My father smiled, and said he did not know exactly; but we were to be sure and ask her. "In the meantime, my boy," continued he, "take my word for it, old maids are not all ugly and cross and selfish, as Sarah says. I am afraid she must have been unfortunate in her acquaintance with old maids. By the way, Frank, it is better to say 6 unmarried ladies;' it is not considered respectful or polite to call a lady an old maid. No gentleman, you know, is ever disrespectful to ladies, or to any one, indeed; least of all to those who are unprotected in the world.”

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Unprotected! I do not understand, papa. I do not understand, papa. I thought Aunt Margaret was grown up; quite an old woman, indeed. Do grown-up people want to be protected ever?" "Yes, my dear; very often. But we will wait till you are a little older before I try to explain to you that grown-up women sometimes want protectors as much as little boys and girls. Look there! That is the great gate of Carleton Park. See! that is the castle a long way down the avenue." strained my eyes, but I could only distinguish a large building in the distance.

I

“Are we going in at that beautiful gate, papa?" cried I, lost in wonder at the griffins that seemed to be playing with a golden ball at the top of the great stone gateway. At this moment the chaise stopped, and the post-boy called out, “Hoy! hoy! hulloh!" A woman came out from the lodge, and to my father's request that she would open the gate, replied in what seemed to me a foreign language. But my father understood it, and said to the postboy, "Very well, then. Drive on to the middle gate." We drove on for another half mile, and then entered the park by the middle gate, which had no lodge, and was always kept unlocked for the convenience of the villagers who had communication with the castle. This gate led into a drive cut through a wood. It was May; the birds were singing their evensong; the setting sun cast a yellow light over the surface of the ground under the trees, just freshly decked with young leaves, bright as those of Paradise. I had never seen a wood in spring-time before, and

was amazed by the beauty around me. My father was delighted with my delight, after the manner of parents.

"Look, look, papa! Thousands and thousands of blue flowers! Oh, hyacinths are they? How very pretty they are! Oh, and there are primroses-such heaps and heaps! May I get out? Oh, do let us, papa! I never saw such green trees. They all look as if God had made them fresh to-day! Oh, what is that thing, there ?-Brown, with bright eyes, running up that tree? What, is that a real, right-down, wild squirrel? Oh, oh! See how he is peeping down! Oh, papa, papa! what a beautiful place! I never thought Carleton was anything like this."

And I threw myself into my father's arms in a transport of pleasure, so pure, so vivid, that it was the fitting inauguration of my life in that place.

It was nearly dark when we drove into a paved courtyard. I had been too much excited to watch for our approach to the castle itself. When I heard the noise of the chaise on the stones, I jumped up from my father's embrace, and stretched my head out of the window. But I quickly drew it back again, and put my hand into my father's.

"Well, my boy, what is the matter ?" he asked, soothingly. "Oh, nothing, papa," I replied.

The postboy got down and opened the chaise-door. We alighted, and I looked around me, still holding tight by my father's hand. The evening shades were fast covering the place. The large deserted court, that echoed the slightest footfall, was at that hour gloomy enough to strike terror into the heart of a child, even in robust health; for me, sickly, weary with excitement, and faint with hunger as I was, it had an indescribable horror. Though I knew that the great blackness which reared itself all around me was a castle, I dared not look at it a second time. The one glimpse I had caught when I put my head out of the chaise inspired me with a strange fancy. I recollect it well. The place looked to me like two things which were especially frightful to me. It was like a picture of the Castle of Udolpho, which Sarah

never liked me to look at, and it was like our county gaol, which I had once seen-gazing at it in mute horror while Sarah told me about the wicked murderers and thieves who were shut up there till they were taken out to be hanged. -And this was my first feeling on seeing Carleton Castle. I dared not look up, lest I should see it again; fear fastened my young feet to the earth. My father tried to lead me; I clung to his hand with a convulsive clasp. Something in my throat prevented my screaming; a cold shudder ran through me, and I sank'down on the pavement insensible.

I was half conscious again; but my eyelids seemed too heavy to lift. I felt a soft, warm air around me, and there was a smell like that of my mother's dressing-room.

eau de cologne, I knew.

It was

Was I back again at home? I

moved my eyes a little-No!

