e has been doing it more thoroughly."

"Oh, mamma!" was Henrietta's reproachful exclamation, as she looked at
her pale face and red swollen eyelids.

"Never mind, my dears," said she, trying to smile, "I shall be better
now this is done, and I have it off my mind." They looked at her in
anxious interrogation, and she smiled outright with lip and eye. "You
will seal that letter with a good will, Henrietta," she said. "It is to
ask Uncle Geoffrey to make inquiries about the Pleasance."

"Mamma!" and they stood transfixed at a decision beyond their hopes:
then Henrietta exclaimed--

"No, no, mamma, it will be too much for you; you must not think of it."

"Yes," said Fred; "indeed we agreed this morning that it would be
better not. Put it out of your head, mamma, and go on here in peace and
comfort. I am sure it suits you best."

"Thank you, thank you, my dear ones," said she, drawing them towards
her, and fondly kissing them, "but it is all settled, and I am sure it
is better for you. It is but a dull life for you here."

"O no, no, no, dearest mamma: nothing can be dull with you," cried
Henrietta, wishing most sincerely to undo her own work. "We are, indeed
we are, as happy as the day is long. Do not fancy we are discontented;
do not think we want a change."

Mrs. Langford replied by an arch though subdued smile.

"But we would not have you to do it on our account," said Fred. "Pray
put it out of your head, for we do very well here, and it was only a
passing fancy."

"You will not talk me out of it, my dears," said Mrs. Langford. "I know
it is right, and it shall be done. It is only the making up my mind that
was the struggle, and I shall look forward to it as much as either of
you, when I know it is to be done. Now walk off, my dears, and do not
let that letter be too late for the post."

"I do not half like it," said Fred, pausing at the door.

"I have not many fears on that score," said she, smiling. "No, do not
be uneasy about me, my dear Fred, it is my proper place, and I must be
happy there. I shall like to be near the Hall, and to see all the dear
old places again."

"O, mamma, you cannot talk about them without your voice quivering,"
said Henrietta. "You do not know how I wish you would give it up!"

"Give it up! I would not for millions," said Mrs. Langford. "Now go, my
dears, and perhaps I shall go to sleep again."

The spirits of the brother and sister did not just at first rise enough
for rej