zjocelyn.'

'A fine specimen,' said the Viscount at once, with the air of a
connoisseur, by no means taken by surprise. 'They are not very
uncommon; I found one myself about the same date in the justice-room. I
dare say Mr. Calcott recollects the circumstance.'

'Oh, my dear fellow,' exclaimed Sydney, instead of his father; 'you
need not particularize. You always were a discoverer in that line.'

'True,' said Louis, 'but this is unique. North Greenland--ah! I
thought it was from a Frosty country. Ha, Clara?'

'Not I; I know nothing of it,' cried Clara, in hurry and confusion, not
yet able to be suspected of taking liberties with him.

'No?' said Louis, turning about his acquisition; 'I thought I knew the
female that laid these eggs. The proper name is, I fancy, Glacies
Dynevorensis--var. Catharina--perhaps--'

Walter and Louisa had brought their mother to see the nest, the point
of which she comprehended as little as they; and not understanding how
much amusement was betokened by her nephew's gravity, she protested
that none of her party had devised it, nor even been privy to it, and
that Mr. Dynevor must bear the blame, but he was very busy detaching
the prizes from the tree, and hastily denied any concern with it. Aunt
Catharine was obliged to console Lady Conway, and enchant Louis by
owning herself the sole culprit, with no aid but Miss Mercy's.
Together they had disposed the nest in its right locality, as soon as
the Earl's absence was secure.

'I had not courage for it before him,' she laughed. 'As for this
fellow, I knew he would esteem it a compliment.'

'As a tribute to his imagination?' said Isabel, who, in her mood of
benevolence, could be struck with the happy understanding between aunt
and nephew revealed by such a joke, so received.

'It would be a curious research,' said Louis, 'whether more of these
nidifications result from over-imagination or the want of it.'

'Often from want of imagination, and no want of cowardice,' said Isabel.

'That sort of nest has not illuminated eggs like these,' said Louis.
'They are generally extremely full of gunpowder, and might be painted
with a skull and crossbones. I say, Clara, has Aunt Kitty considered
the consequences? She has sacrificed her ostrich eggs! I can never
part with these original productions of her genius.'

He exhibited his mare's nest with his own gay bonhommie to all who were
curious, and presently, when every one's attention had