You ought to be ashamed of yourself for even thinking of absolutely cheating this poor little girl out of the fortune your poor Uncle George most certainly meant for her." the sofa. In front of her, standing with | able to judge for yourselves. I hope to his back to the fire, stood a very tall and find you in a better frame of mind. very handsome specimen of the Houghton family. Lady Jane found herself in a somewhat embarrassing position. It had never even entered her head that the most natural thing in the world would occur, namely, that her favorite nephew, on hear- "My conscience is clear," he said ing of his uncle's will, would immediately laughing. “If she had been perfectly run down to Holliwell to talk it over with | hideous, this Amelia Houghton, then inher. He had arrived without warning deed I might have felt bound, but as it that afternoon. is "Oh Charlie, Charlie," she said, "I little thought that you were so utterly destitute of common sense." "My dear aunt, I can't for the life of me see what common sense has got to do with it. I am not going to sell myself for money." "But you see, there is the poor child to consider; one must not be selfish, my dear boy." "I understand that she has already some small fortune," he said hastily. "And if, as you say, she is so pretty, she is quite sure to marry." Oh "My dear, money is a very nice and comfortable thing, not. at all to be despised." "No, I quite agree with you, nobody has a keener appreciation of that than myself," said the young man with a laugh and a sigh; "I wish it came into one's pockets more easily." "I did not tell you that little Mollie Houghton came to-day," said Lady Jane, rising and poking the fire. Charlie Houghton started violently. "What? but you said the eighteenth? You do not mean to say that - this "Two hundred a year," said his aunt. "Mollie, Mollie," said his aunt a little "It has sufficed hitherto for her clothes. impatiently. Never mind the eighteenth. yes, I dare say she will marry, because “ This is Mollie, the little fair one. You she is more than pretty, she is quite love-see, you have been away so lung that you ly. I think she is far the prettiest of my know nothing about your cousins sister's daughters, and they are all hand- is the youngest, she came out last season." some. Meta and Agnes both married "Lawful name Mary, I presume. Pretthe very moment they came out, and ex- ty?" tremely well too." Agnes, "How many are there?" "Five altogether, Charles Meta, Amelia, Mollie, and Algy." "That makes six," said he suspiciously. "I dare say, my dear," said Lady Jane, who was thinking of something else. But the words had hardly passed her lips before a sudden idea came into her head. Why not make use of this mistake? Was it not an especial dispensation of Providence? It was just possible that by a very little dexterity a meeting without prejudice might be managed between the two perverse cousins. She kept her presence of mind wonderfully. "Are they dark or fair? I can't endure dark girls." "I am very sorry to hear that," said she. Ah, yes, of course, then Amelia is dark? I was sure of that. I never heard you rave about any one fair yet." "Hum. But you must judge for your. self. She is a good little thing, and very clever and quick. Now, remember, I must have no flirting, it would not be fair before the eighteenth." "I ought to have told you, Aunt Jennie,” said Captain Houghton, twisting his moustache, "that I am afraid my leave will be up by that time, and that I shall have to rejoin." Nonsense," said Aunt Jennie as she left the room. Lady. Jane went up-stairs to bring Mollie down when the gong sounded. She put her arm round her waist, and said, 66 My dear, I shall have a great deal to say to you, but we will put it off until nearer the eighteenth, and meanwhile you must make yourself as happy as you can. There is no one here but your cousin Charlie Houghton, whom you do not know- -one of the Indian Houghtons, you know — and grandmamma.” Mollie's heart gave a great throb of delight. It was all right then, and the dreaded Captain Houghton was a Charlie, not a Stephen. CHAPTER III. Both Captain Houghton and Lady Jane gave a little jump. Mollie saw it, and grew crimson to the roots of her hair. We are cousins," she said a little defiantly. "And I always call my cousins by It was all very well for Lady Jane to wear comfortable crimson plush in the delicious hour before dinner, when the severest etiquette relaxes, and the com- their Christian names." fortable reigns supreme. The next morn "Of course, of course," said Charlie ing all appeared in the rigorous mourning | hastily. "It is very nice of you, Mollie." necessitated by the death of the old bach- Ah, but that is quite a different elor great-uncle who had made so extraor- thing," said Mollie. "You are only a man, dinary a will. and I am a woman." 