f a new piece in
Liverpool?

And then she pointed out to him that, as she had her duties and
occupations, so ought he to have. It was monstrous his thought of
foregoing the shooting that year. Why, if he wanted some additional
motive, what did he say to preserving as much grouse-plumage as would
trim a cloak for her? It was a great pity that the skins of so beautiful
a bird should be thrown away. And she desired him to present her kind
regards to Lady Macleod and to Miss Macleod; and to thank them both for
their great kindness.

Immediately after writing that letter Miss White seemed to grow very
light-hearted indeed, and she laughed and chatted with Carry, and was
exceedingly affectionate toward her sister.

"And what do you think of your own home now, Gerty?" said Miss Carry,
who had been making some small experiments in arrangement.

"You mean, after my being among the savages?" said she. "Ah, it is too
true, Carry. I have seen them in their war-paint; and I have shuddered
at their spears; and I have made voyages in their canoes. But it is
worth while going anywhere and doing anything in order to come back and
experience such a sense of relief and quiet. Oh, what a delicious
cushion! where did you get it, Carry?"

She sank back in the rocking-chair out on this shaded veranda. It was
the slumbering noontide of a July day the foliage above and about the
Regent's Canal hung motionless in the still sunlight; and there was a
perfume of roses in the air. Here, at last, was repose. She had said
that her notion of happiness was to be let alone; and--now that she had
despatched that forbidding letter--she would be able to enjoy a quiet
and languor free from care.

"Aha, Gerty, don't you know?" said the younger sister. "Well, I suppose,
you poor creature, you don't know--you have been among the tigers and
crocodiles so long. That cushion is a present from Mr. Lemuel to me--to
me, mind, not to you--and he brought it all the way from Damascus some
years ago. Oh, Gerty, if I was only three years older, shouldn't I like
to be your rival, and have a fight with you for him!"

"I don't know what you mean," said the elder sister, sharply.

"Oh, don't you! Poor, innocent thing! Well, I am not going to quarrel
with you this time, for at last you are showing some sense. How you ever
could have thought of Mr. Howson, or Mr. Brook, or you know whom--I
never could imagine; but here is some one now whom people have heard
of--some o