“Oh, no, I dare say not,” returned Carrie. “’Lena was never accustomed to anything until she came to Kentucky, and now I suppose she thinks she must go into ecstacies over everything, though I sometimes wish she wouldn’t betray her ignorance quite so often.” “According to her description, her home in Massachusetts was widely different from her present one,” said Durward, and Carrie quickly replied, “I wonder now if she bored you with an account of her former home! You must have been edified, and had a delightful ride, I declare.” “And I assure you I never had a pleasanter one, for Miss Rivers is, I think, an exceedingly agreeable companion,” returned Durward, beginning to see the drift of her remarks. Here Mr. Graham called to his son, and excusing himself from Carrie, he did not again return to her until it was time to go home. Meantime, at Maple Grove, Mrs. Livingstone, in the worst possible humor, was finding fault with poor ’Lena, accusing her of eavesdropping, and asking her if she did not begin to believe the old adage, that listeners never heard any good of themselves. In perfect astonishment ’Lena demanded what she meant, saying she had never, to her knowledge, been guilty of listening. Without any explanation, whatever, Mrs. Livingstone declared herself “satisfied now, for a person who would listen and then deny it, was capable of almost anything.” “What do you mean, madam ?” said ’Lena, her temper getting the ascendency. “Explain yourself, for no one shall accuse me of lying without an attempt to prove it.” With a sneer Mrs. Livingstone replied, “I wonder what you can do! Will you bring to your assistance some one of your numerous admirers?” “Admirers! What admirers?” asked ’Lena, and her aunt replied, “I’ll give you credit for feigning the best of any one I ever saw, but you can’t deceive me. I know very well of your intrigues to entrap Mr. Bellmont. But it is not strange that you should inherit something of your mother’s nature; and you know what she was!” This was too much, and with eyes flashing fire through the glittering tears, which shone like diamonds, ’Lena sprang to her feet, exclaiming, “Yes, I do know what she was. She was a far more worthy woman than you, and if in my presence you dare again breathe aught against her name, you shall rue it——” “That she shall, so help me heaven,” murmured a voice near, which neither Mrs. Livingstone nor ’Lena heard, nor were they aware of any one’s presence until Mr. Graham suddenly appeared in the doorway. At his wife’s request he had exchanged places with his son, and riding on before the rest, had reached home first, being just in time to overhear the last part of the conversation between Mrs. Livingstone and ’Lena. Instantly changing her manner, Mrs. Livingstone motioned her niece from the room, heaving a deep sigh as the door closed after her, and saying that “none but those who had tried it knew what a thankless job it was to rear the offspring of others.”