"I am so glad! And Miles's wife, I hope she will come. Poor thing,
she looks very poorly."

"Yes, I am very anxious about her. If she is not better in a day or
two, I shall insist on her having advice."

"Poor dear, I don't wonder! But she had better come to Strawyers;
Jenny will cheer her if any one can, and we shall have a nice lively
party, I hope! She will only mope the more if she never goes out."

"I am afraid she is hardly equal to it; besides, poor child," added
Mrs. Poynsett, "she seems to have been strictly brought up, and to
think our ways rather shocking; and Miles wrote to me not to press
her to go into society till he comes home."

"Ah! well, I call that a mistake!" puffed out good-humoured Mrs.
Bowater. "Very bad for the poor girl's spirits. By the bye, I hope
Julius does not object to Herbert's dancing--not at a public ball,
you know, but at home--for if he did, I would try to arrange
something else, it would be so hard for the poor boy to have to look
on."

"I don't know, I don't think he could," said the mother,
considering.

"You see, we thought of a dinner-party for as many as possible.
Frank and Charlie won't mind dining in the schoolroom, I know, and
having the rest for a dance in the evening; but if Julius did think
it unclerical--Jenny says he won't, and papa laughs, and says, 'Poh!
poh! Julius is no fool;' but people are so much more particular
than they used to be, and I would not get the dear boy into a scrape
for the world."

Mrs. Poynsett undertook to ascertain his opinions on this knotty
point, and to let her know if they were adverse; and then she begged
for a visit from Jenny, whose brother had no accommodation for her
in his lodgings. She could not be spared till after the
entertainment on the 3rd, nor till a visit from her married sister
was over; but afterwards, her mother was delighted that she should
come and look after Herbert, who seemed as much on the maternal mind
as if he had not batted his way through Eton, and boated it through
Oxford.

Mrs. Poynsett obtained her word with Julius in good time that
evening. He laughed a little. "Poor Herbs! when will people
understand that it is the spirit of the thing, the pursuit, not the
individual chance participation in any particular amusement, that is
unclerical, as they are pleased to call it?"

"What do you think of Herbert?"

"A boy, and a very nice boy; but if he doesn't get his healthful
play somehow, he