ioned by pressure of money matters, and seldom lasted over
pecuniary relief.

In the most secret flights of her imagination, she pictured herself in
some new country with Bertie. An adventurous, reckless nature such as
his, she thought, turned every gift to evil in the commonplace life
where his idiosyncrasy had no play; but detached from his idle mess-room
habits, and launched into a new career, when to live at all involved
exertion of mind and body, would metamorphosize her hero into all she
could wish.

Such was the ideal, in her conventual bringing up, of the rich and well
placed Cecil; while Bluebell, to whom luxury was unknown, longed for
wealth to take her into a sphere where taste was not starved by economy,
nor all her horizon bounded by weekly bills. But in both cases their air
castles were to be occupied with Du Meresq.

The girl and the dog sped along on their desolate walk--it was too cold
to linger. Bluebell carefully followed the route she had taken with
Bertie, that memory might be added by association.

"Ah, Trove," said she to the dog, who bounced up against her, "I am as
much a waif and stray as you are--disowned by my grandfather, who might
have made us rich, and taken up by people one day and forgotten the next;
but you have drifted into harbour now, my dog, and who knows--"

A smothered growl interrupted this monologue, and then a sharp bark.
Bluebell looked round to see what was exciting him; she heard a distant
tinkle of bells, and listened keenly; laughing voices were apparently
approaching. From an impulse that she could not have explained, Bluebell
darted into an empty woodshed, dragging Trove in after her, and holding
him firmly by the muzzle to stifle his growling. Through an aperture in
the boards she could observe, unseen herself.

The sounds grew louder, and a score of sleighs defiled past her
hiding-place. Bluebell scanned each carefully. There were the usual
members of the Sleigh Club. She recognized the Tremaines, and several
others of her little world. Jack in his tandem; but, faithful Lubin! no
"cloud-capped" Muffin sat by his side; his companion was of the sterner
sex, or, as he would have described him, "a dog." But where were the
Rollestons? No representative of "The Maples" was present, not even Du
Meresq. They had flashed past within a minute; but, like a fresh breeze
over still water, the little incident had awakened and roused up Bluebell
from her lethargy.

Her though