lone day after day, Mr. Forbes relieved their monotony on Sundays, and
occasionally Mr. Oliver Smith came for a night. Society was a toil to
Mr. Fairfax. He did not find his house dull, and would have been
surprised to know that Elizabeth did. What could she want that she had
not? She had Janey to ride, and Joss, a companionable dog, to walk with;
she had her carriage, and could drive to Hartwell as often as she
pleased; and at her gates she had bright little Mrs. Stokes for company
and excellent Mrs. Forbes for counsel. Still, Bessie felt life stagnant
around her. She could not be interested in anything here without an
effort. The secret of it was her hankering after the Forest, and partly
also her longing for those children. To have those dear little boys over
from Norminster would cheer her for the whole winter; but how to compass
it? Once she thought she would bring them over without leave asked, but
when she consulted Mrs. Stokes, she was assured that it would be a
liberty the squire would never forgive.

"I am not afraid of being never forgiven," rejoined Bessie. "I shall do
some desperate act one of these days if I am kept idle. Think of the
echoes in this vast house answering only the slamming of a door! and
think of what they would have to answer if dear little unruly Justus
were in the old nursery!"

Mrs. Stokes laughed: "I am only half in sympathy with you. Why did you
discourage that fascinating Mr. Cecil Burleigh? A young lady is never
really occupied until she is in love."

Bessie colored slightly. "Well," she said, "I am in love--I am in love
with my two little boy-cousins. What do you advise? My grandfather has
never mentioned them. It seems as if it would be easier to set them
before him than to speak of them."

"I should not dare to do that. What does Mr. Laurence Fairfax say? What
does his wife say?"

"Not much. My grandfather is treating them precisely as he treated my
father and my mother--just letting them alone. And it would be so much
pleasanter if we were all friends! I call it happiness thrown away. I
have everything at Abbotsmead but that. It is not like a home, and the
only motive there was for me to try and root there is taken away since
those boys came to light."

"Your future prospects are completely changed. You bear it very well."

"It is easy to bear what I am truly thankful for. Abbotsmead is nothing
to me, but those boys ought to be brought up in familiarity with the
place and