exclaimed, "Now, isn't he a
handsome man?" But Mrs. Beauchamp could not answer. One glance had been
sufficient. A cold mist gathered before her eyes, and she was obliged to
lean for support, upon the back of a chair.

"Dear Mrs. Beauchamp, are you ill?"

"My dear mother!" cried Edmund.

"It is nothing," she answered, quickly recovering herself; "only a
little faintness." And then with the self-command which long habit had
made easy, she sat down and continued with her usual calm sweetness--"I
could almost fancy I had seen your father; but I do not remember ever
knowing any one of the name of Dalton but yourself."

"Oh, but perhaps you might have seen him before he changed his name; and
yet it seems hardly likely. His name used to be Hayforth; but by the
will of his former partner, who, dying without near relations, left papa
all his money, he took the name of Dalton. The money is all gone now, to
be sure," she continued with the faintest possible sigh; "but we all
loved the dear old man, and so we still keep his name."

Fanny had seated herself beside Mrs. Beauchamp, and as she finished
speaking, the latter, obeying the impulse of her heart, drew her towards
her and kissed her. Fanny, whose feelings were not only easily touched,
and very strong, but even unusually demonstrative, threw her arms round
Mrs. Beauchamp, and cried, with tears in her eyes, "How kind you are to
me, Mrs. Beauchamp! You could hardly be kinder, if you were my mother."

"Dear Fanny," she answered in a low and affectionate tone, "I wish,
indeed, I were your mother!"

As she spoke, Edmund, who had been standing in a window apart, made a
sudden movement towards the two ladies, but as suddenly checked himself.
At this moment his eyes encountered those of his mother, and colouring
violently, he abruptly quitted the room. This little scene passed quite
unnoticed by Fanny, who at the instant was thinking only of Mrs.
Beauchamp, and of her own gentle mother, now beneath the sod.

The daughter of Philip Hayforth became a frequent guest at Woodthorpe
Hall, spending most of her Sundays with Mrs. Beauchamp, who would
frequently drive over to the Sharpes's for her of a Saturday afternoon,
and send her back on the Monday morning. She was invited to spend the
Easter holidays at the Hall--a most welcome invitation, as she was not
to return home till the midsummer vacation. A most agreeable time were
these Easter holidays! Never had Fanny seemed more bright