Wealth of Nations," grandfather? I think I have seen the name in running over the backs of the books, but I do not know on which shelf it lies.'

'Yes, I think I have the book somewhere,' replied Sir Richard; 'there was a good deal of talk about it when I was a young man. Adam Smith was a pragmatical Scotchman, who thought that he could set the world to rights with his newfangled notions.'

'Mr. Edward Noel, a nephew of Lady Camden's, who was staying in the house, said that it was impossible to understand politics without going back to first principles.'

'First fiddlesticks!' returned Sir Richard; 'how will they help me to let my farms when corn falls below the average at which it will pay to grow it?' However, he took some pains to lay his hand on Adam Smith's works, and wiped a thick layer of dust

from off the volume before he allowed Thomasina to touch it with her rosy fingers.

Mrs. Grey suspected that her bold move in Sir Harry's favour had not been successful, but she was not certain of the fact until Lady Camden called with her two daughters a day or two afterwards. The young ladies, responding to a hint from their mother, expressed a desire to see the garden, and this gave Lady Camden the opportunity of confiding to Mrs. Grey her uneasiness about the poor child whom she was quite ready to love as a daughter; she said that Thomasina was certainly a little flighty and too fond of admiration, and Edward Noel, of whom, although he was her nephew, she must say that she had a very indifferent opinion, had quite turned her head by the foolish attentions which men are so willing to pay to the pretty girls who encourage them. They were as unmeaning as they were

foolish, since poor Edward was in no position to marry, and it would be some time before he received another invitation to

Ashleigh Court.

Since Mrs. Grey was far from considering Sir Harry Camden the only suitable match for Thomasina in the neighbourhood, she was not disheartened by this admission of failure. She remarked that in that case Thomasina and Mr. Noel were very unlikely to meet again, and no great harm could have been done in a three days' visit and under Lady Camden's watchful eye. Most girls were ready enough to flirt when they were properly, or improperly, encouraged to do so, and she did not pretend to consider her niece more modest or discreet than her contemporaries. Thomasina meanwhile was gleaning scraps of information from her companions on the terrace walk. Is all your party broken

up?' she asked.

They are all gone but Edward Noel, and he goes to-morrow,' replied Florence Camden.

He wished to come here with us to-day, only it was not convenient for mamma to have the large carriage,' added Bessy incautiously; and I am sorry to confess that the admission provoked an inward comment from Thomasina that Lady Camden was a spiteful, ill-natured old thing. She instantly resolved to defy any inference that might be drawn from her words, and said,

Do tell him how sorry I am not to see him again before he leaves the neighbourhood. I was particularly anxious to talk over Smith's "Wealth of Nations" with him; say that I began to read it the day I came home, and do not find it nearly as dry as he predicted.'

Florence thought it possible that she might forget the message, while Bessy astutely con

sidered the dislike which most men express to female politicians and promised to deliver

it.

It was a great pleasure to Mary Bertram to find herself forgiven and again on the old familiar terms with Thomasina. She went and came to the cottage, she petted the children, and tried, as fruitlessly as ever, to interest Sir Richard in their wise sayings; and she evinced her renewed confidence in Mary by expatiating on Aunt Thomasina's many offences, whose visit, as she declared, would never come to an end. The end was,

however, reached at last, and Mrs. Grey fired her parting shot after the carriage which was to convey her had come to the door.

'Well, good-bye, Thomasina. I hope that you will go on quietly and get into no scrapes before I see you again. It would be a great satisfaction to me to hear that you had given