66 Mollie's little black gown fitted her like a riding-habit, was short and businesslike, her pretty white frills fastened by a pearl stud. Nothing is worn in the country that is not tailor-made," Meta had declared, and certainly the result was very pretty and natty. Mollie's hair was a mass of golden puffiness on the top of her well shaped head, and a great golden knot behind; her skin was like cream and roses, her blue eyes dancing with light and fun. Tom Grey called her "stunning;" her brother Algy pronounced her " A 1;" and her more severe brother-in-law, Colonel Stewart, said that "she was very like Aggie." Breakfast was a very cosy meal at Holliwell. The papers and letters were al ways on a big buhl table in the window, and these were opened without ceremony during the process of eating. Moreover, the room was full of steaming machinery - a machine made coffee, a silver saucepan kept on boiling milk, the eggs had a machine to themselves, another slowly turned hot toast before the fire. Aunt Jane had a passion for comfortable machinery. Three letters and two packets were waiting for Mollie. "My dear," said Lady Jane holding up her hands, "if you are a good corre spondent I wash my hands of you." "Oh no, auntie," answered Mollie. "If on this earth there is an occupation that is abhorrent to my very soul, it is letterwriting. These are from mamma, and Meta, and Aggie." "All of whom you left yesterday." "Yes, but they must have had an object in writing; they never write without, they hate it as much as I do. Yes! they had an object and a very jolly one," she exclaimed, glancing through her letters. "Meta has sent me a set of Danish silver ornaments, and Aggie an old silver belt. Oh, what ducks they are!" "Open them quickly," said Aunt Jennie, who loved pretty things. "Will you give me those packets, Charlie?" said Mollie. "I always call my cousins by their Christian names," said Charlie, cutting open the strings of Mollie's parcels. Hoist with your own petard!" said Lady Jane, laughing. "Quick, Mollie, let me see! It seems to me that Meta and Aggie are sisters worth having." "We all think there is nobody like each other in the whole world," said Mollie. "An excellent sentiment for home use," said Captain Houghton, laughing. "How pretty they are! how charming!" cried Mollie. "Oh you dears, how I wish I could kiss you!" and she blew two kisses away from her fingertips. "Please don't put them on," said her cousin hastily. "What effect? Auntie, fasten them for me." "Charlie is right, Mollie, they will look best in the evening; your gown is too severe for such trifling: those delicate little silver chains are out of character." "Please keep them for the evening." Mollie was very reluctant to obey, but was just going to yield, when she uttered a little cry of dismay. "Oh auntie, what is happening? Good gracious! what is it?" Something awful was happening to the coffee machine: it was puffing excitedly, heaving itself up, while convulsive movements shook its frame. "Heavens ! Charlie, do something! What is the matter? Take off the lid. Something is fatally wrong." But the lid was only a detail, and too late to give relief Captain Houghton rushed round to the other side. "It burns so awfully," he said, shaking his fingers, and dancing with pain. "It is no moment for amateurs," cried Mollie. "Immediate professional advice is absolutely essential," and she pulled the bell frantically. "Why can't you do something, Charlie? Anything!" cried Lady Jane with a frenzied stamp. The noises increased in violence every moment. In desperation Captain Houghton caught up a table napkin, threw it round the gasping machine, and carrying it out into the passage, deposited it on the floor. He had scarcely returned when a loud explosion took place outside, followed by an ominous rushing sound. "It is all over,” said he in a funereal voice. Mollie sat down and laughed till the tears rolled down her face. 'It is no laughing matter," cried Aunt Jennie. "I wonder what was wrong with the thing. What was it, Peters?" she asked of the butler when he had reached the scene of action. She was of course informed that it was nothing but the accidental shutting of an all-important though minute safety-valve. "I knew it could be nothing wrong with the thing itself, and you really might have known," looking wrathfully at Charlie, who was occupied looking pitifully at the burnt tips of his fingers. "I am very sorry, Aunt Jennie," he began, but started nervously and stopped, for a strange bubbling began on the sideboard. Lady Jane whisked the lid off the silver saucepan. "There is nothing like presence of mind," she said complacently, "And now bring some fresh coffee, and let us go on