"She's the prettiest girl I ever saw," he said to his aunts, after he had lit his pipe, and May had retired for the night. "It's a sweet face certainly," sighed Miss Eliza. "It's more than a sweet face," answered Ralph Webster, in his energetic way; "it's a beautiful face. What did Temple say about her to you, Aunt Margaret, when he wrote?" "He said she was his cousin, his young cousin, and would we take her in, and be kind to her for a fortnight or so, when he would come up to town to join her." "Lucky dog!" laughed Ralph Webster. "And," continued Miss Webster, with a sudden blush spreading over her faded complexion, "he inclosed a check, a ridiculously large check, for her expenses, and asked us to take her out a little to see the sights, as she has never been in London before. It's a bad time of the year certainly for sights; but still perhaps you will help us a little, Ralph, to amuse her till you go on your holiday?" "For a young woman who has never been in town there are always plenty of 'sights,' as you call them, to be seen in London. Yes, Aunt Margaret, I shall be glad to escort you and Aunt Eliza and the country cousin anywhere you like during the next few days." "How good of you, Ralph!" exclaimed Aunt Margaret. "So good!" chimed Aunt Eliza. "Good to myself, I should suggest," said Ralph Webster. And then after one or two vigorous puffs at his pipe he drew it out of his lips for a moment or two. "By the by," he said, "how was it you got to know this Mr. Temple? I forget." "Oh, my dear," answered Aunt Margaret, with another sudden blush spreading over her faded skin, which was also reflected on Aunt Eliza's gentle face, "it was at the time--well, when our dear father was taken from us, and of course the pecuniary advantages of his living expired with him. We were thus left very badly off, and had our dear mother to consider. Therefore, when Mrs. Mason, our dear mother's only sister, heard of our position she proposed that we should take a house in town, and bring the furniture up, and--well, try to take in lodgers or boarders. It was, of course, a great trial to my dear sister and myself, but we felt it was our duty, and we did it, and Mr. Temple, who was a much younger man then, stayed with us three years, and we have regarded him with sincere friendship ever since. He is quite a gentleman, in word and deed, and it was a pleasure to have him with us, though, considering poor Aunt Mason's ample means, and that she had no family of her own, I almost wonder she liked her nieces to receive strangers under their roof; particularly when she meant to leave us independent a few years afterward, which she did." "So this was how you got to know Mr. Temple?" said Ralph Webster, after listening to Miss Margaret's long explanation. "He's a barrister, you say, but does not practice? I must look up his name."