they would be! Preserved crabs, I
suppose;" and she brought a tiny curl into the corner of his mouth.

My pride was up, and I remember I answered, "You are right, Fulk. No
one shall say we are jealous, or shrink from the sight of her!"

"When Smith told me that he had no idea who was the bidder, or he would
not have suffered it," said Fulk, "I told him I could have no possible
objection!"

And so we endured it in our pride and our dignity.

Lady Hester Lea was the heroine of the neighbourhood. The romance of
the disowned daughter was charming; and I was far too disagreeable to
excite any counterbalancing pity. She was handsome, and everybody
raved about her likeness to poor papa and the family portraits; and her
Montreal convent had given her manners quite distinct from English
vulgarity; or, maybe, her blood told on her bearing, for she was
immensely admired for her demeanour, quite as much as for her beauty.

Old Miss Prior--whom no coldness on my part could check in her
assiduous kindness, and nothing would hinder from affectionately
telling us whatever we did not want to hear--kept us constantly
informed of the new comer's triumphs. Especially she would dwell upon
the sensation that Lady Hester produced, and all that the gentlemen
said of her. Her name stood as lady patroness to all the balls and
fancy fairs, and archery, that Shinglebay produced; and there was no
going to shop there without her barouche coming clattering down the
street with the two prancing greys, and poor little Trevor inside, with
a looped-up hat and ostrich feather exactly like Alured's; for by some
intention she always dressed him in the exact likeness of his little
uncle's. I used to think Miss Prior told her, and sedulously prevented
her ever seeing his lordship out of his brown holland pinafores, but
the same rule still held good.

What tender enquiries poor Miss Prior used to make after "the dear
little lord," as she called him. My asseverations of his health and
intelligence generally eliciting that it was current among Lady
Hester's friends that he could neither stand nor speak, and was so
imbecile that it was a mercy that he could not live to be eight years
old.

Of course that was what Hester was waiting for. And no small pleasure
was it when Alured would come pattering in with a shout of "Ursa,
Ursa," and as soon as he saw a lady, would stop, and pull off his hat
from his chestnut curls like the little gentleman he