sweep that you never see on a plain man's face; and as to his eyes———"
"Bravo! Laura," says Kate.
"He was a man——— You know the rest. I'll tell you one thing," says Belle, "that I am sure of; that exquisite piece of white and gold, Miss Fleming, was at the bottom of his sudden departure; and I am certain that if they are not lovers now, they were once with a vengeance. They disappeared together that night. I would have reconnoitred, but was curveting in the Lancers. After that, you know, he went."
"I should not mind being you, Helen Adair," says Kate, patting me on the shoulder. "You do all the visiting, while we stay at home."
I am sitting in my bonnet and jacket, awaiting the carriage that is to take me to Lady Flytton's.
"I don't want to go," I say, earnestly; "indeed, I do not. Why Lady Flytton asked me I cannot think, for she did not know mother very well."
"What it is to have so many friends!" says Belle. "I wish I had some!"
"Are you coming back on Monday, child?"
"Yes."
"I wonder if Mr. Vasher will go there?" says Kate. "Keep your eyes open, Helen Adair, and tell us all you see when you come back. Hark! there is the carriage."
We go out. Yes, there it is; and the spirited black horses, with their scarlet rosettes, looked far more fitted for a drive in Hyde Park than to bowl along these country lanes.
"Good-bye! good-bye!" say the Buffs.
The footman puts in my portmanteau, and away I go, feeling like Cinderella without the beauty. It is a lovely day; but oh! I wish I had a companion, for it is dull sitting all alone behind
