Nuttie's Father

t on her go

er mother

ter Bell!'-

ll of activity and vigour, with one of those bright faces that never grow old, and with

nephew seldom seen since he had been her pet and darling as almost a baby, and he was experiencing th

u are quite right to decide on having a pr

t my uncle's life, dangling on as he

edge you acquire is so much in favo

squire, of which

Mr. Egremo

arriage, but on

rriage! Do yo

ping to talk the matter over with you. Do you

ot lose at Pera the ch

nor my grandmother ever

t immunity from governesses was a co

. 'Have you no letters? It was about the time whe

my keeping old letters. I have often regretted i

made my father marry again, and a very good thing that was. It

o write about, and your grandmother said that she had been greatly upset

uty. She had dark eyes and a lovely complexion. I remember in after times being silenced for saying, "not so pretty as my Edda." I was extremely fond o

s older than your father. He could no

lness, and he has made a good deal of use of me. He has got a valet, a fellow of no particular country, more Savoyard than anything else, I fancy. He is a legacy, like other evils, from the old General, and seems a sort of necessity to my uncle's existence. Gregorio they call him. He was plainly used to absolute government, and viewed the coming down amongst us as an assertion of liberty much against his will. We could see that he was awfully jealous of my father and me, and would do anything to keep us out; but providentially he can't write English decently, though he can speak any language you please. Well, the man and I came into collision about a scamp of a groom who was doing

did yo

and the young governess, and that they went off at once to put a stop to it, but found us left with the German maid, who declared that Miss Headworth had gone off with Mr. Egremont in the yacht. No more was heard of my uncle for six weeks, and when he came back there was a great row with the old General, but he absolutely denied

curious relic of the old buck of the Regency days, and compassionated his nephew for having had his life

hocked to hear of the certificate, for he had implicitly believed his brother's denial of the marriage, and he said Miss Headworth was so childish and simple that she might easily have been taken in by a sham ceremony. He said that he now saw he had done very wrong in letting his mother-in-law take all the letters about "that unhappy busine

he line taken by the last generation; and I

he whole drop without inquiry, and never even looking at the letters, which there certainly were. I could not get him to begin upon it with my uncle, but Mrs. Egremont was strongly on my side in thinking that

n a wife and family in a

ks himself a victim? He never meant more than to amuse himself with the pretty little governess; and he took

em,' said Lady Kirk

t was a legal marriage, and my father believes it was not, looking on it as a youthful indiscretion. He put her in lodgings at Dieppe, under Mrs. Houghton's protection, while he returned home on a peremptory summons from the General. He found the old man in such a state of body and mind as he tries to persuade me was an excuse for denying the whole thing, and from that time he represents himself as bound hand and foot by the General's tyranny. He meant to have kept the secret, given her an allowance, and run over from time to time to see her, but he only could get there once before the voyage to the West Indi

the v

wyn explained that the man had got hold of the secret somehow-servants always k

owledge to keep Alwyn in bondage

look at him, of a sort of incarnate familiar demon. When I asked my uncle whether he could guess what had

im by the General,' said Lady Kirkaldy, rejoicing in the genuine indignation of

inally he perceived that we had no right to stand still without endeavouring to discover whether there be a

u done a

lidity of the marriage. Then, deeply mistrusting Master Gregorio, I went on to Dieppe, where I entirely failed to find any one who knew or remembered anything about them-there is such a shifting population of English visitors and residents, a

ight give a chance, or the Houghtons might know about her. I think my husban

as a sound of s

ed to be rigidly excluded, but we can't stand that; and this is the first exper

hey can'

Italian festival. See, we can look down from behind this

and there are the tuneful party in the fern on the opposite sid

girl botanising

over forget-me-n

oung England, you are greatly behi

s, Aunt Margaret. You have nev

d you to carry the invitation to

mean i

clergyman-what's his name-either Towers or Spires-something ecclesiastical I kn

not want to sit f

bourly except for electioneering!

. I abscond. Which is the least

t off-'poor boy, he is a dear good fellow, b