go,' said Sir Richard, observing Thomasina's air of discomfiture.

'I only said that it would be a good thing for her,' said Mrs. Grey, and Thomasina went up to her own room in great displeasure.

CHAPTER II.

MRS. GREY ordered new dresses for Thomasina from a noted London dressmaker, but her rebellious spirit was not to be appeased by such blandishments, and she set out on her visit to Ashleigh Court with a resolute determination not to enjoy herself. Life had not gone smoothly with her for some time; there was coldness and reserve between her and Mary, and it was tacitly understood that Robin's name should not be mentioned between them. Anthony, unconscious of the motive which prompted her enquiries, was ready enough to tell her all he knew, and from him Thomasina learned that Robin had passed for lieutenant and was appointed to the 'Arethusa,' a ship on the

China station. Anthony added that he was a lucky fellow to get such a chance of distinguishing himself in active service, instead of idling about at home, nor did it appear that Robin took a different view of his good fortune. But, however that might be, Thomasina resolved to remain heart-whole until his return. If then indeed he lacked courage to break through the trammels which his sister had thought fit to impose on him, she would think of him no more; in the meanwhile she thought of him a good deal.

Lady Camden and her daughters vied with each other in their expressions of satisfaction that Thomasina should at last have been induced to visit Ashleigh Court. Bessy and Florence Camden were good, uninteresting girls, who had been carefully drilled out of any originality they might once have possessed. They were highly accomplished-that is to say they practised with assiduity half-a-dozen

stock pieces of music, with which they always led off the musical performances at their own house; they talked British-French with ungrammatical fluency, and spoke their own language with a foreign accent; they dressed nicely and moved well, were very affectionate to other young ladies, and were quiet, without being at all shy, in their manners to young men. Thomasina was always less disposed to regret the deficiencies of her own education when she saw the results on which Lady Camden prided herself. In spite of the opinion she had expressed of Sir Harry, she found it more easy to converse with him than with his sisters, although he was too diffident of his powers of pleasing her ever to do himself justice in her presence. Thomasina had only seen the ladies of the house on her arrival, and, when she came in dressed for dinner, Sir Harry greeted her with effusion, and then retreated again after intro

ducing to her his cousin, Mr. Edward Noel. Lady Camden's apparent efforts to marshal her guests so as to reserve a place for Miss Bertram beside her son were overcome by Thomasina's passive resistance, and she found herself seated, in the middle of the long dinner table, between an elderly gentleman, of which she knew just enough to declare that he was uninteresting, and the Mr. Noel who had taken her in to dinner. He was a singular-looking man, pale and spare, with strong features and very black eyebrows. Thomasina thought of Robin's fair, boyish face and decided that she should not like him.

For some time nothing passed between them but the ordinary civilities of the table, but presently Mr. Noel asked, with startling abruptness, What ought we to talk about, Miss Bertram? You have cut off the usual supplies of conversation by declaring that