r.

Her work of that morning was the completion of a little "Memoir" of
Glengariff and its vicinity, written in that easy and popular style
which finds acceptance in our periodicals, and meant to draw attention
to the great scheme for whose accomplishment a company was to be formed.
Lord Glengariff wished this sketch should be completed while Dunn was
still there, so that it might be shown him, and his opinion be obtained
upon it.

Never had her task seemed so difficult, never so uncongenial; and though
she labored hard to summon up all her former interest in the great
enterprise, her thoughts would stray away, in spite of her, to the
indented shores of the Crimea, and the wild and swelling plains around
Sebastopol. Determined to see if change of place might not effect some
change of thought, she carried her papers to a little summer-house on
the river-side, and once more addressed herself resolutely to her work.
With an energy that rarely failed her, she soon overcame the little
distraction, and wrote away rapidly and with ease. She at last reached
that stage in her essay where, having enumerated all the advantages of
the locality, she desired to show how nothing was wanting to complete
its celebrity and recognition but the touch of some of those great
financial magicians whose great privilege it is to develop the wealth
and augment the resources of their fellow-men. She dwelt earnestly and,
indeed, eloquently on the beauty of the scenery. She knew it in every
varying aspect of its coloring, and she lingered over a description of
which the reality had so often captivated her. Still, even here, the
fostering hand of taste might yet contribute much. The stone pine and
the ilex would blend favorably with the lighter foliage of the ash and
the hazel, and many a fine point of view was still all but inaccessible
for want of a footpath. How beautifully, too, would the tasteful cottage
of some true lover of the picturesque peep from amidst the evergreen
oaks that grew down to the very shore. While she wrote, a shadow fell
over her paper. She looked up, and saw Mr. Dunn. He had strolled by
accident to the spot, and entered unperceived by her.

[Illustration: 414]

"What a charming place you have chosen for your study, Miss Kellett!"
said he, seating himself at the table. "Not but I believe," continued
he, "that when once deeply engaged in a pursuit, one takes little
account of surrounding objects. Pastorals have been compos