of preparation for the duties of her future life. He was
one of those few wise men who have determined not to take a partner
in life at hazard, but to mould a young mind and character to those
pursuits and modes of thought which may best fit a woman for the
duties she will have to perform. What little it may be necessary to
know of the earlier years of Mary Snow shall be told hereafter. Here
it will be only necessary to say that she was an orphan, that as yet
she was little more than a child, and that she owed her maintenance
and the advantage of her education to the charity and love of her
destined husband. Therefore, as I have said, it was manifest that
Felix Graham could not think of falling in love with Miss Staveley,
even had not his very low position, in reference to worldly affairs,
made any such passion on his part quite hopeless. But with Peregrine
Orme the matter was different. There could be no possible reason why
Peregrine Orme should not win and wear the beautiful girl whom he so
much admired.

But the ghosts are kept standing over their flames, the spirit is
becoming exhausted, and the raisins will be burnt. At snap-dragon,
too, the ghosts here had something to do. The law of the game is
this--a law on which Marian would have insisted had not the flames
been so very hot--that the raisins shall become the prey of those
audacious marauders only who dare to face the presence of the ghost,
and to plunge their hands into the burning dish. As a rule the boys
do this, clawing out the raisins, while the girls pick them up and
eat them. But here at Noningsby the boys were too little to act thus
as pioneers in the face of the enemy, and the raisins might have
remained till the flames were burnt out, had not the beneficent ghost
scattered abroad the richness of her own treasures.

"Now, Marian," said Felix Graham, bringing her up in his arms.

"But it will burn, Mr. Felix. Look there; see; there are a great many
at that end. You do it."

"I must have another kiss then."

"Very well, yes; if you get five." And then Felix dashed his hand in
among the flames and brought forth a fistful of fruit, which imparted
to his fingers and wristband a smell of brandy for the rest of the
evening.

"If you take so many at a time I shall rap your knuckles with the
spoon," said the ghost, as she stirred up the flames to keep them
alive.

"But the ghost shouldn't speak," said Marian, who was evidently
unacquainted with the be