said Miss Temple.

'You little know Ferdinand or myself, when you give that advice,' said
Katherine. 'We shall never marry; nothing is more certain than that.
In the first place, to be frank, Ferdinand would not marry me, nothing
would induce him; and in the second place, I would not marry him,
nothing would induce me.'

'Why not?' said Henrietta, in a low tone, holding her book very near to
her face.

'Because I am sure that we should not be happy,' said Miss Grandison. 'I
love Ferdinand, and once could have married him. He is so brilliant that
I could not refuse his proposal. And yet I feel it is better for me that
we have not married, and I hope it may yet prove better for him, for I
love him very dearly. He is indeed my brother.'

'But why should you not be happy?' enquired Miss Temple.

'Because we are not suited to each other. Ferdinand must marry some one
whom he looks up to, somebody brilliant like himself, some one who can
sympathise with all his fancies. I am too calm and quiet for him. You
would suit him much better, Henrietta.'

'You are his cousin; it is a misfortune; if you were not, he would adore
you, and you would sympathise with him.'

'I think not: I should like to marry a very clever man,' said Katherine.
'I could not endure marrying a fool, or a commonplace person; I should
like to marry a person very superior in talent to myself, some one whose
opinion would guide me on all points, one from whom I could not differ.
But not Ferdinand; he is too imaginative, too impetuous; he would
neither guide me, nor be guided by me.'

Miss Temple did not reply, but turned over a page of her book.

'Did you know Ferdinand before you met him yesterday at our house?'
enquired Miss Grandison, very innocently.

'Yes!' said Miss Temple.

'I thought you did,' said Miss Grandison, 'I thought there was something
in your manner that indicated you had met before. I do not think you
knew my aunt before you met her at Bellair House?'

'I did not.'

'Nor Sir Ratclifle?'

'Nor Sir Ratclifle.'

'But you did know Mr. Glastonbury?'

'I did know Mr. Glastonbury.'

'How very odd!' said Miss Grandison.

'What is odd?' enquired Henrietta.

'That you should have known Ferdinand before.'

'Not at all odd. He came over one day to shoot at papa's. I remember him
very well.'

'Oh,' said Miss Grandison. 'And did Mr. Glastonbury come over to shoot?'

'I met Mr. Glastonbury one morning that I went to see the pict