“So she has, grandmother, I had forgotten her. Indeed, it seems to me as if I forget every thing but myself. Of course, the boys must be consulted.” “They must, at least, be informed.” “Oh! how I wish it could be done at once; but if that is impossible, we can, at least, go and see this new house.” The old lady put on a neat crape bonnet which Anna had made for her, and covered the darns in her dress with an old black shawl, good in its time, but worn thin as muslin in places. She looked neat, and like a perfect gentlewoman; and would have appeared so in any dress, for with her, innate refinement was independent of costume. Anna had been sitting in her bonnet and shawl, for she had taken a long walk after her interview with Joseph, which ended in that call on Miss Halstead, during which the business of the house had been settled. Georgiana had received her with more than kindness. There was something shy and tender in her manner inexpressibly touching. It seemed as if she were accepting a favor, rather than conferring one, when a second offer of the house was made. Old Mrs. Halstead had been called in to the conference, and seemed delighted at the prospect of securing such unexceptionable inmates for her house. “It is a little box of a place in the edge of the town, so small that I find it difficult to obtain a tenant that suits me. Besides, I may sometimes wish to live in it myself.” “You! grandmamma?” exclaimed Georgiana. “Yes. When my pretty grandchild here gets tired of petting me, or loves some other person enough to leave me.” “That I never shall—never!” answered Georgie. “Now it is impossible.” The old lady laid a hand on her young head with a queenly sort of tenderness, and said, “Hush, child, hush! I do not like to hear you talk in this way.” “What! do you want me to leave you?” answered Georgie, rallying her sprightliness; “that is very unkind, grandmamma.” There was something sad and a little out of the common way here, which Anna did not understand. Was it possible that this beautiful young creature, living in the very lap of wealth, could have her anxieties and feel the heartache as she did? The thought made her look on Georgie with more interest; a growing sympathy was fast springing up between these two girls, so far apart in the social strata, but so close together in that refinement of heart and mind which makes high natures kin. “If you can go to-day,” said Georgie, “I will meet you at the house and do the honors.” So it was arranged; and Anna went home, brightened a little by this change in her existence, to consult her grandmother, and prepare for the appointment she had made.