ed away his face.

Sir Ratcliffe took up his gun. 'God bless you, dear Kate,' he said; 'a
pleasant drive and a choice sketch. We shall meet at dinner.'

'At dinner, dear uncle; and better sport than yesterday.'

'Ha! ha!' said Sir Ratcliffe. 'But Armine is not like Grandison. If
I were in the old preserves, you should have no cause to jeer at my
sportsmanship.'

Miss Grandison's good wishes were prophetic: Sir Ratcliffe found
excellent sport, and returned home very late, and in capital spirits. It
was the dinner-hour, and yet Katherine and Glastonbury had not returned.
He was rather surprised. The shades of evening were fast descending, and
the distant lawns of Armine were already invisible; the low moan of the
rising wind might be just distinguished; and the coming night promised
to be raw and cloudy, perhaps tempestuous. Sir Ratcliffe stood before
the crackling fire in the dining-room, otherwise in darkness, but the
flame threw a bright yet glancing light upon the Snyders, so that the
figures seemed really to move in the shifting shades, the eye of the
infuriate boar almost to emit sparks of rage, and there wanted but
the shouts of the huntsmen and the panting of the dogs to complete the
tumult of the chase.

Just as Sir Ratcliffe was anticipating some mischance to his absent
friends, and was about to steal upon tip-toe to Lady Armine, who was
with Ferdinand, to consult her, the practised ear of a man who lived
much in the air caught the distant sound of wheels, and he went out to
welcome them.

'Why, you are late,' said Sir Ratcliffe, as the phaeton approached the
house. 'All right, I hope?'

He stepped forward to assist Miss Grandison. The darkness of the evening
prevented him from observing her swollen eyes and agitated countenance.
She sprang out of the carriage in silence, and immediately ran up into
her room. As for Glastonbury, he only observed it was very cold, and
entered the house with Sir Ratcliffe.

'This fire is hearty,' said Glastonbury, warming himself before it:
'you have had good sport, I hope? We are not to wait dinner for Miss
Grandison, Sir Ratcliffe. She will not come down this evening; she is
not very well.'

'Not very well: ah! the cold, I fear. You have been imprudent in staying
so late. I must run and tell Lady Armine.'

'Oblige me, I pray, by not doing so,' said Glastonbury; 'Miss Grandison
most particularly requested that she should not be disturbed.'

It was with some difficul