wn, and being
uncommon lonely under the circumstances, I thought I would just run
over and have a look at my belongings. I have a sort of fancy for Aunt
Catherine; she used to write me such pretty letters when I was a
little chap in Calcutta, and tell me about Nan, and Phillis, and--what
was the baby's name?--Dulce. I believe she and the poor old governor
never hit it off: the old man had been a sad sinner in his day. But I
never forgot those letters: and when he was gone, poor old boy! I said
to myself, Now I will go and see Aunt Catherine."

"And you went down to Oldfield, Sir Henry?"

"Eh, what? meaning me, I suppose? but out there they called me Sir
Harry, or Harry mostly, for what was the use of a title there? Oh,
yes, I went down and found out all about them from a chatty little
woman, rather like yourself, and she sent me on here."

"Oh, dear, I am so glad!" exclaimed Mattie, who was now thoroughly
herself: "they will be so pleased to see you, and you will think them
all so charming. I am sure I never saw any one the least like them,
except Grace, and she is not half so pretty as Nan; and as for
Phillis, I admire her even more, she lights up so when she talks."

"Aunt Catherine used to be beautiful," observed Sir Harry, gravely;
for then and afterwards he insisted on that form of address. He was
not English enough or sufficiently stiff for Henry, he would say.

"Oh, dear, yes! she is quite lovely now,--at least Archie and I think
so; and Dulce is the dearest little thing. I am ever so fond of them;
if they were my own sisters I could not love them more," continued
Mattie, with a little gush; but, indeed the girls' gentle high-bred
ways had won her heart from the first.

Sir Harry's eyes positively sparkled with delight; he had pleasant
eyes which redeemed his other features, for it must be confessed he
was decidedly plain.

"I must shake hands with you, Miss Drummond," he said, stretching out
a huge hand, with a diamond ring on it that greatly impressed Mattie.
"We shall be good friends, I see that." And though poor Mattie winced
with pain under that cordial grasp, she hid it manfully.

"Did they tell you at Oldfield how poor they are?" she said, when this
ceremony had been performed, and Sir Harry's face looked more like a
sunset than ever with that benevolent glow on it.

"Oh, yes," he returned, indifferently; "but all that is over now."

"You know they have to work for their living; the girls are
d