stablished in different parts of the city. As for the iron pillar boxes which had been erected of late years for the receipt of letters, one of which - a most hate

p as she called it out in the middle of the street with nobody to look after it. Positive orders had been given that no letter from her house

Exeter, 22n

Sister S

. Should you agree to this, she will be welcome to receive you or her sister, not her brother, in my house any Wednesday morning between half-past nine and half-past twelve. I will endeavour to make my house pleasant to her

ower of closing it if, and when, I shall see fit. Its permanence must be co

s tr

A STA

y does not have any

d its way to Nuncombe Putney out of the coffers of the 'D. R.'; but the ladies there were most unwilling to be so relieved, thinking that their brother's career was of infinitely more importance than their comforts or even than their living. They were very poor, but they were accustomed to poverty. The elder sister was older than Hugh, but Dorothy, the younger, to whom this strange invitation was now made, was two years younger than her brother, an

first to express an opinion. Nothing could be more natural than the proposed arrangement, had it not been made unnatural by a quarrel existing nearly throughout the whole life of the person most nearly concerned.

said Mrs Stanbu

try,' sai

't know that woma

on't know her,

n very good to Hugh

s been good to him at

d Dorothy. 'And I could send home half of

' said Priscilla, 'because s

ore the morning was over 'if you and

ere demanded. It was very evident to Hugh that his mother and Dorothy were for compliance, and that Priscilla was for refusal. But he never doubted for a moment. 'Of course she will go,' he said in his answer to Priscilla; 'and she must understand that Aunt Stanbury is a most excellent woman, as true a

of the man of the family. Dorothy was greatly gratified by the excitement of the proposed change in h

Putney, 1s

Sister S

d. She will endeavour to comply with your wishes in all things reasonable. She; of course, understands that should the arrangement not suit, she will come back home on the expression of your wish that it should be so. And she will, of course, do the

me to

tionate si

TANB

Miss Stanbury to Martha, hol

her coming, ma'

She'll have the small room upstairs, looking out f

fetch he

you won't

rs old, and surely she can come to Exeter by her

e railway carriages, and I won't have her come by herself. If

ess had taken, partly by perceiving that in face Dorothy Stanbury was very like her brother Hugh, and partly, perhaps, by finding that the young woman's manner to herself was both gentle and sprightly. She knew well that gentleness alone, without some back-bone of strength under it, would not long succe

said Miss Stanbury. 'Then why

l. But I must go down and

g to be taken there twice on the same Sunday. And he had told his aunt that owing to a peculiar and unfortunate weakness in his constitution he could not listen to the reading of sermons. And then she was almost certain that he had once kissed one of the maids! She had found it impossible to manage him in any way; and when he positively declared himself as permanently devoted to the degrading iniquities of penny newspapers, she had thought it best to cast him off altogether. Now, thus late in life, she was going to make another venture, to try an altogether new mode of living in order, as she said to herself, that she might be of some use to somebody but, no doubt, with a further unexpressed hope in her bosom, that the solitude of her life might be relieved by the companionship of some one whom she might love. She had arrayed herself

dark straw hat, a straw hat with a strong penthouse

said, 'I am g

also, whose position was one to justify m

said the aunt, 'and l

uth was a beseeching mouth. There are women who, even amidst their strongest efforts at giving assistance to others, always look as though they were asking aid themselves, and such a one was Dorothy Stanbury. Her complexion was pale, but there was always present in it a tint of pink running here and there, changing with every word she spoke, cha

her aunt, taking hold of the curls, 'a

, when the aunt and niece sat down to dinner together Dorothy had hardly spoke

st chicken, my dear?

thank

ane, I do hope the

gnorant of Miss Stanbury's character. When Miss Stanbury gave her niece the liver-wing, and picked out from the at

s, I don't know what has become of them. They tell me I may have green peas from Fra

his, as she always did on such occasions, l

u like it,

ng is so

ng as we don't take more than our share, and give away something to those who haven't a fair share of their own, I for one th

; but Jane knew Miss Stanbury better, and bo

e a glass of port wine. It will

e never did drink any wine, but her

ny harm, and as there is port wine, it must

e sat with her toes on the fender, and her silk dress folded up above her knees. She sat quite silent in this position for a quarter of an ho

do,' said Miss

what would do, she coul

nother short interval. 'You're as like my poor sis

e was not ordinarily

m. I know what headaches mean. How is a woman not to have a headache, when she carries a thing on the back of her poll as big as a ga

o go to the Cathedral service on the morning of every week-day, and on Sundays in the afternoon. On Sunday mornings she was to attend the little church of St. Margaret. On Sunday evenings it was the practice of Miss Stanbury to read a sermon in the dining-room

o to attend the Lord's house,' sai

ot to make the be

'I beg your pardon, heartily. I'm a thoughtless

er niece a candlestick to go to bed,

t'll do. But if you read in bed either n

o much energy, that Dorothy gave a l