and his sister, as,
after having wound their way up the park at almost a gallop, they heard
themselves rattling over the stone pavement immediately under the old
turreted gateway. On approaching it, they saw lights glancing about in
the Hall windows; and before they had drawn up, the great door was
thrown open, and several servants (one or two of them gray-headed) made
their appearance, eager to release the travellers from their long
confinement. A great wood fire was crackling and blazing in the ample
fireplace in the hall opposite the door, casting a right pleasant and
cheerful light over the various antique objects ranged round the walls;
but the object on which Mr. Aubrey's eye instantly settled was the
venerable figure of his mother, standing beside the fireplace with one
or two female attendants. The moment that the carriage door was opened,
he stepped quickly out, (nearly tumbling, by the way, over Hector, who
appeared to think that the carriage door had been opened only to enable
him to jump into it, which he prepared to do.)

"God bless you, Madam!" said Mr. Aubrey, tenderly, as he received his
mother's fervent but silent greeting, and imagined that the arms folded
round him were somewhat feebler than when he had last felt them
embracing him! With similar affection was the good old lady received by
her daughter and daughter-in-law.

"Where is my pony, grandmamma?" quoth little Aubrey, running up to her,
(he had been kept quiet, from time to time, during the last eighty miles
or so, by the mention of the aforesaid pony, which had been sent to the
Hall as a present to him some weeks before.) "Where is it? I want to see
my little pony directly! Mamma says you have got a little pony for me
with a long tail; I _must_ see it before I go to bed; I must, indeed--is
it in the stable?"

"You shall see it in the morning, my darling--the very first thing,"
said Mrs. Aubrey, fervently kissing her beautiful little grandson, while
tears of joy and pride ran down her cheek. She then pressed her lips on
the delicate but flushed cheek of little Agnes, who was fast asleep; and
as soon as they had been conducted towards their nursery, Mrs. Aubrey,
followed by her children, led the way to the dining-room--the dear
delightful old dining-room, in which all of them had passed so many
happy hours of their lives. It was large and lofty; and two antique
branch silver candlesticks, standing on sconces upon each side of a
strange old st