wave to her, shake his stick, or his "Hush!" cried her brother, seizing hat, or his handkerchief? She would her arm. "Yes, that's about it! It understand such a signal, and either is indeed. I'm not joking. And dart forward to make assurance sure, 'First,' too, Kitty," in a husky whisor backward to spread the good news per. First, by Jove! I can hardly like wildfire. A curious shyness held yet believe it myself; but it's true. him back from making the signal. Stop a moment here, and I'll tell you how I saw -detaining her outside the holly hedge which bounded his parents' small domain, and narrating the A pair of dogs fought in the road in front of him, and he dallied to watch which had the best of it. "Poor Barty! As usual, he has circumstances already known to our heard nothing!" said Kitty to herself. readers. "By Jove! I hardly know where I am, or what I am doing! And I dare say I ought to have rushed home long ago, and told you all; but somehow I couldn't," he summed up Then, as the highway was fairly empty, she strolled forward to meet her brother, with an air of studied unconcern; for taught by Eva, she was learning not to intrude upon his anx-in conclusion, "I felt so queer and sort iety. “Come down by the three-ten train, Barty?" "Yes. Just managed to catch it." "There was nothing to keep you in town till the later train, I suppose ?" 66 Nothing." Barty patted the winning dog-his own - and looked away | from her. "I suppose the some day, Barty?" resist a wistful sigh. forever, you know." names will be out Barty laughed nervously. The laugh had an unnatural sound, and in an instant her quick ear detected a new emotion behind it. "You -you have heard something?" she cried, with a breathless suspicion. "I know you have! Oh, Barty, is it all over? And you have lost? Well, never mind, Barty; you did your best, and there are other things to try for, and you are sure to get something. Father says you must begin sooner another time, that's all. You did not give yourself time enough; take more time of dazed, you know." "But, oh let us come quick and tell now!" cried Kitty, mad with excitement. "There's Eva, watching from behind the ilex-tree. Oh, Eva, Eva!" running forward. "Eva, what do you think? It's first! First, Eva ! Oh, there's mother! Mother, Hurrah! Hooray! Barty's first, mother! The names are out to-day. Father, do you hear, father?" calling loudly, and in a few moments they were all running from every quarter, and Barty was the aim, the object, the centre, the apex the crowd. of Happy? He was happy. In the first great shock of joy, he had been unable to realize his own sensations; but the homely outcry, the gleeful vociferations, the questions, comments, and conjectures which now whirled through the air on every side, speedily dissipated all remaining sense of unreality, and he was able to talk and laugh with any one. A glorious time for Barty now followed. Within a few days, every one in and "I shan't have the time to take." around the village of Summerton had Her loquacity made things all at once learned the fact of his success; had easier. “I shall have precious little heard the number of candidates time for anything now," he went on, (trebled in Mrs. Allerton's imagination) his eyes beginning to sparkle. "It will over whom he had triumphed; and the pretty well take up all my time getting whole neighborhood had, with characready my outfit.” teristic pliability, shaken hands with "What?" and proudly appropriated to itself the "My outfit for the East. Hush!" boy over whom so many wise heads as her lips parted for a scream. had recently been shaken. Barty had more invitations than he knew what to do with. All at once he must lunch or dine at every house within reach. No party was complete without him. During the autumn months he had been glad enough to fill the place of a guest who had failed, or had willingly made a fourteenth at the last moment, to avoid the dreaded number at a dinner table. "Get Barty Allerton, if you can't think of any one better," had passed between host and hostess many a time when projecting an entertainment. Now, parties were got up for Barty-literally gathered together for his especial benefit! As for the letters and telegrams, they poured in from every quarter of the kingdom. Day after day his mother, and Kitty, and Eva sat delightedly answering and thanking; while his father brushed up his old suits, bought a new umbrella, had his hair cut, and, taking his son by the arm, strutted off to look up half-forgotten cronies of former times, and to show himself at a club which now hardly knew his face. And in spite of fits of bashfulness and the occasional necessity for an imploring "Oh, I say, I wish you wouldn't!" when