Warren see 'em, and lifted the little pigs over the gap as tender as if
they were Christians?'

'Yes, that's the way with them all,' interposed Mrs. Norris: 'he has
the good word of high and low.'

Lord Ormersfield smiled: he smiled better than he used to do, and took
leave.

'Fitzjocelyn will be a popular man,' he said.

Mary could not help being diverted at this moral deduced from the
pig-story. 'Every one is fond of him,' was all she said.

'Talent and popularity,' continued the Earl. 'He will have great
influence. The free, prepossessing manner is a great advantage, where
it is so natural and devoid of effort.'

'It comes of his loving every one,' said Mary, almost indignantly.

'It is a decided advantage,' continued the Earl, complacently. 'I have
no doubt but that he has every endowment requisite for success. You and
your mother have done much in developing his character, my dear; and I
see every reason to hope that the same influence continued will produce
the most beneficial results.'

Mary thought this a magnificent compliment, even considering that no
one but her mamma had succeeded in teaching Louis to read when a little
boy, or in making him persevere in anything now: but then, when Lord
Ormersfield did pay a compliment, it was always in the style of Louis
XIV.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FAMILY COMPACT.

Who, nurst with tender care,
And to domestic bounds confined,
Was still a wild Jack-hare
COWPER.

'Mary,' said Mrs. Frost.

Mrs. Ponsonby was sitting by the open window of the library, inhaling
the pleasant scents of July. Raising her eyes, she saw her aunt gazing
at her with a look somewhat perplexed, but brim full of mischievous
frolic. However, the question was only--'Where is that boy?'

'He is gone down with Mary to his cottage-building.'

'Oh! if Mary is with him, I don't care,' said Aunt Catharine, sitting
down to her knitting; but her ball seemed restless, and while she
pursued it, she broke out into a little laugh, and exclaimed, 'I beg
your pardon, my dear, but I cannot help it. I never heard anything so
funny!'

'As this scheme,' said Mrs. Ponsonby, with a little hesitation.

'Then you have the other side of it in your letter,' cried Mrs. Frost,
giving way to her merriment. 'The Arabian Nights themselves, the two
viziers laying their heads together, and sending home orders to us to
make up the match!'

'My letter does not go