the unmixed delight which the prospect of the visit afforded to her brother and sister; still less, when meeting the affectionate welcome of Lady Rutherford, and perceiving the pleasure that her arrival occasioned.

"But you are not looking well, Janet," said her friend, "I am afraid that you have been suffering again from those headaches that you mentioned."

"Yes," replied Janet, "I have a little." "I am sorry to hear it; it is very well you are come here, that you may have a thorough long rest. I am afraid you are not sufficiently careful of yourself when you are at home; now, however, that I have you under my charge, I hope I shall soon see you looking very differentlyand I shall certainly not let you go away till you are quite strong again."

Janet thanked her friend for her kindness, colouring deeply meanwhile; for she

knew but too well that it was not the headaches alone that were to blame for her altered appearance.

"Why, ma'am, how thin you are become," exclaimed Lady Rutherford's maid, when she assisted Janet to change her dress; "this dress fitted you exactly when you were here last now, see, how much too large it is!"

Poor Janet! she could only reply by a mournful shake of the head, feeling very wretched, and very much ashamed of herself.

After dinner it was still so light, that Lady Rutherford proposed a stroll in the garden.

"I hoped that Henry would have dined with us to-day," said she, as they passed out, "but he was not able to do so. I find..." she stopped suddenly, to remove the branch of a trailing rose that had become entangled with her dress.

"Now she is going to tell me about the Italian lady," thought Janet, and she grew quite warm.

"How these roses have grown since last year," observed Lady Rutherford with a sigh; "they must have been beautiful in the summer; Dale tells me they were never so fine before-and Henry says the samethough I do not fancy he was very often

here."

"He would hardly care to come while you were away," remarked Janet.

"I know very little of his proceedings altogether during our absence," pursued Lady Rutherford; "there has been so much to do and to think of since, and at Florence..."

"Now it is coming! Yes," said Janet,

"at Florence ..."

"We will not talk of that time, my dear child! Let us go down the steps-the grass must be quite dry-I want to see what they have been putting into those beds across the lawn."

"Why does she always stop short?" thought Janet. "I do wish so much to hear all about it! She cannot surely fancy that... that I shall mind it...? oh, no, for I hope, I think, she can know nothing of what Sir Henry once thought of. Perhaps it is still a secret, that neither Mrs. Jasper Smith nor Mrs. Rigby ought to have known...or perhaps Lady Rutherford does not like it... that is not quite impossible... and so she would rather not talk of it; or, after all, it may not be true!"

This last was not a pleasant supposition; Janet had so completely, since she had first heard the report, made up her mind to its truth, thinking the whole affair so very interesting, that she felt she should be quite disappointed should it prove entirely without foundation.

They walked about among the flower

beds, passing from one to the other, stooping down to examine the young plants and to read the labels, and then, when it grew too dusk to make any more discoveries there, Lady Rutherford drew her young friend's arm within her own, and as they passed slowly up and down the broad gravel walk before the drawing-room windows, she entered once more upon the subject of the dispute with Mr. Hartley, and the various new prospects and probabilities of the case.

To Janet, who had never seen very thoroughly or clearly into the many intricacies of the business, and to whom the several genealogies involved had always been terrible stumbling blocks in the way of arriving at its comprehension, the present explanations and additional particulars served but little towards its elucidation. She was, however, striving hard to understand, and steadily following her friend's