which was, it must be allowed, more insupportable still. Mr Wrinkell reflected that he had himself been nearly forty years in the employment of the Brownlows of Masterton without once having his salary doubled. And he felt that if such a dangerous precedent were once established, the consequences might be tremendous. Such a boy, for example, if he but happened to be clever and useful, might be put over everybody's head, before anybody was aware. Mr Wrinkell, who was grand vizier, was not afraid for his own place, but he felt that it was an example to be summarily discouraged. After all, when a man is not clever it is not his fault; whereas, when he is respectable and steady, the virtue and praise is purely his own. "It's revolutionary," he said to his wife. "There is Brown, who has been years and years in the office- there never was a steadier fellow. I don't remember that he ever lost a dayexcept when he had that fever, you know; but twenty pound a-year increase was as much as ever was given to him."

"When he had the fever they were very kind to him," said Mrs Wrinkell; "and, after all, Mr Brownlow has a right to do what he likes with his own."

"He may have a right," said Mr Wrinkell, doubtfully, "but it's a thing that always makes a heartburning, and always will."

"Well, William, we may be thankful it can't make any difference to us," said his wife. This was the sum of the good woman's philosophy, but it answered very well. It was always her convicthat there will be peace in day.

for Brown, when he first heard news, he went home to the om of his family with bitteress in his heart. "I can't call to mind a single day I ever missed, except that fever, and the day Billy was born," he said to Mrs Brown, despondingly; "and here's this

young fellow that's been six months in the office

"It's a shame," said that injured woman; "it's a black burning shame. A bit of a lad picked up in the streets that don't know what money is; and you a married man with six-not to say the faithful servant you have been. I wonder for my part how Mr Brownlow dares to look you in the face."

"He don't mind much about that. What he thinks is, that the money's his own," said poor Brown, with a sigh.

"But it ain't his own," said the higher spirited wife. "I would just like to know who works hardest for it, him or you. If I saw him every day as you do, I would soon give him a piece of my mind."

"And lose my place altogether," said the husband. But, notwithstanding, though he did not give Mr Brownlow a piece of his mind, Brown did not hesitate to express his feelings a little in the tone of his voice, and the disapproval in his eye.

All this, however, was as nothing to the judgment which Mr Brownlow brought upon himself on the following Sunday. The fact that his father had doubled any clerk's salary was a matter of great indifference to Jack. He smiled in an uncomfortable sort of way when he heard it was young Powys on whom this benefit had fallen; but otherwise it did not affect him. On Sunday, however, as it happened, something occurred that brought Mr Brownlow's favouritism

It

his extraordinary forgetfulness of his position and of what was due to his children-home in the most striking way to his son. was a thing that required all Mr Brownlow's courage; and it cannot be said that he was quite comfortable about it. He had done what never had been done before to any clerk since the days of Brownlows began. He had invited young Powys to dinner. He had even done more than that he had

invited him to come early, to ramble about the park, as if he had been an intimate. It was not unpleasant to him to give the invitation, but there is no doubt that the thought of how he was to communicate the fact to his children, and prepare them for their visitor, did give him a little trouble. Of course it was his own house. He was free to ask any one he liked to it. The choice lay entirely with himself; but yet He said nothing about it until the very day for which his invitation had been given-not that he had forgotten the fact, but somehow a certain constraint came over him whenever he so much as approached the subject. It was only Thursday when he asked young Powys to come, and he had it on his mind all that evening, all Friday and Saturday, and did not venture to make a clean breast of it. Even when Jack was out of the way, it seemed to the father impossible to look into Sara's face, and tell her of the coming guest. Sunday was very bright-a midsummer day in all its green and flowery glory. Jack had come to the age when a young man is often a little uncertain about his religious duties. He did not care to go and hear Mr Hardcastle preach. So he said; though the Rector, good man, was very merciful, and inflicted only fifteen minutes of sermon; and then he was very unhappy, and restless, and uneasy about his own concerns; and he was misanthropical for the moment, and disliked the sight and presence of his fellow-creatures. So Jack did not go to church. And Sara and her father did, walking across the beautiful summer park, under the shady trees, through the paths all flecked with sunshine. Sara's white figure gave a centre to the landscape. She was not angelic, notwithstanding her white robes, but she was royal in her way-a young princess moving through a realm that belonged to her, used to homage, used to

admiration, used to know herself the first. Though she was as sweet and as gracious as the morning, all this was written in her face; for she was still very young, and had not reached the maturer dignity of unconsciousness. Mr Brownlow, as he went with her, was but the first subject in her kingdom. Nobody admired her as he did. Nobody set her up above every competitor with the perfect faith of her father; and to see her clinging to his arm, lifting up her fresh face to him, displaying all her philosophies and caprices for his benefit, was a pretty sight. But yet all through that long walk to Dewsbury and back, he never ventured to disclose his secret to her. All the time it lay on his heart, but he could not bring himself to say it. It was only when they were all leaving the table, after luncheon, that Mr Brownlow unburdened himself. "By the way," he said suddenly, as he rose from his chair, "there is some one coming out to dinner from Masterton. Oh, not anybody that makes much difference-a young fellow"

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'Some young fellows make a great deal of difference," said Sara. Who is it, papa?"

