ry finished when there was a rap at the door, and
St. Leon himself entered the room. He had failed in overtaking Ada,
and anxious to know of her safe return, had determined to call. The
recognition between himself and Mrs. Harcourt was mutual, but for
reasons of their own, neither chose to make it apparent, and Ada
introduced him to her mother as she would have done any stranger. St.
Leon possessed in an unusual degree the art of making himself
agreeable, and in the animated conversation which ensued Mrs. Harcourt
forgot that she was poor--forgot her aching eyes; while Ada forgot
everything save that St, Leon was present, and that she was again
listening to his voice, which charmed her now even more than in the
olden time.

During the evening St. Leon managed in various ways to draw Ada out on
all the prominent topics of the day, and he felt pleased to find that
amid all her poverty she did not neglect the cultivation of her mind.
A part of each day was devoted to study, which Mrs. Harcourt, who was
a fine scholar, superintended.

It was fast merging toward the hour when phantoms walk abroad ere St.
Leon remembered that he must go. As he was leaving he said to Ada, "I
have a niece, Jenny, about your age, whom I think you would like very
much."

Oh, how Ada longed to ask for her old playmate, but a look from her
mother kept her silent, and in a moment St. Leon was gone.

CHAPTER VIII.

COUSIN BERINTHA AND LUCY'S PARTY.

Cousin Berintha, whom Lucy Dayton so much disliked and dreaded, was a
cousin of Mr. Dayton, and was a prim, matter-of-fact maiden of fifty,
or thereabout. That she was still in a state of single blessedness was
partially her own fault, for at twenty she was engaged to the son of a
wealthy farmer who lived near her father. But, alas! ere the wedding
day arrived, there came to the neighborhood a young lady from Boston,
in whose presence the beauty of the country girl grew dim, as do the
stars in the rays of the morning sun.

Berintha had a plain face, but a strong heart, and when she saw that
Amy Holbrook was preferred, with steady hand and unflinching nerve,
she wrote to her recreant lover that he was free. And now Amy, to whom
the false knight turned, took it into her capricious head that she
would not marry a farmer--she had always fancied a physician; and if
young B---- would win her, he must first secure the title of M.D. He
complied with her request, and one week from the day on which