A Nest of Linnets

ot sing the phrase better than you have just sung it. 'She drew an angel down': let that be in your mind, my dear. There is no celesti

ver bright

Miss

rang from the

m the ears of heaven with your cry. Think of it, girl-think that you are lost, eternally lost, unless you can obtain help that is not of earth. Stun their ears, madam, with the suddenness of your imploration, and let the voice come from your heart. Betsy, that

f me to-night; I am tired-anxious.

the window, as if she fully expected to see the

there any highwayman fool enough to collect fiddles? Do you fancy tha

ay affright

se you have not seen your brother since he was fourteen, the f

he will h

self without drawing either his sword or his fiddle

d that he had outgrown his affection

Linnet, you shall have your chance. You shall fancy

ver bright

ake him to

hear for certain. Com

gels

Miss

illed through the room and there was a suggestion of a

ever brigh

h, take

d. She threw herself into a chair, and, covering her

e after all-if some accid

lls of deep tenderness that ever woman possessed, at all times suggested a certain pathetic emotion of fear, causing every man who looked into their

your face into music, I should be the g

nd of contempt. She began pacing the floor excitedly, her l

ever to have an hour of true emotion oneself, never an hour of real life, never an hour apart from the artifices of Art,-that is the life which you

Elizabeth!" said the musicia

he time I care nothing for the angels, but a good deal for my brother Tom, who is coming home to-night. Oh, father, father, do not try to teach me any more of this tricking of people into tears by the sound of my voice. Dear father, let me have this one evening to myself-to

s knees and was pressing one of

ening," he said in a voice that was

elf," she cried. "Let me continue to be myself

eathless pause, then, with a little cry of deligh

o the second window wit

nd that she was in the act of raising still in her hand. She gave a

e a father

his hands the light of the candles of the room while he pe

he pane her father had dropped t

has grown!" he said i

ed Betsy, turning from the w

t on the stairs, a stream of questions in various tones of voice, a quiet answer or two, a children'

brothe

, kissing her face and being kissed

ble harpsichord, the brothers and sisters callous only when they were not nudging one another lest a

hich she had been making was on the front of her dress and one of the s

r yet," said Master Oziah with the

big for father to thwack!

tsy, releasing her brother, and passing him on to the

sician felt the alo

aid the boy, who had j

cheek to be kissed, while he pressed

er?" remarked little Oziah to W

aid Willie. "People have no busine

et out on my travels," said Tom, when he had thrown off his travelling-cloak. "Polly

to keep her head above water i

than Bettina, I'll swear! Oh, Bacco, Betsy is our beauty,"

lly. "We don't stand in need of a tra

as two-two roses that have grown

ord about her beauty," laughed Tom, making a

ent as hers, and his eyes had the same expression, the same timorous look, that suggested the eyes

, turning to their father with the air of an im

le," said Mr. Linley. "Look well at her this evening, my son; you will appreciate her beauty now that it is still fresh in your eyes; to-morrow you will hav

no danger of his forgetting th

e laugh. His laugh was just as sweet

hear, sir," he remarked, when he had

her. Then noticing her frown, he cried in quite another tone: "But how is't with

eard Betsy sing, and thought it only civil to inquire i

nly genius among us; you shall taste one of her pies before you are an hour older. If you s

s, but as many nightingales-or linnets. Ah, you remember, Betsy, how the name

ing of is a pie. Hurry to your room, Tom, or I vow there will not be left so much as a clove for

play second fiddle to an appetite of such

ills when Betsy appears as Miss Li

hold characteristics of the Linleys, of 5, Pierrepont Street, Bath! It seemed so strange-just as strange as if a stranger had come into the house showing himself acquainted with the old family jests. And he had not eve

could scarcely hope that so great a treasure should ever escape the notice of those lines of banditti, who, according to reports that had reached her, contested the passage of any article of value across the Italian frontier. But even admitting the possibility of its safe arrival in England, would not the news of its coming be passed round from highwayman to

who has secret intelligence that a brooch is about to be presented to her. She hoped that she would be strong enough to resi

hemselves there arose one septet of joyful exclamations, for between the knife a

a beautiful mosaic design

g that could possibly be called

He could only receive one kiss at a time, though he did make a masterful attempt to take the two elders as a concerto allegro movement; the others he treated as a scherzo. He had the lordly air of the patron who flings his guineas about: the Italian jewell