might have obtained an answer without applying to him.

"Ah, I thought so. I've just heard from Emma, and she is coming from Cheltenham to stay with me on Monday, so I'll bring her over that morning. It will be a treat for her, and you would be there to tell us what's going on, and who the different people are. Edmund is no use on a day like that, you know. He never comes near one, or thinks of anything but his own sport, and I want the girl to enjoy herself. It will be all new to her."

Cornelius could not do otherwise than proffer his services for the occasion, and before his sisterin-law had set out again to drive home, he had agreed to be at the meet on Tuesday, and to spend the two following evenings at her house, just to make things a little livelier for Emma Harding, since Edmund always went to sleep after supper, and it would be so dull for the girl.

Of course this would put an end to his plan of riding over to King's Marden to see Margie, and for that Cornelius was a little sorry; but, on the other hand, he liked Emma Harding, and was flattered at his sister-in-law declaring him to be indispensable to her visitor's amusement.

He might just as well amuse himself for a few days with his last acquaintance; indeed, after all the kindness which he had received from Emma's

friends at Cheltenham, it would be positively rude if he were to go away when she came on a visit to her cousin.

After that there would still be plenty of time for his intended expedition to King's Marden, and, to say the truth, he shrank a little from the prospect of a meeting with Margie, which might involve some awkwardness, and might as well be put off for a week or two longer.

So he troubled his head no more on the subject, and dismissing all scruples as to Margie's happiness, he prepared to make himself agreeable to his sister-in-law's relative, and at the same time to enjoy himself thoroughly in the coming week. The life he had been lately spending had certainly been a dull one, and made him relish the prospect of a little diversion all the more. In this manner Cornelius reasoned to the complete satisfaction of his own mind. And Margie was left another fortnight to her anxious suspense, to her waiting, her fears, and her almost despairing longings to know what lay before her.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

"Unless you can muse in a crowd all day
On the absent face that fixed you,
Unless you can love as the angels may

With the breadth of heaven betwixt you.
Unless you can dream that his faith is fast
Through behoving and unbehoving,
Unless you can die when the dream is past
O never call it loving."

RS. EDMUND

M

E. B. BROWNING.

MAYNARD was a

very clever woman, cleverer probably than most people would have supposed

who were only acquainted with her

pleasing exterior and lively manners.

Once she had made up her mind to do a thing, it was rarely left undone; and she had a quite singular knack of making other people's wills and inclinations bend to suit her own wishes.

It was in this way that she had effected her own marriage, and she had now made up her mind that her brother-in-law was the very man for Emma

Harding, and that her cousin should become his wife. She had found little or no difficulty in bringing her husband round to her own view of the matter, and from the moment that a rumour had reached her ears of some entanglement that existed between Cornelius and the daughter of a King's Marden tradesman, she resolved to leave nothing undone which might bring about the end she had in sight, and save her family from so undesirable a connection as she considered Margery Chaplin to be.

So far all her schemes had prospered, and now that Emma Harding had arrived to spend a fortnight with her, nothing remained excepting to bring matters to a point as speedily as possible.

Fortune seemed inclined to favour her plans on this occasion. The day of the meet turned out fine; there was a large gathering of people, and the scene in the field outside Wyndover, where huntsman and hounds, riders and carriages were all collected, was as gay and pretty a one as could be wished.

They had not been many minutes on the ground before Mrs. Maynard's keen eye caught sight of Cornelius making his way towards them from the other side of the field.

"There's your brother-in-law, Annie," said Emma, with a look of pleased surprise which was

not wasted on her cousin; and certainly Cornelius on his chestnut horse was a figure likely to attract the notice of any girl.

A flush of pleasure spread over Emma's face as he rode up to shake hands, and Mrs. Maynard thought to herself with satisfaction, that the girl, whose chief fault in her eyes was want of animation, looked positively pretty at that moment.

Cornelius, on his part, was by no means insensible to the fact that Miss Harding liked him, and felt his vanity gratified by the attention which she paid to his every look and word.

"If

you were to drive on a few steps further, you would have a better view of the fields, I think," he remarked; and Mrs. Maynard, who held the reins herself, at once followed his suggestion.

"Now we have a fine point of observation," said Cornelius, "and I can show you every one you care to see. There, that is the old Squire himself who has just ridden up."

"The one in the red coat?" asked Emma, to whom a hunting-field was an altogether new sight.

"Yes, and the one next him, talking to the huntsman, is his eldest son," replied Cornelius, continuing his explanations. "Do you see the break full of ladies standing close by? That comes from West Marden Park. That fat man on horseback, talking to Miss Russell, is a German baron