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"Well-at present he is-only one of my clerks," said Mr Brownlow, with an uneasy and, to tell the truth, rather humble and deprecating smile" one you have seen before-he was out here that day I was ill."

"Oh, Mr Powys," said Sara; and in a moment, before another word was spoken, her sublime indifference changed into the brightest gleam of malice, of mischief, of curiosity, that ever shone out of two blue eyes. "I remember him perfectly well-all about him," she said, with a touch of emphasis that was not lost on her father. "Is there anybody else, papa?"

"Powys!" said Jack, turning back in amaze. He had been going out not thinking of anything; but this intimation, coming just after

"Objection, sir?" said Jack; "I don't know what you mean. It is your house, to ask anybody you like. I never should have thought of making any objection."

"Yes, it is my own house," said Mr Brownlow. It made him feel a little sore to have the plea about doing what he liked with his own thus taken, as it were, out of his very mouth.

But I don't remember that you ever asked any of the clerks before," said Jack. It was not that he cared much about the invitation to the clerk; it was rather because he was disagreeable himself, and could not resist the chance of being disagreeable to others, being in a highly uncomfortable state of mind. "I don't regard Powys as a mere clerk there are circumstances," said Mr Brownlow. "It is useless to explain at this moment; but I don't put him on the same level with Brown and Robinson. I should be glad if you could manage to be civil to him, Jack."

"Of course I shall be civil," said Jack. But he said, "That beggar again!" through his clenched teeth. Between himself and Powys there was a natural antagonism, and just now he was out of sorts and out of temper. Of course it was his father's house, not his, that he should make any pretension to control it, and of course he would be civil to his father's guests; but he could not help repeating, "That beggar!" to himself as he went out. Was his father bewitched? He had not the slightest idea what there could be to recommend this clerk, or to distinguish him from other clerks; and as for the circumstances of difference of which Mr Brownlow spoke, Jack did not believe in them. He would be civil,

of course; but he certainly did not undertake to himself to be anything more cordial. And he went away with the determination not to be visible again till dinner. Powys! -a pretty thing to have to sit at table and make conversation for the junior clerk.

"Never mind, papa," said Sara. "Jack is dreadfully disagreeable just now; but you and I will entertain Mr Powys. He is very nice. I don't see that it matters about his being one of the clerks."

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"I was once a clerk myself," said Mr Brownlow. "I don't know what difference it should make. But never mind; I have not come to that pitch that I require to consult Jack."

"No," said Sara, a little doubtfully. Even she, though she was a dutiful child, was not quite so clear on this subject. Mr Brownlow had a right to do what he would with his own-but yet—— Thus Sara remonstrated too. She did not give in her whole adhesion, right or wrong. She was curious and mischievous, and had no objection to see Powys again; but she was not quite clearin her mind, any more than the other people, about a man's utter mastery over his own. Mr Brownlow saw it, and left her with something of the same feeling of discomfort which he had in the presence of Mr Wrinkell and Mr Brown. Was there anything in this world which a man could really call his own, and of which he was absolutely free to dispose? It seemed to the lawyer, thinking it over, that there was no such absolute personal possession. After all, he of the vineyard settled the matter in a quite arbitrary way; and nowadays, amid all the intricacies of extreme civilisation, such a simple way of cutting the knot was impracticable. Nobody knew that Mr Brownlow's house, and money, and goods were not entirely and honestly his own property; and yet nobody would consent that he should administer them absolutely in his own way.

He could not but smile at the thought as he went into the library, where he always felt himself so lit tle at home. His position and relationship to everything around him seemed to have changed in these days. He had been a just man all his life; but now it seemed to him that justice stood continually in his way. It was a rigid, unmanageable, troublesome principle, which did harm by way of doing right, and forbade the compromises which were essential in this world. Justice to Brown denied him the liberty to advance his clever junior. Justice to Jack forbade him his natural right to entertain whomsoever he pleased at his table. In fact, it was vain to use the possessive pronoun at all; nothing was his-neither his office, nor his money, nor his house-unless under the restriction of everybody else's rights, and of public opinion beyond all. So Mr Brownlow mused as he left Sara and retired to his solitude. "Is thine eye evil because I am good?" But then in the days of the parable there were fewer complications, and a man was more confident in his own power.

