nxious. Has she had pain in the back again?"

"Sometimes, but summer always does her good--"

"I shall see her to-morrow--and the Daisy. How do you all get on? Have
you broken down yet, Ethel?"

"Oh! we do go on," said Ethel, smiling; "the worst thing I have done was
expecting James to dress the salads with lamp-oil."

"A Greenland salad! But don't talk of oil--I have the taste still in my
mouth after the Pyrennean cookery! Oh! Ethel, you would have been wild
with delight in those places!"

"Snowy mountains! Are they not like a fairy-dream to you now? You must
have felt at home, as a Scotchwoman's daughter."

"Think of the peaks in the sunrise! Oh! I wanted you in the pass of
Roncevalles, to hear the echo of Roland's horn. And we saw the cleft
made by Roland's sword in the rocks."

"Oh! how delightful--and Spain too!"

"Ay, the Isle of Pheasants, where all the conferences took place."

"Where Louis XIV. met his bride, and Francois I. sealed his treason with
his empty flourish--"

"Well, don't let us fight about Francois I. now; I want to know how Tom
likes Eton."

"He gets on famously. I am so glad he is in the same house with Hector."

"Mr. Ramsden--how is he?"

"No better; he has not done any duty for weeks. Tomkins and his set want
to sell the next presentation, but papa hopes to stave that off, for
there is a better set than usual in the Town Council this year."

"Cocksmoor? And how are our friends the muses? I found a note from the
secretary telling me that I am elected again. How have they behaved?"

"Pretty well," said Ethel. "Mrs. Ledwich has been away, so we have had
few meetings, and have been pretty quiet, except for an uproar about
the mistress beating that Franklin's girl--and what do you think I did,
Flora? I made bold to say the woman should show her to papa, to see if
she had done her any harm, and he found that it was all a fabrication
from one end to the other. So it ended in the poor girl being expelled,
and Mary and I have her twice a week, to see if there is any grace in
her."

"To reward her!" said Flora. "That is always your way--"

"Why, one cannot give the poor thing quite up," said Ethel.

"You will manage the ladies at last!" cried Flora.

"Not while Mrs. Ledwich is there!"

"I'll cope with her! But, come, I want you in my room--"

"May not I come?" said Meta. "I must see when--"

Flora held up her hand, and, while signing invitation, gave an arch look
to Meta to be