treasures of art in the great
cities where they halted. At first every image and object seemed
associated by some invisible link with thoughts of home. What would
Nelly think or say of this? was the ever-recurring question of her mind.
How should she ever be able to treasure up her own memories and tell
of the wonderful things that every moment met her eyes? The quick
succession of objects, all new and dazzling, were but so many wonders to
bring back to that "dear fireside" of home. The Onslows themselves, who
saw everything without enthusiasm of any kind, appeared to take pleasure
in the freshness of the young girl's admiration. It gave them, as
it were, a kind of reflected pleasure, while, amid galleries and
collections of all that was rare and curious, nothing struck them as
half so surprising as the boundless delight of her unhackneyed nature.

Educated to a certain extent by watching the pursuits of her sister,
Kate knew how to observe with taste, and admire with discrimination.
Beauty of high order would seem frequently endowed with a power of
appreciating the beauty of art, a species of relation appearing almost
to subsist between the two.

Gifted with this instinct, there was an intensity in all her enjoyments,
which displayed itself in the animation of her manner and the elevated
expression of her features. The coldest and most worldly natures are
seldom able to resist the influence of this enthusiasm; however hard the
metal of their hearts, they must melt beneath this flame. Lady Hester
Onslow herself could not remain insensible to the pure sincerity and
generous warmth of this artless girl. For a time the combat, silent,
unseen, but eventful, was maintained between these two opposite natures,
the principle of good warring with the instincts of evil. The victory
might have rested with the true cause there was every prospect of its
doing so when Sydney Onslow, all whose sympathies were with Kate, and
whose alliance had every charm of sisterhood, was suddenly recalled to
England by tidings of her aunt's illness. Educated by her aunt Conway,
she had always looked up to her as a mother, nor did the unhappy
circumstances of her father's second marriage tend to weaken this
feeling of attachment. The sad news reached them at Genoa; and Sydney,
accompanied by Dr. Grounsell, at once set out for London. If the sudden
separation of the two girls, just at the very moment of a budding
friendship, was sorrowfully felt by b