et
rid of me. Ralph can take a note in to Wells to-morrow, when he goes in
to the market. I shall only stay two days, but we must find out whether
Aunt Letitia wants me first."

Miss Falconer was really pleased that Joyce should propose a visit, and
the little guest-chamber in the Vicar's Close was made ready with
willing hands, and Charlotte hailed Joyce's appearance, that she might
tell her of all her hopes and fears.

Charlotte had been twice at the Palace during the winter. Mrs. Law,
gentle and kindly, had taken an interest in the young people in Wells,
and had invited Charlotte, amongst others, to tea. Tea at six o'clock,
on some day when the bishop and his chaplain and Mr. Henry Law, were
absent on some business in the diocese.

If it had been a great thing to visit Mrs. Hannah More at Barley Wood,
it was a greater to take tea at the palace. With the wigs of the last
and preceding century, the bishops have thrown off a great deal of the
episcopal state, which was once considered a part of the duty of the
peer spiritual. And a certain air of solemnity pervaded the Wells
palace, even when presided over by such true "gentlefolks" as the
bishop and Mrs. Law. That old-fashioned word seems to suit the host and
hostess at the Wells palace far better than any other term I could use.
That innate grace and refinement of feeling is sometimes, it is true,
acquired, but it is a plant of slow growth, especially amongst those,
who suddenly raised to a position of importance in the Church, feel the
elevation makes them a little dizzy. The Bishop's wife, then presiding
over the palace, had always moved in the higher circles of society, and,
therefore, neither at Carlisle nor Wells did she find it necessary to
impress upon humbler people that she stood on a vantage ground to which
few could approach. She was dignified, though she was gentle, and no one
would ever pass the barrier which divides familiarity, from free and
pleasant intercourse. Mrs. Law, like everyone else, was greatly taken
with Joyce Falconer; and again poor Charlotte began to feel that with no
effort at all her cousin was winning her way, and making an impression
which, with all her efforts, she felt she did not succeed in doing.

Miss Falconer was surprised when, the day after the girls had spent an
evening at the palace, Mrs. Law sent a little three-cornered note of
invitation to Joyce to spend Sunday at the palace before she returned
to Fair Acres. The footm