so useful in the conversation;--a most accomplished man, my dear. But this Mr. Snodgrass is different, dining out does not appear to be his forte; though he is a most excellent man, and I am sure we ought to appreciate him highly. But, as I was saying, this little Mary Brown was always a favourite of mine--a nice, quiet, soft little thing, and so bright and pretty, just like one of your charming posies there, and quite a relief on a grey colourless afternoon like this. But here is Briggs to say Miss Brown is ready to receive us. Come.' They passed into an adjoining apartment, where, seated in an elbow chair by the fire, was Mary. She was wrapped in a large white peignoir, and her hair, gathered in a knot behind, had partly escaped from the comb, and fell in a stream of sunny brown across her shoulders. 'Mary, my dear, keep your seat, and try to get rested,' said Lady Caroline. 'Why, child, how like your mother you grow! and so pretty! I was so fond of your mother, my dear, and you remind me of her. I hope they have attended to you, and brought you whatever you want. Be sure and ask Briggs for anything that has been forgotten.' And so she went on in a continuous monody, while the younger women listened; for, when Lady Caroline felt disposed to talk, she gave little heed to what was said by any one else, but followed the tangled thread of her own ideas, never doubting but they must be as interesting to persons of lower degree, as she found them herself. An Earl's daughter, and of a historical house, she deemed nothing so reverent as its traditional glories, and insisted with gracious pertinacity on the full measure of deference according thereto; and there is little doubt that when in after years she was duly gathered to her noble fathers, it would not have been the 'Law and the Testimony,' but the tables of precedence that would have been found graven on her heart. In one house at the other end of the county she had been led out to dinner behind the daughter of a more recent creation, but she had never crossed that threshold since, nor were the offenders ever again permitted to share in the festivities of Inchbracken. 'Well, girls, here comes Briggs with my tea, so I shall leave you to your own chit-chat; it will be half-an-hour yet before the dressing-bell rings.' Julia drew her seat nearer to the fire, and spread her hands to the cheerful blaze: like the cats, she loved warmth.