the family exuberance overstepped all bounds Barty enjoyed it all. It would have palled upon him in time, no doubt. He could not long have endured the endless reiteration of the same theme, with the disconcerting accompaniment of maternal inaccuracy and exaggeration; but, knowing as he did that the time was short (for he received almost immediately his or ders for an early departure), he generously overlooked small drawbacks, and neither permitted himself open remonstrance, nor gave way to twinges of secret annoyance. earnest endeavor to save the scanty family purse, Barty also shone. He would not have one half the articles his parents wanted. He hastened from one spot to another, getting estimates and lists, doing his own shopping, and doing it as cheaply as he could. He haunted the Army and Navy Stores. One could hardly go there, morning, noon, or night, without seeing Barty Allerton's face on one or other of the landings, or encountering him in the lift. He carried parcels home under his arm. At the station he would find others awaiting him. At last it became a daily habit for one or more of the younger brothers or sisters to meet the train by which he was expected, in order to assist him with his freight. "It is just as if one of us were going to be married," quoth Kitty, with the imagination of eighteen. Barty was to sail on the 10th of January, so all this activity was in full swing during the Christmas week. It was the merriest Christmas his old home had ever known. If now and again a tender sigh did escape the breasts of either parent, if one or other would occasionally steal a pensive glance at the joyous youthful band, wondering if the hard lessons they had learnt must needs be taught these dear ones also, at any rate no selfish regrets or fears were ever suffered to mar Barty's hour of triumph. "Yes, he may not come back for eight or ten years," quoth Mrs. Allerton, turning her face to smile at her boy, and wishing the neighbors who had dropped in would not gaze at Barty with so solemn an air; "but there is quite a chance he may run over in five, and five years soon pass. Amy will be a big girl by that time, to be sure, and Carrie and Florrie too. And he will Eva, who knew her brother best, hardly know Joey and the baby, I dare affirmed that Barty was an angel during say.' 99 And she ran on in a cheerful this trying epoch; while more critical strain, which made even Barty think folks went so far as to allow that young his mother took the parting easily. Allerton bore himself well, with a "She has such a lot to think of," he frankly acknowledged, yet withal mod- nodded to himself. est pleasure in his own success, which disarmed all beholders. For at the present time Joey and the baby, to say nothing of the other innu In the bustle of preparation and the merable little ones, were very contin several minor festivities were about to ually and somewhat aggressively en coupled with a tempting programme. évidence. It seemed to Barty, after be- A ball in the house, tableaux in the ing at other houses, as if they really neighborhood, a hunt breakfast, and need not swarm into every room, and passage, and landing as they did; as if there need not invariably be such a bobbing of small heads from every window whenever he turned in at his own gate. In bitter moments, whereof he would not now willingly think, he had even told himself that these were so many dead weights dragging him down, and that but for them a career would have opened for him easily enough long before. Even now, in his day of prosperity, he could not but feel There was no question about Barty's a faint self-gratulation that the irrc-going. He had nearly completed his pressible brood would, according to his arrangements; all his orders had been mother, be grown quite out of memory given; and he had been actually conere he saw them again. From a dis-sidering what he should do with the tance he would feel quite affectionate clear space in front, when the summons towards Amy, Carrie, Florry, Tottie, came. He dashed up to town, and reand the four little boys who wound turned bearing in one hand his new up the "baker's dozen," but he had portmanteau, in the other his bag. By much ado to bear and forbear with good luck, the initials “B. M. A.” had them under present conditions. been put on each only the day before. All, however, went smoothly; and ten days before Barty sailed for the East he received a summons which he had been somewhat surprised at not getting before. Sir Barton Allerton, his father's cousin, and the head of the family, had indeed scrawled a rapid note- —a great thing for him to do congratulating and enclosing a cheque ; but though the expressions contained in