of the gout there, and we made
shift to buy it, and a few others of the old things that were so natural
to us, when all was sold;" and the old man's speech, that had begun
cheerfully, ended in a deep sigh.

"Ah, Hallings! I wish with all my heart more had fallen to your share of
the venerable relics that fell into far other hands at that revolting
sale," observed L----, echoing the faithful servant's sigh; "but I love
to look at those few familiar things you have saved from the unhallowed
hands of indifference. Look, Hervey," he continued, turning to me, "at
that beautiful shell-work basket on the bracket, yonder. It is the work
of that dear and venerable friend whose loss, and that of her excellent
brother, you have heard me lament so deeply and sincerely."

The object to which my attention was so directed, was a beautiful
specimen of female ingenuity, an elegantly formed corbeille of flowers,
imitated from nature, with art little less than magical, considering the
nature of the materials employed in its construction. The elegant
trifle, now the boast of a poor cottage, might have been conceited by a
fanciful gazer to have been the work of sea-nymphs, for the pearl grotto
of their queen; but a nearer inspection must have assigned it to mortal
fingers, for the name of "Eleanor Devereux" was inlaid with minute
gold-coloured shells in a dark medallion, that formed the centre of the
basket.

"That was not bought at the sale, sir," said Mrs Hallings, drawing
towards the precious relic I was inspecting, and regarding it herself
with looks of almost devotional reverence. "Be pleased to read what is
written there, sir," she added, in a voice not sufficiently steady to
have articulated the sentence to which she pointed, written apparently
with a trembling hand, in old Italian characters, on a slip of paper,
laid within the glass cover of the basket. I looked as she directed, and
read,

"The work of Eleanor Devereux.
Her last gift to her old and faithful servant, Celia Hallings."

"This is indeed a precious relic," I remarked, in a low voice, and with
not unmoistened eyes. Those of the good woman to whom I spoke were
filled to overflowing; but with that modesty of feeling which is a sure
test of its deep sincerity, she quietly drew back, and left the room, on
"hospitable cares intent," in quest of the "brimming bowl," for which my
friend had preferred our joint petition. During her absence, L----
c