."

They left the two men below, and mounted to a large room carpeted and
furnished in modern taste. "We had to take down the old staircase," she
continued, "to get our bedstead up,"--a magnificent structure which she
plainly thought well worth the sacrifice; and then she pointed out
divers remnants of the ancient building. "It's a queer place to live in;
but we're only here for the summer"; and she went on to explain, with a
pretty _naivete_, how her husband's business brought him to Sillery from
Quebec in that season. They were descending the stairs, Kitty foremost,
as she added, "This is my first housekeeping, you know, and of course it
would be strange anywhere; but you can't think how funny it is here. I
suppose," she said, shyly, but as if her confidences merited some
return, while Kitty stepped from the stairway face to face with Mr.
Arbuton, who was about to follow them, with the lady's husband,--"I
suppose this is your wedding-journey."

A quick alarm flamed through the young girl, and burned out of her
glowing cheeks. This pleasant masquerade of hers must look to others
like the most intentional love-making between her and Mr. Arbuton,--no
dreams either of them, nor figures in a play, nor characters in a
romance; nay, on one spectator, at least, it had shed the soft lustre of
a honeymoon. How could it be otherwise? Here on this fatal line of
wedding-travel,--so common that she remembered Mrs. March half
apologized for making it her first tour after marriage,--how could it
happen but that two young people together as they were should be taken
for bride and bridegroom? Moreover, and worst of all, he must have heard
that fatal speech!

He was pale, if she was flushed, and looked grave, as she fancied; but
he passed on up the stairs, and she sat down to wait for his return.

"I used to notice so many couples from the States when we lived in the
city," continued the hospitable mistress of the house, "but I don't
think they often came out to Sillery. In fact, you're the only pair
that's come this summer; and so, when you seemed interested about the
mission, I thought y