1061 20 Саль The Monthly Packet. JANUARY, 1883. A LOYAL MIND. BY THE AUTHOR OF A LOST BATTLE.' CHAPTER XVII. A FLATTERING TALE. .... To the foolish some secular mirage, or shadow of still waters, painted on the parched earth; whereby at least their dusty pilgrimage, if devious, becomes cheerfuller, becomes possible.'-CARLYLE. SHORTLY after this Mrs. Lydiard was summoned unexpectedly to a rich old aunt in the north of England, who had been taken suddenly ill. She went off in high good humour, at an hour's notice, leaving her two girls in charge of Mrs. Bell, who sent her carriage that afternoon to fetch them to the Villa. News of this move did not reach Alding Place till the next morning, and Herbert remarked that Hetty and her cousin ought to have come to them. Margaret, however, said gently that the present arrangement was the best. 'We might find ourselves too much mixed up with Mrs. Lydiard's affairs,' she observed. I fear there may be second-rate people amongst her relations.' 'Possibly-but they need not be Hetty's relations.' 'Oh no; and besides, as we have already said, Hetty is herself. Still, if you wish it, Herbert' 'No, I don't wish it. One must ask Conny Lydiard too, and she would be a bore.' Herbert of course went to the Villa that afternoon, and repeated his visit every day. He very soon, though for different reasons, agreed with Margaret that this arrangement was the best. At Alding Place, under the eyes of his sisters, with visitors coming and going, his lovemaking could not be carried on half so pleasantly as in the free, indulgent atmosphere of Mrs. Bell's house and garden. She was not PART 25. |