with our breakfasts." Mollie had to stop laughing as best she might. "It is a good thing Gwendo did not come down to breakfast," said Lady Jane presently. "Has she a headache this morning?" "Not much; you may go and have a chat on her bed if you like, Mollie, after breakfast. As for you, Charlie, you have got to earn your bread to-day, if you please." "What am I to do? From breaking stones on the road upward, I am at your service." "Shoot for the cook," said Lady Jane. "It is essential, especially as I am going to have a number of people here next week." "What do you want?" 66 Anything you can get, biped, feathered, and quadruped; there are some very wild birds still to be had. Give your own orders. I told Peters you would want the keepers this morning.' "I hope you won't be out the very whole day," said Mollie. "Nonsense, Mollie, I won't have him come home till it is too dark to see to shoot-the kitchen is desperately hard up." "That is the reason we had that salmi,” said Charlie. "I never tasted such ancient old bones in all my life." Ungrateful! Well, it rests with yourself whether you are fed well or not.' Mollie went up to Gwendoline's room, and met with a warm welcome from her gentle cousin. When it grew too dark to shoot, Charlie Houghton felt that he had done his duty like a man, and came home. Now the post went out at six o'clock at Holliwell-a very awkward time-and Lady Jane always put off her letters to the very last, so that five o'clock was not the uninterrupted hour that by all rights it should be. Lady Jane was writing hard at the far end of the room when Captain Houghton came in, and Mollie was sitting on a low stool by her cousin's sofa learning to make Chinese knots on a piece of embroidery. "We will have tea without waiting for mamma," said Gwendoline. "And you shall pour it out, Mollie." "What luck have you had, Charlie?" asked Mollie. "Half a brace," he answered. "In common English, one. What was the one? animal, vegetable, mineral? how many legs? how many wings? only one head, it is self-evident." "What do you say you have shot?" cried Lady Jane from her writing-table. "Four and a half brace, two hares, and a cat, Aunt Jennie," answered Captain Houghton. Why did you kill the cat?" cried Mollie indignantly. "Care killed the cat," he answered quickly. "Yes, but why did you shoot it? I hate poor innocent cats being shot for nothing." "Sorry I mentioned it," answered Charlie. "It was not at all a nice puss, a regular vicious old tom-just the sort of grimalkin that a witch would have." "Perhaps some poor old witch is now breaking her heart for the want of it." "It is bad enough that a young witch should be doing so," said Charlie. "After that, Mollie, you may as well give me my tea," said Gwendoline. 66 Any message to your mother, Mollie?" asked Lady Jane. "Please say I have half written a long 66 Bread-and-butter, please. No, not that bit, that bit underneath is the chosen of my heart." "I was always brought up to take the first that came, and no choice," said Mollie demurely. "Aunt Jennie came towards the table, and hearing Mollie's last words, said with meaning, "Your mother is a wise woman." Gwendoline went up to her room after tea, whither Lady Jane followed her. There was always some anxiety in her heart about this one beloved daughter who was constantly suffering more or less, and yet was so brave, and good, and cheerful, that her sofa was a very centre of comfort and content. . "I feel a repugnance to his very name,' she answered." Who is he? your brother, your cousin, your what?" My uncle, of course, but he is only ten years older than I am, and he has been so much in England that I made sure that you knew him." "I do not, and I do not wish to know him," said Mollie very distinctly. "I am quite certain that we should not get on, or understand each other in the very least." "I don't think he would understand you, certainly," said Captain Houghton huffily, "he is the most just, straightfor ward, best-tempered fellow out." "I can't endure the very idea of him." "At all events, you are not likely to have to put up with him, Miss Houghton, for he is not in England now." "You are offended with me," said Mollie, suddenly aware of the enormity of her tirade. 