unshine than in any part of the island, I believe. Our
local society is singularly free from scandal. The clergy, if not
quite as eloquent or profound as in London (and in my opinion it is
the better for being neither) is strictly conscientious. We have no
burglars or locusts or gnats or even midges, as I'm told they
unfortunately have in Scotland, and our dinner-parties, though quiet
and dignified, are never dull.... What is the matter, Robinetta?"

"A sudden catch in my throat," said Robinette, struggling with some
sort of vocal difficulty and avoiding Lavendar's eye. "Thank you," as
he offered her a glass of water from the punctual and strictly
temperate evening tray. "Don't look at me," she added under her
voice.

"Not for a million of money!" he whispered. Then he said aloud: "If I
ever stand for Parliament, Mrs. Loring, I should like you to help me
with my constituency!"

The unruffled temper and sweet reasonableness of Robinette's answers
to questions by no means always devoid of malice, had struck the young
man very much, as he listened.

"She is good!" he thought to himself. "Good and sweet and generous.
Her loveliness is not only in her face; it is in her heart." And some
favorite lines began to run in his head that night, with new
conviction:--

He that loves a rosy cheek,
Or a coral lip admires,
Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires,--
As old Time makes these decay,
So his flames will waste away.

But a smooth and steadfast mind,
Gentle thoughts and calm desires,
Hearts with equal love combined--

but here Lavendar broke off with a laugh.

"It's not come to that yet!" he thought. "I wonder if it ever will?"

X

A NEW KINSMAN

Young Mrs. Loring was making her way slowly at Stoke Revel Manor, and
Mrs. de Tracy, though never affectionate, treated her with a little
less indifference as the days went on. "The Admiral's niece is a
lady," she admitted to herself privately; "not perhaps the highest
type of English lady; that, considering her mixed ancestry and
American education, would be too much to expect; but in the broad,
general meaning of the word, unmistakably a lady!"

Mrs. Benson, though not melting outwardly as yet, held more lenient
views still with regard to the American guest. Bates, the butler, wa