That little showed me that the

sofa on which I lay was red-mamma's sofa was blue. Then

I heard some one say:

"He is recovering, poor child!"

"Ah! whose voice is that ?" I asked mentally: but I was too exhausted to look up.

"Frank! What, my little Frank!”

This time it was my father spoke.

I felt his face close to

mine, and I made a feeble effort to kiss him.

"That's right, my darling!" he said tenderly. "So you are quite knocked up with your long journey, and want something to eat. Come, see what your Aunt Margaret has got for you." "Aunt Margaret," I murmured "Is she here ?" But I did not move my head from my father's shoulder. Even the pleasure of a first look at this long-talked-of relative could not rouse me. I felt a spoon at my lips, and mechanically swallowed its contents. Then came a second and a third.

At length my eyes opened, and the first thing I saw was a lady kneeling beside the sofa where I lay. She held a silver cup, from which she was feeding me. This was my Aunt Margaret.

I do not know how to convey to the reader's mind a

correct idea of my aunt, Margaret Hastings;-Miss Hastings of the Castle, as she was called by everybody of high and low degree in and about Carleton. If I were to say that her features were not regular, but that she had the power of being more beautiful than any regular accredited beauty that I ever saw, you would think I talked nonsense; and yet, after much thought on the subject, that is the nearest approach that I can make to a correct expression of my meaning.

I suppose I was not less greedy than most little boys—but certain it is that my attention was not at all attracted by the pretty cup and its delicious contents; perhaps I was too fatigued; or the nervous system of my little body was too excited for the stomach to perform its proper work and crave food eagerly after a long fast. My mental faculties, however, must have been more than usually active, for the impression they received on that first sight of my aunt will never be effaced. How clearly does my memory recall every minute circumstance of that, the most remarkable evening in my childish existence !

As she knelt before me, her eyes on a level with mine, I looked straight into them, with the eager curiosity of a child. How long I looked I do not know; but there seemed to be a long pause, during which we neither of us moved an eyelash. I saw tears gathering in those clear brown eyes of hers; and darting forward from my father's knee, utterly regardless of the nice compound in that beautiful cup, I threw my little arms round Aunt Margaret's neck, and clasped her tight.

Why, Margaret," said my father, laughingly, after a few minutes, "this is a clear case of love at first sight!" He then added, more gravely, "I had no idea the boy had this in him. This over-susceptibility is quite new to me. I never suspected anything of the kind. How will he bear contact with the world? I must look to you for help here, Margaret."

"God will care for His own; He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," replied my aunt; and she pressed a long kiss on my forehead. I opened my eyes once more.

"Can Frank stand now?" she asked gently. I tried to rise immediately, for I felt that she wished me to do so; and, at that moment, it would not have been possible for me to resist her will. Perhaps this was the effect of animal magnetism, perhaps it was merely the force of childlike obedience.

We both stood up, and I still held by my aunt's hand. "He had better go to bed directly, I suppose," said my father.

"Oh, no, no, no!" I exclaimed passionately, clinging to my aunt, in mingled dread of the anticipated old tapestried bed, and the fear of losing sight of this suddenly loved relation.

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"No," she said; "he is over-excited now, and had better remain with us till he is calmer. He shall lie here while we take tea." And suiting the action to the word, she lifted me to the sofa again. There, that is better than going to bed all by oneself. Is it not, Frank?" And she settled me comfortably, in a sitting posture, among the soft pillows, so that I might amuse myself by seeing all that went on in the room. Then she sat down beside me, and said, "You are to sleep in my bedroom to-night; and you shall not go to bed till I go." I suppose my face expressed the great relief this information was to my mind; for my aunt laughed, and said, "Ah, you see, Frank, I know everything than is in little boys' minds. Now sit still, darling, and you shall have some nice tea; though you did throw over all the egg-wine, and spoil my best silk gown. Look at this, Master Frank!" And she held out the skirt of her gown, which had been deluged with the contents of the pretty silver cup.

I was now getting quite myself again, and enjoyed the tea and the sandwiches, and listening to the conversation upon all sorts of family matters which took place between my father and his sister. But when they began to talk of persons with whom I was unacquainted, I did not listen any longer, but amused myself with examining the room in which we were.