'MISS LYNDSEY has not yet seen our poor mansion," said Lady Berenger the next morning at breakfast. "Sidney, will you and your sisters shew her all that is worthy of her notice?"

"And pray allow me to be of the party," said Lady Lyndsey; "I have not forgotten that Castle Berenger contains many interesting curiosities, though it is long since I enjoyed the sight of them."

"If that be the case," replied Lady Berenger, "I will, with pleasure, be your conductress, and as we shall probably proceed at a more leisurely pace than our young friends, they had better lead the way."

The juvenile party accordingly set off together, whilst the two ladies paced quietly through the spacious suite of apartments.

"What a promising young man Mr Berenger is!" said Lady Lyndsey, as she stopped before a fulllength portrait of him, painted in Italy.

"And I really believe," replied Lady Berenger, her eyes glistening with a mother's fondness, "that his mind and disposition are as good as his appearance is prepossessing."

"How very well his foreign education has answered," resumed Lady Lyndsey. "He is so thoroughly the gentleman, without any of the pretensions of a petit maitre."

"It does me good," said Lady Berenger, "to hear you praise Sidney; but yet there certainly are some disadvantages attending a foreign education.”

"How so?"

"Because young people become so easily attached to the social habits and customs of those countries in which they are educated, and lose that nationality, if I may so express myself, which I think so very desirable."

"But surely," replied Lady Lyndsey, "whilst his family reside here, your son cannot wish to live entirely out of England. As for our little peculiarities and English habits, he will soon acquire such as are worth acquiring."

"Alas! dear Lady Lyndsey, as his home he lives here, but, as you well know, it is difficult, nay,

almost impossible, for him to associate with his countrymen generally; this hurts his pride and his best feelings, and naturally he turns from English society altogether."

"No doubt, no doubt," said Lady Lyndsey, in a sympathising tone, "there are difficulties in the way which we must all lament, and I can easily believe that Mr Berenger's distaste for English society does not entirely arise from the fact that he was educated abroad."

"I believe you are right," replied his mother, "for certainly when Sidney first returned to us, he was by no means so reserved and retiring as he is at present. But you must be aware of the great disadvantages under which the English Catholics now labour. My son felt he was not treated in a manner becoming his birth; he found himself frequently the object of a suspicious jealousy, which, though he despised it, did not rouse him to assert his own position, but only embittered his feelings, and strengthened his own prejudices, which, I am bound to confess, are neither few or feeble."

"You have drawn, I believe, a very faithful picture of the present state of feeling in England,"

replied Lady Lyndsey, "and I, in common with many others, have often wished that our Court had adopted more conciliatory measures; for after all, c'est le ton qui fait le chanson. Mais que voulez vous? You are a powerful party, which, notwithstanding our cavalier treatment, we are fain to acknowledge."

"Perhaps there are faults on both sides," said Lady Berenger. "But," she resumed after a short and thoughtful pause, "I cannot tell you how rejoiced I feel to have you once more as a guest. It is long, very long since I have seen Lord Berenger so gay and cheerful as he was last night, and I am sensible of all the advantages that may accrue to my girls from the companionship of such a charming young person as your niece."

"She is indeed a very engaging creature," replied Lady Lyndsey," and at that happy age when everything contributes to her enjoyment. She is so delighted with all she has seen here, so enchanted with all your kindness to her! I wish you could have heard her expatiate to me last night, when we retired to our own rooms."

"Dear child!" exclaimed Lady Berenger affectionately, "she is just what I should desire;"

but perceiving that Lady Lyndsey had passed on to another picture, she said no more, and the conversation took another turn.

The younger party, meanwhile, were eagerly shewing to Antonia everything which they deemed worthy her attention. Not contented with exhibiting the interior of the Castle, Miss Berenger proposed going to the top of one of the towers, from whence a fine view could be obtained. Sidney remarked that the day was hazy, and that they would have all their trouble for nothing. His sisters overruled him, and they accordingly ascended the tower. A steep and winding staircase conducted them to the summit, when it appeared that Sidney's prophecy was fulfilled, for an envious fog, as Antonia called it, entirely intercepted the view. Sidney was amused at the word envious, but Antonia playfully supported her opinion by an old quotation—

The noblest works of God, and wilful throws

The fairest piece into the deepest shade."

In descending from the tower, Antonia, who was first, opened by mistake a door which led into a large room, where the light was admitted through