with the address;' and having said this, Mr. Gerard rose, for he wished to give his young friend a chance of having the explanation with Miss Juliet which seemed to be so much needed.

Aylesbury at once availed himself of it. The haggard-looking author withdrew, though he evidently did it most unwillingly, and the next time Mr. Gerard's eyes strayed in that direction he saw Aylesbury and Miss Juliet talking so earnestly that they must have succeeded in persuading themselves that they were alone in the room.

Was Mr. Gerard pleased or not when he saw Mrs. Cradock's cumbrous form move across the room and drop heavily down into a chair by his side? She began to talk to him at once so vigorously that for a long time she even forgot to watch her niece, and he forgot too. At last she exclaimed:

'Dear me, most of the people seem to have gone! It must be late. I wonder where Juliet is! Oh, I do declare she is talking to that young Aylesbury now. He is a very nice young man, I have no doubt, and a son of your friend, which is in his favour, but

when will Juliet make up that poor foolish mind of hers not to waste time on people of this kind? I have told her over and over again that she, who is entirely unprovided for unless I take it into my head to do something for her, ought never to have anything to do with people unless they are illegible. As soon as I am alone with her I shall give her a good scolding!'

'He is as charming a young man as you could wish to see,' said Mr. Gerard nervously; her malaprops disconcerted him.

'Oh, very likely! I don't dispute his being charming, but that doesn't make him illegible.'

CHAPTER II.

IN THE SMALL DRAWING-ROOM.

'Old folk and young folk still at odds, of course :
Age quarrels because spring puts forth a leaf,
While winter has a mind that boughs stay bare.'
R. BROWNING.

JULIET CRADOCK retired to her own room. She was tired, but wholly unaware of it; her heart was full of delight, for she had just become reconciled to Aylesbury, with whom. she had for some days been on bad terms. Great as her delight was, it could not but be tempered by the thought that when she arose next morning he would have left London, and be speeding on his way to encounter the dangers of war. Their reconciliation had, however, made her so happy that as yet she had not begun to realize the anxieties which separation from him would entail.

She was

sitting full of hope and trust, when Clements, her aunt's maid, came to say that she was to go at once to Mrs. Cradock. My aunt wants me exclaimed Juliet, but it is late! Surely she is in bed by this time ?'

་

'Yes, Miss Juliet, she is in bed; but she is in a sad way about something.'

'Well, I'll go,' said Juliet, most reluctantly.

'Excuse my making the remark, Miss Juliet, but if I were you, I would not answer her much. She seems irritable to-night.'

'Irritable' was a word which people about Mrs. Cradock were apt to use to describe a state which others might have characterized more harshly. Juliet recoiled; her thoughts, even in spite of impending separation from him she loved, were so pleasant that she could not bear the idea of having them rudely dispersed by Mrs. Cradock's forcible reproaches and accusations.

'Oh dear! am I the one she is angry with ?'

Anxiously she put this question, for indeed Mrs. Cradock's anger was a well-known quantity, and a thing to cause alarm.

I am afraid so, Miss Juliet, I really am; but I think it will blow over this time if you will only answer her back prudently. If I were you, I'd just agree with whatever she says, and promise to do whatever she asks.'

'I wish I could. She says things no one can bear to hear, and asks things no one can bear to do.'

Well, I don't know how I'd manage.

Clements knew perfectly. She had been five-and-twenty years with Mrs. Cradock, and had kept her place by agreeing to everything she could agree to, and everything she couldn't, besides. This did not prevent her from taking her own way in the end, and inducing her mistress to take it too; only, to achieve this, it was necessary to wait until good temper was restored. Clements had been a superior being, who condescended to overlook Juliet's nurse and nursery, when she had come as a child to the shelter of her uncle's house some ten years before. Clements had always been kind to the desolate little orphan, and anxious that she should be a favourite with her aunt, and Clements was just as anxious still.