thinking all the time of the young pheasants; but on the whole, perhaps, the mother’s were not the least elevated thoughts. “I am so very glad to be the first to welcome you home, Mr. Arden,” she said. “We don’t know each other yet--at least we two individuals don’t know each other; but the Ardens and the Thornleighs have been friends these hundreds of years. How many hundreds, Clare? You girls are so dreadfully well-informed now-a-days, I never dare open my lips. And I hope now your sister will go out a little more, and come to us a little more. She has been such a little hermit all her life.” “She shall not be a hermit now, if I can help it,” said Edgar. And he was pleased with the kindness of the elder woman, who was still a handsome woman, and gracious in her manner, as became a great lady. He sat down by her, as was his duty, but without thinking it was his duty--another sign of the spontaneousness which puzzled Clare, and gave Edgar’s simple ways their greatest charm. And the fact was that Lady Augusta, without in the least meaning it, was captivated by the young man. “He is not the least like an Arden,” she said to her husband, as they drove away; “he has not their stiffness, any more than their black hair. I think he is charming. There is something very nice in a foreign education, you know. One would not choose it for one’s own boys; but it does give a certain character when you meet with it by accident. Young men in general are so frightfully like each other,” she added, with a sigh. Mr. Thornleigh gave a half articulate grunt, being full of calculations about the partridges; besides, the young men did not trouble him much. He was not called upon to remember which was which, and to hear them say exactly the same things to his girls ball after ball. Lady Augusta’s sigh turned into a half yawn as she glanced back upon all her experiences. He was just about the age and about the height for Gussy. Gussy was a small, little thing, and Edgar was not tall. He would not answer at all for the stately Helena, who was five feet ten. And then, if the mother had a weakness, it was for little Gussy of all her children. And it would be so nice to have her settled so near. “But just because it is so nice, and would be so desirable, of course it will never come to pass,” she said to herself, with another sigh. She had left an invitation behind her, and had made up her mind it should not be her fault if it came to nothing. Thus Edgar was assailed by altogether unexpected dangers the very day after his return.