66 "Not in the least, thank you," he answered coolly, “I am not Stephen." No, thank Heaven, you are not!" Mollie ensconced herself in a very "I never heard such prejudice in my large low chair with a book. Charlie life," said Charlie excitedly, rising to his lazily lay back in another. It was very feet. "Here is a fellow you never heard pleasant and warm, and the lamps wore of or saw, one of the best going, the deargreen shades which gave a delicious, sub-est old chap, and you sit there and abuse dued light. him like a pickpocket for nothing at all." I am accountable to no one for my likes and dislikes," said Mollie perversely. "Then you are horribly uncharitable." "Charlie," and Mollie sat with her breath panting with indignation, "nobody ever said such a thing to me in my life." "It is an odd thing," said Captain Houghton slowly, "how extraordinarily fast one becomes friends with one's cousins in fact one gets to know them directly as if one had been intimate for years." "I don't think I do," answered Mollie, her thoughts wandering to her own troubles. "To tell the honest truth, I have a rooted antipathy to my cousins just now.' "Oh, Mollie," he said suddenly, "you are angry; I wish I had not said it!" "I should not mind if it were not true," she answered despondently, “and I won't say it any more." "That's right, dear, and now we'll be comfortable again. Why, we have had a regular shindy." "I am afraid I was cross," said Mollie penitently. "Never mind," said Charlie superbly. "We will forget it, and you know he really is the best old fellow." "He is not," cried Mollie, with a little stamp. Captain Houghton threw himself down into his chair, took up his newspaper, and buried himself in its contents. Mollie returned to her book, and silence reigned. The dressing-bell rang. Mollie rose and lit a candle. Just as she was leaving the room, Captain Houghton followed her hastily to the door, but whatever he was going to say was nipped in the bud, for an influx of servants poured in to arrange the rooms before dinner, and he was obliged to go up and dress. CHAPTER IV. SEVERAL days passed, and the cousins became great friends, every day more inseparable. He took it, and held it in his, and went on, "I dare not even allow myself to be happy now, in the present moment, because I am tied hand and foot by a—a bother I cannot tell you about." "I wish I could help you," said Mollie sweetly. "There, don't let us talk any more about it. I can't say what you are, Mollie! The ice won't bear, there's not a chance of it to-day." Lady Jane watched the progress of their friendship with much amusement, and at the same time some slight trepida- They walked home very silently. Just tion. as they reached the door, Mollie glanced A hard frost set in, so hard as to prom-up at him very shyly, but her eyes fell ise skating at no distant period, and at least once an hour Charlie and Mollie, one or both, went off to try the ice. "I wonder you are not bored here," said Mollie on one of these occasions, when they stood by the lake together, cautiously trying it. "There is nothing for you to do; you must be dull enough, and you could not have hoped reasonably for this very premature frost. I suppose you will be going soon." again immediately, abashed by a look in his they had never met before, telling a new story. Mollie ran up-stairs with her heart beating fast. "Aunt Jennie," said Mollie, one day "Not a sixpence, my dear.” That was all. Mollie thought rather ruefully that two hundred thousand "I am going on the seventeenth," he pounds would build a magnificent hosanswered. "Not a day later," with un-pital. called-for force. "I am also going on the seventeenth," she answered. "I engaged to stay here till then, and then I shall join mamma, whether she will or no. But you have not answered my question; are you not bored?" On the tenth, Holliwell's hospitable walls were filled with guests. "It is unlucky our being in mourning," said Lady Jane. "We can't have a regu lar ball, but I do not see that there could be the smallest objection to the young people dancing in the evening after dinner "Not in the least," he answered fer- in the morning-room. The parquet is vently. Being with you turns every-excellent, and I can have over a man to thing into a pleasure. I can't tell you play the piano." how I like it. I only wish I could think," he went on tenderly, "that you had half as much pleasure in being with me as I have in even thinking of you." 66 The color rushed into Mollie's pretty cheeks, but she said nothing. Captain Houghton went on, speaking rather fast, and whisking the heads off the thistles. "Everything that is delightful passes away so awfully fast, the days seem to fly on wings, and if there is anything disagreeable or painful coming, it seems to rush to meet you in the most unfair manner." "It does indeed," said Mollie, with a little shiver. Captain Houghton had reached that stage in which a man feels a great wish to speak about himself. "I am sure you would sympathize with me, Mollie," he said, "if I were able to tell you any of my anxieties. I am so weighted, so beset." "I am very sorry," said Mollie gently, laying a little gloved hand on his arm. "Better fun than a regular ball," said Gwendoline from her sofa. "Mollie, did mamma tell you that Tom and Meta are coming?" |