rs. Ross was in her room; and Mr. and Mrs.
Harcourt--'cabined, cribbed, confined,' as Mr. Harcourt expressed
it--were getting through alarming arrears of correspondence by way of
passing the time. Audrey had lighted a fire in the parlour, and sat
beside it snugly, and Kester was on the couch opposite her.

'I wonder if it be Miss Frances!' thought Audrey, as she replaced the
letter in the envelope. '"A lively little soul, and a good sort." I
don't think Mr. Blake's dislike to girls counts for much. Young men
seldom write in that way unless they are bitten; and, of course, it
could be no one else but Miss Frances. But it is no use arguing out the
question.'

'It is a very good letter,' she said aloud. 'You are lucky to have such
a correspondent. I suppose'--taking up her embroidery--'that your
brother will not mind our seeing his letters?'

'Oh dear no!' returned Kester, falling innocently into the snare. 'I
have told him that you always read them; and, you see, he writes just as
often. Do you think Cyril is enjoying himself as much as we are, Miss
Ross? Now and then it seems to me that he is a little dull. When Cyril
says he is bored, I think he means it.'

Audrey evaded this question. She also had detected a vein of melancholy
running through the letters. If he were so very happy in Miss Frances'
society, would he wish quite so earnestly that the vacation were over,
and that he was amongst his boys in the big schoolroom? Would he drop
those hints that no air suited him like Rutherford air?

'I think he ought to be enjoying himself,' she said, a little severely.
'He is amongst very kind people, who evidently try to make him happy,
and who treat him like one of themselves; and, then, the girls seem so
good-natured. Young men do not know when they are well off. You had
better tell him so, Kester.'

'Shall I say it as a message from you?'

'By no means;' and Audrey spoke very decidedly. 'I never send messages
to gentlemen.' And as the boy looked rather abashed at this rebuke, she
continued more gently: 'Of course you will give him our kind regards,
and I daresay mother will send a message--Mr. Blake is a great favourite
of hers. But it is not my business if your brother chooses to be
discontented and to quarrel with his loaves and fishes.'

'I think Cyril would like to be in my place,' observed Kester, quite
unaware that he was saying the wrong thing; but Audrey took no notice of
this speech. 'Well, he need not en