ram arrived at Lester's.
The good Squire received him with a warm cordiality, and Madeline with
a blush and a smile that ought to have been more grateful to him
than acknowledgements. She was still a prisoner to the sofa, but in
compliment to Aram, the sofa was wheeled into the hall where they dined,
so that she was not absent from the repast. It was a pleasant room, that
old hall! Though it was summer--more for cheerfulness than warmth, the
log burnt on the spacious hearth: but at the same time the latticed
windows were thrown open, and the fresh yet sunny air stole in, rich
from the embrace of the woodbine and clematis, which clung around the
casement.

A few old pictures were paneled in the oaken wainscot; and here and
there the horns of the mighty stag adorned the walls, and united with
the cheeriness of comfort associations of that of enterprise. The good
old board was crowded with the luxuries meet for a country Squire. The
speckled trout, fresh from the stream, and the four-year-old mutton
modestly disclaiming its own excellent merits, by affecting the shape
and assuming the adjuncts of venison. Then for the confectionery,--it
was worthy of Ellinor, to whom that department generally fell; and we
should scarcely be surprised to find, though we venture not to affirm,
that its delicate fabrication owed more to her than superintendence.
Then the ale, and the cyder with rosemary in the bowl, were incomparable
potations; and to the gooseberry wine, which would have filled Mrs.
Primrose with envy, was added the more generous warmth of port which, in
the Squire's younger days, had been the talk of the country, and which
had now lost none of its attributes, save "the original brightness" of
its colour.

But (the wine excepted) these various dainties met with slight honour
from their abstemious guest; and, for though habitually reserved he was
rarely gloomy, they remarked that he seemed unusually fitful and sombre
in his mood. Something appeared to rest upon his mind, from which, by
the excitement of wine and occasional bursts of eloquence more
animated than ordinary, he seemed striving to escape; and at length, he
apparently succeeded. Naturally enough, the conversation turned upon the
curiosities and scenery of the country round; and here Aram shone with a
peculiar grace. Vividly alive to the influences of Nature, and minutely
acquainted with its varieties, he invested every hill and glade to
which remark recurred with