t on
it. There was neither dog nor cat, nor even a stray doll, to distract
attention from the serious business of education.

Such was the impression conveyed to Bluebell, who was instantly filled
with well-grounded misgivings as to whether her qualifications might be
quite up to the standard expected. Good gracious! those children looked
capable of obtaining female scholarships, as they sat, with their keen
impassive faces, calmly adding her up, so to speak.

Mrs. Barrington and her eldest daughter had just come in. "Oh, so Miss
Leigh has arrived!" cried the former, observing Bluebell's box in the
hall. "Dear me, what a bore new people are! I really must rest, as we
dine out. Couldn't you go up, Kate, and say I hope she is comfortable,
and will ring for the school-room maid whenever she wants anything, and
all that?"

"That would console her immensely, I should think," said Miss Barrington,
laughing. "Well, I will go and look her over, mamma, and report the
result."

As Kate entered, her little set speech, that "mamma was lying down, but
hoped," etc., was almost suspended on her lips, as she gazed with
unfeigned curiosity at the new governess. Seated pensively behind the urn
was a fair girl, dressed in black, with an Elizabethan ruff round a long
white throat. Shining chestnut hair contrasted with a complexion of the
purest pink and white, while a pair of dewy violet eyes looked shyly up
at her. "Good heavens!" thought Kate, "she is the loveliest creature in
Brighton at this moment."

"I have also come to ask for a cup of tea. No, thank you, Adela, none of
that! What buttered bricks! Goodness, children! don't you ever have cake,
or jam, or anything?"

"Miss Steele used to say it would give us muddy complexions, and spoil
our digestion."

"Poor little victims! Never mind, you'll come out some day. I must make
haste and get married, Mabel, if you grow like that. But Miss Leigh must
be starved. Do you like eggs and bacon?" with her hand on the bell.

"Very much," said Bluebell, smiling back, more in gratitude for the good
intentions than anything else.

"Poor thing!" cried Kate, impulsively, quite vanquished by the smile;
"you will be so dull when the children go to bed. I wish we were not
going out to-night. I'll collect the newspapers, and send you up a
capital novel I got yesterday from the library."

Bluebell was cheered in a moment. "I am sure it was you whom I have to
thank too, for those violets," said