the former were cordial and the face of the latter satisfactory, there had been no invitation to pay a farewell visit to North Allerton Manor. "No doubt he thinks you have no time to go," suggested Barty's mother comfortably. She was fingering the cheque as she spoke. "And, of course, it is a long journey to take. Still, I thought they would have asked you. Barty had thought so too. He had felt a momentary chill; but then so many people had asked him, and he was being so much thought of and sought after, and was so entirely the hero of the hour, that the feeling had passed; and he had forgotten all about the matter, when a second note from the manor contained an invitation How delightful it was to use some of the new articles of the " trousseau, as Kitty called it! He had had several little presents too: new sleeve-links; a diamond stud; a pair of ivory brushes, with his monogram on the back; a case of razors—in short, quite a small paraphernalia, of which a few weeks previously he would have been utterly devoid. His boots and shoes were all new and fashionable; he thought he would take them all. Not that he would need so many, but then he might; and, at any rate, the servants would see them about in his room. With his sticks he strapped in his new silver-mounted umbrella. And when he stepped forward to take his railway ticket he was equipped in a long drab overcoat of the latest pattern, had on his head a regulation travelling-hat, held a pair of dogskin gloves in his hand, and was altogether a very well turned-out, trim, smart-looking fellow indeed. The excitement, the fun of the whole thing, made his eyes sparkle and his cheeks glow. He had wrested all this from Fortune; and Fortune, he felt, now bowed before him. This visit to his relations was the coping-stone to all that had transpired before. The flattery and jocosity of his own small world was beginning to stale upon his senses; he had experienced a longing to get away for a breathing space before the final wrench came; and to be going to a place where he was not to be A 1, and yet where he would, of course, be of some importance (so he put it modestly to himself), was just the right thing. counted for the benefit of the surrounding ladies, who with one accord turned their heads his way and exclaimed, "How interesting! " Five o'clock tea was going on, and a group of young people, most of them cousins of some sort or other, were eating and drinking and chattering round the teacups, which were arranged on small tables at the far end of the room. Some of the girls were pretty; some of the men were handsome; and all were, or seemed, good-natured. In particAll the way down he chatted good- ular Walter, his cousin Walter, the humoredly with his fellow-travellers. eldest of the party, was very good-naThey did not know, he felt, what a tured. Walter was not strong enough, great man they were conversing with. he averred, to be any good in the world He would not tell them not he! He himself. He had such a beastly bad was pleased to think how easy, and head, and was so beastly nervous, he friendly, and unconstrained he was. was sure he should never get through a beastly exam; he could only fall down and worship any fellow who did. Hadn't Barty had an awful time of it? Could he sleep at nights? Could he eat his meals? When he jumped into Sir Barton's dogcart after leaving the train, he opened fire on the old coachman who chanced to drive him up, and whom he had known from boyhood, with a host of questions anent the family affairs, involuntarily considering that it would be pleasant for old Jenkins to see that he was still as much interested in these as formerly. Jenkins, of course, knew that he was going out to the East directly? Jenkins had heard so, and hoped Master Barty would not find it very hot. Barty laughed, and by and by let himself be drawn out, being, in truth, so full of this one subject, that it was almost impossible for him to stick long to any other. Barty rather wondered why everybody laughed at this. Walter was sitting on the edge of a chair eating muffins; he did not know what he had said that was funny, he alleged; and reached forward his hand for another quarter of a muffin as he spoke. "Well, Reggie got through his exam well enough," said another brother. "Of course, he did not come out first, as Barty has." "Rather not. It was the narrowest squeak," from Walter. "At any rate, he got through. Barty, how long is it since you saw Then he was shown into a drawing-Reggie ? He is here, you know. room full of people, and his reception there was all he could have desired; for his host came forward with a hearty "Hullo, Barty, my boy. Well done, old fellow ! Exams seem to agree with