Blanche," he said, "as you grow older. It is not s often to be met with as some people think."

Blanche made no reply. That peculiar smile wa one to which she was unaccustomed, and Lor Rutherford not continuing the subject, nothing mor was said about Mrs. Wentworth.

"I shall make Eleanor come back with me, and assist in all I have to do," said Blanche, as he father suggested that there would be ample employ ment for her in choosing how she would have every thing placed in her rooms, and making herself a home in them. "She promised me she would; so had better go to her at once."

"Then we will walk together," said the earl. must see Wentworth myself, and thank him for th care he has taken in seeing your apartments prepared for your reception."

The path to the rectory was much shorter than Blanche had anticipated, leading down the steep hil upon which the castle stood, and then following the course of the river for a little distance, till it termi nated at a wicket-gate, which opened into the shrub bery adjoining the house. Blanche was delighted with the neatness and beauty of the small pleasure ground through which they passed, and the com fortable appearance of the parsonage, with its trelliced verandah covered with creepers. She would not have exchanged her own magnificent home for it; but she felt that there was nothing to give rise in Eleanor's mind to any feelings of envy or discontent. It was the home of affluence, if not of riches.

The drawing-room was empty when they were shown into it, and Blanche had time to recognise many things which Eleanor had described before; and to study with much interest a likeness which she was certain must be that of Mrs. Wentworth, before any one appeared.

The first interruption was from a huge Newfoundland dog, which sprang through the open window in bold defiance of the warning voice of his master, who immediately followed. He was a young man, apparently about three or four-and-twenty, tall and rather striking in his appearance, and with a countenance which would have been termed extremely handsome; but Blanche, as startled by the intrusion she turned from the examination of Mrs. Wentworth's picture, was less aware that his features were regular, and his manners polished, than that he was not entirely the person she had expected to meet in Eleanor's brother. Such it was evident, from the strong resemblance, he must be. There was cleverness certainly in his bright blue eye, and the high forehead round which his dark hair was carefully arranged; and his mouth was good-tempered, though perhaps a little sarcastic; but a self-satisfaction betrayed itself in his look and general deportment, which almost from the first glance Blanche felt to be repugnant to her taste. Yet there was little said that could show anything of his disposition. A few apologies were made for his sudden entrance, and a little regret expressed that they should have been kept waiting; and then Mr. Wentworth bowed, and retired, with the intention of seeking his mother and sister, whom he believed were to be found in the garden.

"I should have known him anywhere," exclaimed the earl, when he was gone; 66 and you would, too, I am sure, Blanche. Did you ever see such a likeness?"

"It is striking, certainly," replied Blanche, with some hesitation; but

"Well," said the earl, laughing, "what is your but? I should have thought it impossible to criticise anything so regularly handsome.'

"I did not mean to criticise, papa," said Blanche,

blushing; "but I don't think it would please me i Eleanor were exactly--"

The sentence was not concluded, for Eleanor a that instant appeared, her face bright with pleasure and excitement.

"It is so kind, so very kind in you, Blanche,” she said. "I did not in the least expect you; for I am sure you must have as much to do as I have."

"I have left it all," replied Blanche, "till you were with me. You know I am never able to please myself; and you must go back to the castle presently, and help me to arrange my rooms, and then we will settle all sorts of things. But I wanted so much, first, to see your mother and little Susan."

"And Charles!" exclaimed Eleanor, eagerly. "He told us you were here: he came only last night, and he is going away again to-morrow.'

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"So soon!" observed the earl; we shall scarcely have time to make his acquaintance."

"I don't know why he should go," replied Eleanor ; "but I don't think he finds as much amusement here as he does elsewhere. Home is rather dull for a young man."

Blanche believed this because she was told it, but it seemed strange. She could not imagine what society any one could want beyond such a sister as Eleanor, such parents as she believed Dr. and Mrs. Wentworth to be, and such a home as Rutherford Rectory.

"Mamma will be here instantly; she is longing to see you, Blanche," continued Eleanor.

"I think I hear Mrs. Wentworth's voice," said Lord Rutherford; and he went a few paces into the garden to meet her; but though his words were cordial and easy, his tone was not; and but for Mrs. Wentworth's perfect calmness of manner, there might have been something awkward in the meeting.

Blanche did feel as her father had expected, when Mrs. Wentworth advanced towards her, and simply took her hand as she would have done that of an indifferent person. She had expected some show of feeling, at least for Eleanor's sake; but Mrs. Wentworth's soft, quiet voice underwent no change in its intonation, even when she looked at the earl, and said, "Lord Rutherford's return will now be doubly welcome to us all."

A few trifling observations passed, and Lord Rutherford, with a slight accent of impatience, inquired if there was no hope of seeing Dr. Wentworth.

"He has been called into the village unexpectedly," replied Mrs. Wentworth : "but we expect him to return immediately. Can I deliver any message for

him?"

"Perhaps I might be allowed to leave a note in his study," replied the earl. "I think I know where to find it," and he left the room.

Blanche in the meantime had been interested in observing Mrs. Wentworth more minutely. She resembled Eleanor's description, in her tall, slight figure, and delicate, though rather harassed-looking countenance; but there were no traces of the feelings which had been so vividly portrayed in her letters. That she was Eleanor's mother, Blanche could scarcely believe, as she watched the eager impetuosity of the one, and the marble frigidity of the other; still less could she believe that Eleanor could ever dare to unburden her heart to such a mother. And yet the love which she had been told existed between them had been her "beau ideal" of what the tie between a parent and a child might and ought to be. When Lord Rutherford was gone, however, there was a little change in Mrs. Wentworth's manner. The questions which she asked were marked by consideration, and a desire to understand something of

Blanche's feelings, at this her first visit to her home and though the tone in which they were put was cold, it still betrayed something more of real sympathy than before; and when Blanche began to express her pleasure in the taste and care which had been shown in furnishing her rooms, a quiet smile even stole over Mrs. Wentworth's features, and her eye brightened, though she immediately afterwards turned from the subject. But Blanche had not much time for any further remarks. Eleanor insisted upon taking her to the school-room, and the garden and shrubbery, and, as she said, making her at home at once; and Blanche, only too glad of an excuse to be alone with her, readily followed. It did not require much time to see the whole, but Blanche lingered with pleasure to listen to all that Eleanor had to say of past enjoyments and future hopes associated with the place in which she had been born, as well as to make acquaintance with her sister Susan, an intelligentlooking child, about eight years of age, who was now to be Eleanor's pupil.

"I think you must be happy, Eleanor," she exclaimed, as they seated themselves at length on a garden-seat, in a retired part of the shrubbery. "I do not see one thing that is wanting. And you will lead such a useful life."

"I have been talking to papa already about what I am to do," replied Eleanor. "I am to teach Susan in the mornings, and to go in the afternoons to see some of the poor people; and sometimes I am to ride with him, and he is going to read with me some part of the day."

"And your music and drawing?" said Blanche.

"Oh! I must contrive to have some time before breakfast. You know I cannot arrange for every hour exactly till I have tried; but that will be the sort of life."