on," finished Miss Middleton, with one of her kind looks.

All this was cordial to poor Mattie, who, though she was used to
snubbing, and took as kindly to it as a spaniel to water, yet felt
herself growing rather like a thread-paper and shabby with every-day
worries and never an encouraging word to inspirit her.

So she gave Elizabeth a misty little smile,--Mattie's smile was
pretty, though her features were ordinary,--and then sat up straight
and began to enjoy herself,--that is, to talk,--never noticing that
Colonel Middleton looked at his paper in a crestfallen manner, not
much liking the interruption and the cessation of his own voice.

"Oh, dear!" began Mattie: she generally prefaced her remarks by an
"Oh, dear!" ("That was one of her jerky ways," as Archie said.) "I
could not help coming straight to you, for Archie would not talk, and
I felt I must tell somebody. Oh, dear, Miss Middleton! What do you
think? We have just called at the Friary--and----" but here Colonel
Middleton's countenance relaxed, and he dropped his paper.

"Those young ladies, eh? Come, Elizabeth, this is interesting. Well,
what sort of place is the Friary, seen from the inside, eh, Miss
Drummond?"

"Oh, it is very nice," returned Mattie, enthusiastically. "We were
shown into such a pretty room, looking out on the garden. They have so
many nice things,--pictures, and old china, and handsomely-bound
books, and all arranged so tastefully. And before we went away, the
old servant--she seems really quite a superior person--brought in an
elegant little tea-tray: the cups and saucers were handsomer even than
yours, Miss Middleton,--dark-purple and gold. Just what I admire
so----"

"Ah, reduced in circumstances! I told you so, Elizabeth," ejaculated
the colonel.

"I never saw Archie enjoy himself so much or seem so thoroughly at
home anywhere. Somehow, the girls put us so at our ease. Though they
were hanging up curtains when we went in,--and any one else would have
been annoyed at our intruding so soon,--actually, before we were in
the room a moment, Archie was on the steps, helping the eldest Miss
Challoner fasten the hooks."

Miss Middleton exchanged an amused look with her father. Mattie's
narrative was decidedly interesting.

"Oh, don't tell him I repeated that, for he is always calling me
chatterbox!" implored Mattie, who feared she had been indiscreet, and
that the colonel was not to be trusted, which was quite true as far as
jokes