an should be? Sir,

le men. This

ton, wool, o

ndered to our

shapes respons

ulse makes ind

. Our daughters

s must be what

oman's test. You

k?-the sense well

t's a

ay, but tur

est of taste.

ay what Ro

at a gentle

dignity of

hewn limestone, full of lights and shadows made by the dark dust of lichens and the washings of the rain. Masses of beech and fir sheltered it on the north, and spread down here and there along the green slopes like flocks seeking the water which gleamed below. The archery-ground was a carefully-kept enclosure on a bit of table-land

ilies to do if they took to locomotion. The sounds too were very pleasant to hear, even when the military band from Wanchester ceased to play: mu

ckenshaw's tenants and their families, and of these it was chiefly the feminine members who used the privilege, bringing their little boys and girls or younger brothers and sisters. The males among them relieved the insipidity of the entertainment by imaginative betting, in which the stake was "anything you like," on their favorite archers; but the young maidens, having a different principle of discrimination, were conside

e has been proud to be bought first; and probably a barn-door fowl on sale, though he may not have understood himself to be called the best of a bad lot, may have a self-informed

a cloud of arrows; and poisoned darts are harmless survivals either in rhetoric or in regions comfortably remote. Archery has no ugly smell of brimstone; breaks nobody's shins, breeds no athletic monsters; its only danger is that of failing, which for generous blood is enough to mould skilful action. And among the Brackenshaw archers the prizes were all of the nobler symbolic kind; not properly to be carried off in a parcel, degrading honor into gain; but th

air play, and when there was a general march to extract the arrows, the promenade of joyous young creatures in light speech and laughter, the graceful movement in common toward a comm

er," said Lord Brackenshaw to young C

e elegant Grecian, who had been paying her ass

distinction in rank, not to be marked out as an heiress, like Miss Arrowpoint, gave an added triumph in eclipsing those advantages. For personal recommendation she would not have cared to change the family group accompanying her for any other: her mamma's appearan

and the average group of English country people seemed at its utmost intensity in the close neighborhood of his hosts-or patrons, as Mrs. Arrowpoint would have liked to hear them called, that she might deny the possibility of any longer patronizing genius, its royalty being universally acknowledged. The contrast might have amused a graver personage than Gwendolen. We English are a miscellaneous people, and any chance fifty

which, not being strictly English, was all the worse for its apparent emphasis of intention. Draped in a loose garment with a Florentine berretta on his head, he would have been fit to stand by the side of Leonardo de Vinci; but how when he presented himself in trousers which were not what English feeling demanded about the knees?-and when the fire that showed itself in his glances and the

ty which makes an artist great to the most ordinary people by their knowledge of his great expensiveness. It was literally a new light for them to see him in-presented unexpectedly on th

Gwendolen. "Do look at the figure he cuts, bowing with his hand on his heart

to the majesty of genius. Herr Klesmer smites me with awe;

rstand all ab

ds all about mine and thinks it pitiable." Klesmer's verdict on her singi

rs of the future, I suppose. I

Miss Arrowpoint looks to-day! She would make q

did, don't

e too symbolical-too m

in an a

re than in her skill. The belief in both naturally grew stronger as the shooting went on, for she promised to achieve one of the best scores-a success which astonished every one in a new member; and to Gwendolen's temp

th two little girls and a boy of stout make, sat as lady paramount. Her lord had come up to her in

atherine is not up to her usual mark," continued his lordship, turning to the heiress's mother who sat near. "But she got t

anon Stopley, who had expressed a wish to come. For her own pleasure, I am sure she would rather have brought the Canon; but she is always thinking of others. I told her it wa

e the chance now. I'm getting old and idle. The young ones beat me. As old Nestor says-the gods don't give us everything at one time: I was a young fellow once, and now I am get

bout age," said Mrs. Arrowpoint. "Years, as the Tuscans say, are made for the letting o

said he had been a little bothered. He may have been pulled in another direction. Why, Gascoigne!"-the rector was just then crossing at a little distance with Gwendol

ne, with much inward satisfaction curling his short upper lip. "But it is not my doin

ther," said Gwendolen,

, I can't h

as you say. But Grandcourt is always late. I notice in town he's always late, and he's no bowman-understands nothing about it. But I told him he must come; he would see the flower of

is not what might have been expected. For his uncle Si

and nieces," said his lordship, smiling toward the rector. "But just come with me

o the impression she would make on him. True, he was not to have the slightest power over her (for Gwendolen had not considered that the desire to conquer is itself a sort of subjection); she had made up her mind that he was to be one of those complimentary and assiduously admiring men of whom even her narrow experience had shown her several with various-colored beards and various styles of bearing; and the sense that her friends would want her to think him delig

. Perhaps her shooting was the better for it: at any rate, it gained in precision, and she at last raised a delightful storm of clapping and applause by three hits running in the gold-a feat which among the Brackenshaw archers had not the vulgar reward of a shilling poll-tax, but that of a special gold star to be worn on the breast. That moment was not only a happy one to herself-it was just what her mamma and her uncle would have chosen for her. There was a general falling into ranks to give her space that she might advance conspicuously to receive the gold star from the hands of Lady Brackenshaw; and the perfect movement of her fine form was certainly a pleasant thing to behold in the clear afternoon light when the shadows were long and still. She was the central object of that pretty picture, a

have the star fixed near her shoulder. That little ceremony had been over long enough for her to have exchanged playful speeches and received congratulations as she moved among the groups who were no

nger for an introduction. He has been getting Mrs. Davilow to send m

MEETING