put thi offer aside with thanks; he was in the first access of his grief just then, and a daily visit to the little cemetery outside the town seemed to him indispensable, but in the course of a couple of months, when he found that what was left of the old association had no longer any charm for him, and that he was pining for his niece's society he wrote to Grace, and receiving in return pressing invitation, he broke up his establishment, sold his furniture, gave Lisbeth a handsome donation, and with his beloved books and pipes started for England.

When Grace Middleham decided upon establishing herself in London, it was with no idea of recommencing the life which she had led, or of endeavoring to renew the acquaintanceship which she had formed during her first and only season there. The glamor of "society," if it had ever existed--and it must be allowed that, for a young pretty, and wealthy girl, impressionable and much sought after, she had been very little fascinated by it had entirely died away. She had fully made up her mind that the home which she was about to make for herself should be one in the true sense of the word. Her lines would, she hoped, be cast in pleasant places; but not in any of those which Mrs. Crutchley, the members of the Waddledot family, or their friends, were likely to frequent. In this view, Grace had purchased a residence in the neutral ground lying between Kensington and Bayswater, which has, as yet, not fallen into the hands of any enterprising builder, and which, dotted here and there with a few well built, costly villas, yet contains within itself a sufficiency of open garden ground to allow a man of even small imaginative powers, to forget that he is within four miles of the roar and bustle of the Strand. In making this selection, Grace was influenced by the fact, not merely that she would be beyond the sight and sound of those with whom she had formerly lived, and whose habits, occupations, and subjects of discourse would now have been inexpressibly wearying and distasteful to her, but that she should be enabled to enjoy a certain amount of fresh air, to which she had grown accustomed, and a more than certain amount of independence, which had become a necessity to her. For, while abjuring the balls and set dinners, the daily park and promenade, and all the set and not-to-be-pretermitted duties which fashion prescribes. Grace had no idea of

lapsing into solitude, or of denying herself a great deal of enjoyment in her own way. During her short régime at Eaton place she had made the acquaintance of several men distinguished in letters and art, who combined a love for their profession with a taste for society. Is it that the Bohemian life immortalized in the Newcomes no longer exists; or that, having slipped out of it with the progress of years, one is apt to imagine of it, as of all other things, that they must have perished of inanition when we deserted them? Doubtless, thoroughly happy days are still spent at Rosherville, and rockets shoot up before the eyes of admiring thousands at Cremorne, though it seems impossible to believe it. Very probably the successors of Dick Tinto and John James Ridley are still unshorn and unkempt, giving to the wearing of velvet coats, the smoking of brier root pipes, the drinking of pots of beer, the frequenting of some new "haunts," where the floor is still sanded, the conversation still bristling with allusions to Brown's three-voler, which was "slated," Jones's farce, which was "goosed,' Robinson's picture, which was "rejected," at Burlington House. But the original Richard and J. J. of early days know this kind of life no longer, they wear elegant clothes and trim beards, and wash themselves regularly, they inhabit lovely villas in Camden Hill or St. John's Wood, and have handsome studios in squares which are anything but Fitzroy; while their names are to be found in the newspapers at the fag end of the list of fashionables at a duchess's reception, and their talk is of Shakspeare and the musical glasses.

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A young lady with ample means has no difficulty in London, in suiting herself with such society as she chooses, and when Grace had once settled down, with her uncle for her companion, it was an easy matter to renew the acquaintance of her literary and artistic friends of former days, and through them the circle rapidly spread. "Talented people," as they are called by the gentilities, who are accustomed to regard them with a half envious half-patronising feeling, are by no means averse to the charms of good living, of which they are the more appreciative, as the viands and wines on which the said gentilities usually regale their lions. are generally but moderate in quality. Miss Middleham's table was plentifully supplied, and with the best of everything; and there was a pleasant Bohemianism about the establishment-the Bohe

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mianism of cleanliness and respectability, as distinguished from that of dirt and indecoruma liberty which never slipped into license, an immunity from conventional rule which was never permitted to become too lax or too revolutionary, and which harmonised entirely with the tastes of the visitors. To the Hermitage "-for such was, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, the name of the villa-came men celebrated in all the various walks of literature and art. Travelers and men of science, rarely looked upon by ordinary mortals save at the gatherings of the Geographical or Royal Societies, were found strolling about Miss Middleham's pretty grounds, or chatting in her pretty rooms, brought thither by their highly esteemed fellow laborer Professor Sturm, with whose writings they were familiar, with whom they had long corresponded, and whom they were only too pleased to meet in the flesh. Dr. Grumph, who had been so many times lost in the interior of Africa, and whose prolonged absences from his home at Islington were reported to be caused by the terror excited in his scientific bosom by Mrs. Grumph, a Scotch lady of weird aspect and acrid tongue; Major Shotover, the ex-dragoon who had several times nearly discovered the source of the Niger, who, it was whispered, had for months habitually lived on steaks cut from the living animal, which found itself none the worse for the operation, and whose ordinary Eastern traveling costume was stated to be a lump of grease placed on the top of his head, and nothing more. Stratum, the great geologist, who, being on one occasion benighted and befogged, and without the slightest definite notion as to his whereabouts, happily thought of the expedient of grubbing up, and placing in his mouth a portion of the earth's crust, and immediately, by its taste recognized that he was at Isleworth! These and other eminent lights of science, for the most part snuffy old gentlemen in ill-fitting clothes, came to the Hermitage, at the invitation of the professor, and were warmly welcomed by its mistress. Thither, also, came Glaucus Murray, bright and handsome as an ancient Greek, with his classical profile and his curling perfumed locks, charming equally men and women by the delicacy of his compliments and the enforced attention which he paid to all; and with him, of course, came his never-failing companion, Odin Furstenwald, a thorough Englishman, despite his Northern names

-a hearty giant, rough as Esau's hands, but les ing his art, and holding a good position in Came also Scumble, R.A., whom his friends de lighted to call the modern Hogarth, an appellat r with which he was himself not dissatisfied; and the great Wogg, who, from constantly pairting Charles the Second, had become something a him, especially as regards his complexion; and occasionally, but not often, Tom Dalton, greatest of them all, who painted portraits like Gaits borough and landscapes like Constable, who wa too highly placed and too magnanimous to krew what envy or jealousy meant, and who walked i and out among the crowd like a great Newfoundland dog, with a kind word or an encouragig smile for the smallest of the craft.

