"You will both, I hope, fare better from the hands of Mr. I----- or Mr. S-----," said Charlie, with some little embarrassment. Mr. Ellsworth, who had been standing near the group, now asked Elinor to sing. "What will you have?" she replied, taking a seat at the piano. "Anything you please." "Pray then give us Robin Adair, Miss Elinor," said Charlie. Elinor sang the well-known song with greater sweetness than usual--she was decidedly in good voice; both Charlie and Harry listened with great pleasure as they stood by her side; Jane was also sitting near the piano, and seemed more interested in the music than usual; it was a song which the young widow had so often heard, in what she now looked back to as the happy days of her girlhood. More than one individual in the room thought it charming to listen to Elinor and look at Jane, at the same instant. Several of the gentlemen then sang, and the party broke up cheerfully. Little was it thought, that never again could the same circle be re-united at Wyllys-Roof; all who crossed the threshold that night were not to return. CHAPTER XX. {XLIII} "I pr'ythee hear me speak!" Richard III. {William Shakespeare, "Richard III", IV.iv.180} HAZLEHURST had gone out with his friends, and continued walking on the piazza, first with Charlie and then with Ellsworth; at length Mrs. Stanley called him from the window to say good-bye, as she did not expect to see him again before the cruise; the other ladies also wished him a pleasant excursion at the same moment. "Good fishing and no musquitoes {sic}--which, I take it, is all that is desirable on such an occasion," said Mrs. Creighton, smiling brightly but carelessly, as she offered her hand. "Thank you; I suppose you have no commands for Cape Cod?" "None at all, I believe, unless you can bring us the true Yankee receipt for chowder, which Mr. Stryker was explaining this evening." "You will be off so early to-morrow that we shall scarcely see you, Harry," said Miss Wyllys. "You must come back to us, however, and fall into the old habit of considering Wyllys-Roof as home, whenever you please," she added kindly. Harry's thanks were expressed with feeling. "And in the mean time I hope you will have a pleasant cruise," said Elinor. "Fair winds and better prospects attend you!"--and as she raised her eyes, Harry observed they had filled with tears when she made this allusion to his difficulties. Perhaps Ellsworth made the same remark, and appreciated her kindness; for when Elinor turned to wish him good-night we strongly suspect that his countenance said so; there could be no doubt at least, that she blushed at the time, though pale but a moment before. After the ladies had gone, Mr. Wyllys and Ellsworth went off together, and Harry returned to the piazza.