you, eh?"accompanied by a slap on the back, and a roar of jovial, congratulatory laughter; and next he was conducted up to her ladyship, who made haste to pour forth a pretty speech, and remark, as her husband had done, on his good looks, "in spite of those dreadful cruel examinations," and as he turned away he heard his prowess re Here, on leave, and we shan't get rid of him for another month. It seems to me that fellow is always on leave; and when he isn't, he is in splendid quarters. At York, you know. The most run after quarters in England. Ah, here he comes!" and Barty had another cheery greeting from another friendly voice, and thought he had never before done justice to the claims of Captain Reginald Allerton, the gayest, smartest, most notable "all round" man of the Allertou family. In short, the boy's cup was full, and his heart overflowed with gratitude and For he saw before him the lovely affection towards everybody. With what pleasure he made his evening toilet! All his little accoutrements had been carefully laid out, and he derived fresh satisfaction from each new article worn for the first time. He had gone off rather early to dress, and, as nothing went amiss, was down before any one else, and half inclined to back out of the great lamp-lit drawingroom, and retreat up-stairs again to wait the second summons of the gong, when he was conscious of a rustle of skirts behind him. One of his new friends of the teatable, no doubt? That was all right. The girls had all been as "jolly" to him as the men, and when the little party had broken up, he had been so entirely at ease with them all that he turned round with a sensation of relief, prepared to take up the ball and carry it on where it had been left off. The next moment he had his breath taken away! Who was this? charming face of a girl in the first flush of youth, and in the involuntary halt and hesitation of her light step which betrayed that he was as much a stranger to her as she to him, he discerned the Lady Evelyn whom he had pictured so different. Was it the stupidity of so egregious an error which made him now thrill to his finger-tips? Of course. One does not like to have made a fool of oneself, even in secret. It is enough to make one feel confused and uncomfortable. Barty was struggling to recover selfpossession when Fate helped him. Two children rushed tumultuously into the room; then stopped short, staring; and the whole quartette were so obviously at a deadlock that the case was desperate; the case indeed was so desperate that the little boy, a gallant little fellow of seven, rose to the occasion. "How do you do, sir?" said he, manfully holding out his hand, and He knew indeed that there were stepping up to Barty. "I know who more people in the house than he had you are. Cissy doesn't," casting a yet seen. He had heard allusions made withering glance at her, (6 but then, to one and another, inquiries and asides you see, she's younger. She doesn't which had reference to guests not pres- know much. You are the gentleman ent, but he had set down these absen- who won the medal - wasn't that it ? tees in his own mind as older folks, We were talking about you in the contemporaries of Sir Barton and Lady nursery. Your name is Barton ManAllerton, people who had to rest in the ningham Allerton. I wish mine was. afternoon and take care of themselves; And, I say, have you brought the and notably a certain "Lady Evelyn" medal with you? Let Cissy and me of whom he had heard Captain Allerton | see it," eagerly pressing closer. remark that she had gone to lie down, and was having her tea sent up-stairs, he had dismissed from his imagination as an absolutely certain member of the feeble contingent. Several queries regarding this Lady Evelyn had been made upon the entrance of Reggie. It appeared that he had been driving her in his phaeton, and was thus the latest authority; and Barty had for a moment vaguely felt that it was an instance of good nature on the part of the dashing soldier to tool about an old woman who had to go and lie down after her drive. He understood Captain Allerton's good nature now. "Cis sy, shake hands. We're Percival and Cissy Manningham, and we're stopping here like you -and "And will you present me to that lady also?" said Barty, coloring very much, but feeling it must be done; for the young lady, who was even younger than himself, was looking at him with a shy interest which betokened her approachable. "You are quite right about me, but " and he tried to talk easily, and to look politely and indifferently interrogative. "Oh, that's Lady Evelyn," replied the little boy promptly. "I say, I don't know your other name," to her. "We always call you Lady Evelyn, but |