know how to depart.'

'I wish you would visit your home, if only for one morning,' said
Venetia; 'if only to know how very near you are to us.'

'I dread going alone,' said Lord Cadurcis. 'I cannot ask Lady Annabel
to accompany me, because--' He hesitated.

'Because?' inquired Venetia.

'I cannot ask or wish her to leave you.'

'You are always thinking of me, dear George,' said Venetia, artlessly.
'I assure you, I have come back to Cherbury to be happy. I must visit
your home some day, and I hope I shall visit it often. We will all go,
soon,' she added.

'Then I will postpone my visit to that day,' said George. 'I am in
no humour for business, which I know awaits me there. Let me enjoy a
little more repose at dear Cherbury.'

'I have become very restless of late, I think,' said Venetia, 'but
there is a particular spot in the garden that I wish to see. Come with
me, George.'

Lord Cadurcis was only too happy to attend her. They proceeded through
a winding walk in the shrubberies until they arrived at a small
and open plot of turf, where Venetia stopped. 'There are some
associations,' she said, 'of this spot connected with both those
friends that we have lost. I have a fancy that it should be in some
visible manner consecrated to their memories. On this spot, George,
Plantagenet once spoke to me of my father. I should like to raise
their busts here; and indeed it is a fit place for such a purpose;
for poets,' she added, faintly smiling, 'should be surrounded with
laurels.'

'I have some thoughts on this head that I am revolving in my fancy
myself,' said Lord Cadurcis, 'but I will not speak of them now.'

'Yes, now, George; for indeed it is a satisfaction for me to speak of
them, at least with you, with one who understood them so well, and
loved them scarcely less than I did.'

George tenderly put his arm into hers and led her away. As they walked
along, he explained to her his plans, which yet were somewhat crude,
but which greatly interested her; but they were roused from their
conversation by the bell of the hall sounding as if to summon them,
and therefore they directed their way immediately to the terrace. A
servant running met them; he brought a message from Lady Annabel.
Their friend the Bishop of ---- had arrived.

CHAPTER III.

'Well, my little daughter,' said the good Masham, advancing as Venetia
entered the room, and tenderly embracing her. The kind-hearted old man
maintained a convers