As for Sara, in her reflections on the subject, it occurred to her as very probable that Mr Powys was coming early, and she stayed indoors accordingly. She put herself into her favourite corner, by the window-that window which was close to the Claude-and took a little pile of books with her. Sunday afternoon, especially when one is very young, is a difficult moment. One never knows exactly what one ought to read. Such at least was Sara's experience. Novels, except under very rare and pressing circumstances, were clearly inadmissible-such circumstances, for instance, as having left your heroine in such a harrowing position that common charity required you to see her through it without delay. And real good books-those books which it is a merit to read-were out of Sara's way. I should be afraid to

tell which were the special volumes she carried with her to the window, in case it might convey to some one, differently brought up perhaps, a false impression of the soundness of her views. She had Eugenie de Guerin's Letters in her hand, which ought to cover a multitude of sins; but she was not reading them. There was the ghost of a smile, a very ghost, appearing and disappearing, and never taking bodily shape, about her pretty mouth. What she was thinking was, who, for instance, this Mr Powys could be? She did not believe he was a mere clerk. If he were a mere clerk, was it possible that he would be brought here and presented to her like this? That was not to be thought of for a moment. No doubt it was a prince in disguise. He might be an enchanted prince, bewitched out of his proper shape by some malignant fairy; but Sara knew better than to believe for a moment that he could be only a clerk. And he was very nice-he had nice eyes, and a nice smile. He was not exactly what you would call handsome, but he had those special gifts which are indispensable. And then poor papa was in a way about him, afraid to tell his secret, compelled to treat him as if he were only a clerk, afraid Jack should be uncivil. Jack was a bear, Sara concluded to herself, and at this moment more a bear than ever; but she should take care that the enchanted prince should not be rendered uncomfortable by his incivility. Sara's musings were to this effect, as she sat in her corner by the window, with Eugenie de Guerin in her hand. A soft, warm, balmy, sunny afternoon, one of those days in which the very air is happiness, and into which no trouble seems capable of enteringnineteen years old-a fairy prince in disguise, coming to test her dispositions under his humble incognito.

Do you think the young creature could forget all that, and enter even into Mademoiselle de

Guerin's pure virginal world of pensive thoughts and world-renunciation, because it was Sunday? But Sara did all she could towards this end. She held that tender talisman in her hand; and, no doubt, if there were any ill spirits about, it kept them out of the way.

Powys for his part was walking up the avenue with a maze of very pleasant thoughts in his mind. He was not thinking particularly of Miss Brownlow. He was too sensible not to know that for him, a junior clerk just promoted to the glory of a hundred and twenty pounds a-year, such an idea would have been pure madness. He was thinking, let us say, of the Claude, of how it hung, and all the little accessories round it, and of the sunshine that fell on Sara's dress, and on her hair, and how it resembled the light upon the rippled water in the picture, and that he was about to witness all that again. This is what he was thinking of. He was country bred, and to breathe the fresh air, and see the trees waving over his head, was new life to him; and warm gratitude, and a kind of affection to the man who generously gave him this pleasure, were in his mind. And notwithstanding the horrible effect that the burden of debt had so recently had upon him, and the fact that a hundred and twenty pounds a-year are far, very far, from being a fortune, there was no whiteness now visible at his seams. He was as well dressed as he could be made in Masterton, which was a commencement at which Mr Wrinkell, or any other good economist, would have frowned. Mr Brownlow went to join his daughter in the drawing-room as soon as he heard that his visitor had come to the door, and met him in the hall, to Powys's great comfort and satisfaction. And they went up-stairs together. The sunshine crossed Mr Brownlow's grizzled locks, just as it had crossed the ripply shining hair, which glistened like the water in Claude's picture. But this time Powys did

not take any notice of the effect. Sara was reading when they went in, and she rose, and half-closed her book, and gave the guest a very gracious majestic welcome. It was best to be indoors just then, while it was so hot, Sara thought. Yes, that was the Claude-did he recollect it? Most likely it was simply because he was a backwoodsman, and entirely uncivilised, that Powys conducted himself so well. He did not sit on the edge of his chair as even Mr Wrinkell did. He did not wipe his forehead, nor apologise for the dust, as Mr Brown would have done. And he was grateful to Mr Brownlow, and not in the least anxious to show that he was his equal. After a while, in short, it was the master of the house who felt that he was set at ease, as it was he who had been the most embarrassed and uncomfortable, and whose mind was much more occupied than that of his visitor was by thinking of the effect that Powys might produce.

At dinner, however, it was more difficult. Jack was present, and Jack was civil. It is at such a moment that breeding shows; anybody, even the merest pretender, can be rude to an intruder, but it requires careful cultivation to be civil to him. Jack was so civil that he all but extinguished the rest of the party. He treated Mr Powys with the most distinguished politeness. He did not unbend even to his father and sister. As for Willis, the butler, Jack behaved to him as if he had been an archbishop; and such very fine manners are troublesome when the party is a small one and disposed to be friendly and agreeable. Under any circumstances it would have been difficult to have kept up the conversation. They could not talk of their friends and ordinary doings, for Powys knew nothing about these; and though this piece of courtesy is by no means considered needful in all circles, still Mr Brownlow was old-fashioned, and it was part of his code of manners. So they had to talk up