It was at Miss Middleham's, too, that Scratchley, the great social caricaturist, not merely received suggestions for the famous woodblocks which made the fortune of Mr. Jollett's comi periodical, but covertly made many capital sketche of the persons figuring therein. Nor was litera ture without its representatives. Besides Mr. Jclett, who there had ample opportunity of practis ng that art of handshaking which, alone, had raised him to eminence in his profession, a frequent attendant was young Mr. O'Rourke, whose de lightful novels of Irish life were just beginning to attract attention to their author. The outside world was astonished to find that Mr. O'Rourke was an extremely dull young man, who, howeve well he might write, distantly imitated his famescountryman in talking "like poor Poll." No were they less astonished on having pointed out to them the writer of those trenchant attacks (^ society in the Scarifier, which were popularly attributed to a well-known caustic wit, but were really the work of a consumptive curate in Shoreditch.

These, and other people of the same kind. composed the society at the Hermitage, and acknowledged Grace as their queen, or rather as the female president of their republic; and her h'e, on the whole, was tolerably happy. One great source of her delight was, that she had been alle to provide for her uncle an existence far more enjoyable than any he had previously known. With the British Museum at his command in the morning, the Royal Institution in the afternoon, and either a nebulous discussion with brother philosophers in his own rooms, or a part in the

general conversation with Grace's guests in the evening, the professor was in a perfect paradise. As for herself, Grace had her own time at her disposal, and managed to employ it very pleasantly. Although she had become the occupant of an hermitage and had renounced fashionable society, Grace Middleham had no intention of giving up the world; she had her carriages and horses, got through a good deal of visiting, and daily took long rides through the lonely London suburbs, so little known to most dwellers in the metropolis. Very rarely she came across any of those whom she had known during her tenure of the house in Eaton-place; and though all such were anxious for a renewal of the acquaintance, knowing, as they thoroughly well did, that Grace's state was still unchanged, she, while perfectly polite, managed to decline the proffered honor.

It must not be imagined that, pleasant and interesting as her life then was, Grace Middleham had forgotten her early days, or the friend who had so faithfully shared her childish joys and sorrows. The one bitter drop in her cup of happiness was her remembrance of Anne Studley, the singular circumstances which had estranged them, and the mysterious manner in which Anne had disappeared. Often and often during the long watches of the night Grace lay awake, wondering what had been the fate of that strange girl, who had given up all that constituted the pleasures of existence to rescue her friend from what she conceived to be an impending doom. That Anne had emigrated to America with the German famly, Grace never believed for an instant; that, according to the statement in Anne's letter, had been a story confessedly concocted for the purpose of satisfying any affectionate scruple which poor Madame Sturm might have felt at Anne's departure, and it had accomplished its object. sad refrain of that letter, "alone in the world," haunted Grace Middleham with terrible iteration. She herself was solitary in the sense that she had no friend to share her confidences-no one dearer than a friend whom she could look to for love and protection. Her wealth had not brought her these blessings, but, at all events, it had surrounded her with comforts, and, so to speak, with happiness; while Anne, delicate, sensitive, "alone in the world," must combat with that world unaided and uncountenanced, and must be dependent on her own exertions for her daily bread. Quietly,

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and without letting any one know what she was doing, Grace had made such inquiries after her friend as seemed to her desirable. So far as was consistent with safety, she had taken into her confidence some members of the detective police, and of the members of that ex-official body who devote themselves to the solution of mysteries. On several occasions she had inserted in the Times an advertisement commencing with the old catchword "Tocsin," and calling upon A. S. to communicate with her friend at an address then indicated, but without avail. After the non-successes of these last attempts, Grace's heart grew sore indeed, for she thought that, if Anne had seen them, she would have understood them to convey the assurance that her devotion and self-sacrifice were now appreciated in their integrity, and that she would have found herself at liberty to respond to the appeal, the wounded pride would have been healed, the spirit of independence which could brook no acceptance of favors without making some return for them would, Grace thought, have been pacified by these words; and when she found that her advertisement was without response, she was forced to the sad conclusion that Anne Studley was beyond her reach, and that the chances were that she would never look upon her old friend's face again.

One summer afternoon Grace took it into her head that she should like to drive over to Hampstead, and look at the scenes where her schooldays had been passed. She had been thinking of Anne a good deal that morning, and her impulse prompted her, as far as possible, to renew the old association. Chapone House, under its original title, existed no longer; it had become the North-, Western University for ladies, where diplomas were granted, and degrees conferred, under the auspices of learned professors. The worthy old ladies who had so long presided over it, in its earlier and humbler days, had retired upon their savings, eked out by a subscription from their former pupils, to which Grace had liberally contributed. But although the old-fashioned redbrick house had been changed into a stuccoed building, the grounds and the neighborhood were scarcely altered, and, descending from her carriage, Grace easily found the spot where she and Anne had been seated, on that momentous evening when Mr. Heath arrived with the tidings of