nvaded bounds of astonished Science into
the Elementary Ologies. And all this being done, Matilda Darrell was
exactly the same creature that she was before. In all that related to
character, to inclinations, to heart, even that consummate teacher could
give no intelligible answer, when Mrs. Lyndsay in her softest accents
(and no accents ever were softer) sighed: "Poor dear Matilda! can you
make her out, Miss Fossett?" Miss Fossett could not make her out. But,
after the most attentive study, Miss Fossett had inly decided that there
was nothing to make out--that, like many other very nice girls, Matilda
Darrell was a harmless nullity, what you call "a Miss" white deal or
willow, to which Miss Fossett had done all in the way of increasing
its value as ornamental furniture, when she had veneered it over with
rosewood or satinwood, enriched its edges with ormolu, and strewed its
surface with nicknacks and albums. But Arabella firmly believed Matilda
Darrell to be a quiet, honest, good sort of "Miss," on the whole--very
fond of her, Arabella. The teacher had been several months in Darrell's
family, when Caroline Lyndsay, who had been almost domesticated with
Matilda (sharing the lessons bestowed on the latter, whether by Miss
Fossett or visiting masters), was taken away by Mrs. Lyndsay on a visit
to the old Marchioness of Montfort. Matilda, who was to come out the
next year, was thus almost exclusively with Arabella, who redoubled all
her pains to veneer the white deal, and protect with ormolu its feeble
edges--so that, when it "came out," all should admire that thoroughly
fashionable piece of furniture. It was the habit of Miss Fossett and her
pupil to take a morning walk in the quiet retreats of the Green
Park; and one morning, as they were thus strolling, nursery-maids and
children, and elderly folks who were ordered to take early exercises,
undulating round their unsuspecting way,--suddenly, right upon their
path (unlooked--for as the wolf that startled Horace in the Sabine
wood, but infinitely more deadly than that runaway animal), came Jasper
Losely! Arabella uttered a faint scream. She could not resist--had no
thought of resisting--the impulse to bound forward--lay her hand on his
arm. She was too agitated to perceive whether his predominant feeling
was surprise or rapture. A few hurried words were exchanged, while
Matilda Darrell gave one sidelong glance towards the handsome stranger,
and walked quietly by them. On his