THE following evening Evelyn fulfilled her engagement, and punctually at eight o’clock arrived at the Duchess’s apartments, where, according to promise, she was introduced to the Miss Hazelhursts. These ladies were the sisters of the late, and aunts of the present Squire of Hazelhurst, in the beautiful Weald of Kent. They were now very old, and were passing a happy and serene old age, honoured and beloved by all who knew them. The Miss Hazelhursts were twins; but as Miss Grace had come into the world some three minutes before her sister, Miss Apollonia, it was settled between them that the former should on all occasions have the precedence, and be considered as the possessor of all the rights and privileges of primogeniture. The two old sisters loved each other tenderly, and in fact their only rivalry was in acts of kindness and in works of charity. It was “as good as a play” to hear Miss Apollonia ascribing all the attributes of maturer wisdom to Miss Grace, and to see Miss Grace deferring to the more youthful and vigorous intellect of Miss Apollonia. In person the Miss Hazelhursts were, like most twins, almost exactly alike, but, unlike most twins, who commonly take a malicious and hateful pleasure in confounding and mystifying their acquaintances, they made a point of dressing in distinct colours; thus Miss Grace (the elder) had always about her a ribbon or something of a pale flame-colour, while Miss Apollonia (the younger) wore trimmings of sea-green. This was done, doubtless, from a true ladylike wish to give as little trouble as possible to others. By friends, as well as by those to whom they actually stood in that near relationship, the twins were known far and wide as “the Aunts,” and in every act of their life they studied to justify that name of respect and affection. The old ladies would have been rich, but they had in their souls the royal gift of generosity to so great an extent, that they were compelled at times to curtail their personal expenses. No poor relation (and they had many) ever visited them without departing with a substantial proof of their liberality; no schoolboy ever bid them farewell untipped, and for friends and relatives alike they seemed to have an inexhaustible stock of beautiful gifts of old china, antique lace, pieces of ancient jewellery, and other choice and valuable nick-nacks. In politics the sisters were high Tories of the old pre-d’Israeli school, but no one had a tenderer love or more sisterly compassion for the poor than they had; and when, years ago, it was proposed to admit the public to the Palace gardens upon Sundays, it was the refusal of the Miss Hazelhursts to sign a memorial to the Queen against that humane and salutary reform, which went far to confer that priceless boon upon the working classes of the slums of London.