ed all those trammels which hinder people from following
their own bent. One of her fancies was for a nomadic life; and in
pursuance of this, she bestowed on Aunt Janet occasional visits, varying
in duration from two or three days to as many weeks. The letter implied
that she might arrive in the evening train, and we waited tea for her.

She did not disappoint us; and during the tea-drinking she gave us
sketches, not only of all the little celebrities she had met at
Saratoga, but of all the new fashions in dresses, bonnets, and jewelry,
besides many of her own plans.

It was impossible for her to remain beyond the week, she said, because
she had promised to meet her friends General and Mrs. Perkinpine in
Burlington in time to accompany them to Montreal and Quebec, whence they
must hurry back to Saratoga for a week, and go thence to Baltimore;
then, after returning for a few days to New York, they were to go to
Europe.

"But you don't mean to go with them to Europe, Lucretia?" said
grandmother.

"O, of course, Aunt Margaret," for so she called her,--"of course I
intend to go. We mean to be gone a year, and half the time we shall
spend in Paris. We shall go to Rome, and we shall spend a few weeks in
England."

"I cannot imagine what you will do with six months in Paris,--you who
don't know five words of French."

"I studied it, however, at boarding-school," said Miss Stackpole; "I
read both Telemaque and the New Testament in French."

"Did you?" said grandmother; "well, every little helps."

"I think I should dearly love to go myself," said Louise.

"One picks up the language," said Miss Stackpole; "and certainly nothing
is more improving than travel."

"If improvement is your motive, it is certainly a very laudable one,"
said grandmother. "But I should suppose that at your age you would begin
to prefer a little quiet to all this rushing about. But every one to his
liking."

Now it is undeniable that grandmother and Miss Stackpole never did get
on very well together; so it was rather a relief to Louise and myself
when Miss Stackpole, pleading fatigue from her ride, expressed a wish to
go to bed early, and get a good long, refreshing night's sleep, the
facilities for which, she averred, were the only compensating
circumstance of country life.

Immediately afterwards, grandmother called Louise and myself into her
room, to say what a pity it was that this visit had not occurred either
a few weeks earlier or a