When they returned to the little breakfast parlour, in which the old gentleman had dined alone, Kate Marston said-- "Arthur, if you and Mrs. Franklyn are going househunting, suppose you leave the children here for a few days, they would like it, I suppose." "Oh yes, indeed we should," exclaimed Clara, answering for the rest, whose bright faces confirmed what she said; "and I can take care of Albert, and dress and wash him if I may." "If you stay longer than another day I will send nurse with your clothes," said Arthur. "Oh, have you the same nurse here in England, of whom poor Fanny spoke so highly in her letter to me?" said Henry. "Did she speak of a nurse?" exclaimed Arthur, concealing his surprise that his brother-in-law should have had a letter about the boy; "then it must be the same, for she has been with us more than fourteen years." "Then send her down here as soon as you like, for if you can spare the children for a week we shall be glad to have them." To this Arthur readily acceded, and then, as the carriage was announced, he said to Dr. Halford: "This has been such a hurried visit, Doctor, and I have so much to hear and so much to tell; but we must come again as soon as we have fixed upon a house and spend a long day with you all. You have taken your degree at Oxford, Henry," he continued, turning to the window where the uncle was amusing the little nephew who had been left to his care by his dying sister; "and I suppose you are soon going up for ordination?" "Not till Trinity," he replied. "You know I am obliged to be here as much as possible now my father is disabled; I took up my Master's degree in June last year." There were quick farewells and fond embracing of the children as they rose to leave. "Good-by, papa--good-by, mamma," was echoed from one to the other as the carriage drove off; and then Louisa Franklyn turned to her husband and said, "Well, this is a comfort, Arthur: at last I shall have your society all to myself for a week without the constant trouble and anxiety of those children." But Arthur Franklyn's recollections of the past were too strong just then to make him thankful to get rid of his children. "I'm afraid I shall have to pay dearly for Louisa's fortune if I do get it," was his very uncomplimentary reflection. CHAPTER XXV. COUNTRY COUSINS. Mr. Armstrong was seated in his private room one afternoon two days after the arrival of Mr. Franklyn and his family at Englefield Grange. So deeply was he absorbed in calculating the profit and loss of some recent speculations that a knock at the door startled him, and he answered, in an impetuous tone, "Come in!" The young clerk who obeyed the impatient command could only falter out, "A lady wishes to see you, sir," and the very next moment a middle-aged lady, with a youth of sixteen entered the room and stood before its irritable occupant.