ince the conclusion of the games;
but Sir Edward and Mr. Woodbourne were standing between her and the
table, so that she could neither see nor hear, and when at length she
had finished playing, and was released, she found Rupert and Elizabeth
so quiet, and so busy with their several employments, that she greatly
dreaded that all had not gone right. She bethought herself of the
sketches Rupert had made in Scotland, asked him to fetch them, and by
their help, she contrived to restore the usual tone of conversation
between the cousins, so that the remainder of the evening passed away
very pleasantly.

When Anne and Elizabeth awoke the following morning, Anne said that she
had remembered, the evening before, just when it was too late to do
anything, that the last Sunday Rupert had left his Prayer-book behind
him at St. Austin's; and as they were to set off on their journey
homewards immediately after breakfast, she asked Elizabeth whether
there would be time to walk to the new church and fetch it before
breakfast.

'I think it would be a very pleasant walk in the freshness of the
morning, if you like to go,' said she.

'Oh yes,' said Elizabeth, 'there is plenty of time, and I should like
the walk very much; but really, Anne, you spoil that idle boy in a
terrible way.'

'Ah! Rupert is an only son,' said Anne; 'he has a right to be spoilt.'

'Then I hope that Horace and Edward will save each other from the same
fate,' said Elizabeth; 'I do not like to see a sister made such a slave
as you have been all your life.'

'Wait till Horace and Edward are at home in the holidays before you
talk of slavery,' said Anne; 'there will be five slaves and two
masters, that will be all the difference.'

'Well are the male kind called barons in heraldry,' said Elizabeth;
'there is no denying that they are a lordly race; but I think I would
have sent Mr. Rupert up the hill himself, rather than go before
breakfast, with a day's journey before me.'

'Suppose he would not go?' said Anne.

'Let him lose his Prayer-book, then,' said Elizabeth.

'But if I had rather fetch it for him?' said Anne.

'I can only answer that there are no slaves as willing as sisters,'
said Elizabeth.

The two cousins had a pleasant morning walk up the hill, enjoying the
freshness of the morning air, and watching the various symptoms of
wakening in the town. They carried the keys of the church with them,
as no clerk had as yet been appointed, and they we