wrong side, was due to her natural delicacy of feeling and natural
intensity of aversion to the slightest personal display of her own
wealth. Neither Mrs. Vesey nor Miss Halcombe could ever induce her to
let the advantage in dress desert the two ladies who were poor, to lean
to the side of the one lady who was rich.

When the dinner was over we returned together to the drawing-room.
Although Mr. Fairlie (emulating the magnificent condescension of the
monarch who had picked up Titian's brush for him) had instructed his
butler to consult my wishes in relation to the wine that I might prefer
after dinner, I was resolute enough to resist the temptation of sitting
in solitary grandeur among bottles of my own choosing, and sensible
enough to ask the ladies' permission to leave the table with them
habitually, on the civilised foreign plan, during the period of my
residence at Limmeridge House.

The drawing-room, to which we had now withdrawn for the rest of the
evening, was on the ground-floor, and was of the same shape and size as
the breakfast-room. Large glass doors at the lower end opened on to a
terrace, beautifully ornamented along its whole length with a profusion
of flowers. The soft, hazy twilight was just shading leaf and blossom
alike into harmony with its own sober hues as we entered the room, and
the sweet evening scent of the flowers met us with its fragrant welcome
through the open glass doors. Good Mrs. Vesey (always the first of the
party to sit down) took possession of an arm-chair in a corner, and
dozed off comfortably to sleep. At my request Miss Fairlie placed
herself at the piano. As I followed her to a seat near the instrument,
I saw Miss Halcombe retire into a recess of one of the side windows, to
proceed with the search through her mother's letters by the last quiet
rays of the evening light.

How vividly that peaceful home-picture of the drawing-room comes back
to me while I write! From the place where I sat I could see Miss
Halcombe's graceful figure, half of it in soft light, half in
mysterious shadow, bending intently over the letters in her lap; while,
nearer to me, the fair profile of the player at the piano was just
delicately defined against the faintly-deepening background of the
inner wall of the room. Outside, on the terrace, the clustering
flowers and long grasses and creepers waved so gently in the light
evening air, that the sound of their rustling never reached us. The
sky w