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2 Wit Od

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so. But she was well aware of Mrs. Heydon’s
disapproval of what she called “a couple of silly
girls getting together and whispering in a corner,”
and she called Flora out to look at some stereo-
scopic slides on the table. Mrs. Heydon noticed
it. “ Winny is the best-mannered child I know,”
she said to Aunt Immy.

“ Not better than Nest,” said Aunt Immy.

“A dozen times better, my dear. Nest is a
good girl enough, but she does not the least know
how to deal with other people as Winny does.
Nest may be clever in book-learning, but she will
never find out how to tenir un salon.”

Mrs. Heydon was rather fond of bringing in
French sentences into her speeches: she always
pronounced them with an uncompromising British
accent, and Winny, catching the last words,
glanced up and laughed at her; for they had had
many jokes together on the subject. Winny,
though she could not speak or write French
grammatically, pronounced it rather well, and had
tried hard to make Mrs. Heydon confess that
ung salong and un salon had not exactly the same
sound; but it still remained a mooted point.

“Look at the little witch!” said Mrs. Heydon,
laughing. ‘“ Such sharp eyes and ears nobody ever
had before. You had better look out, Immy. Some-
| body will be falling in love with her before long,
or Lam very much mistaken. She is just the sort
of girl to marry at seventeen.”

“J dare say!” said Aunt Immy, sceptically.

Then the gentlemen came in, and before long
Winny was talking to three of them at once:
Eseott Armyn, Jack Heydon, and Mr. Burnet.
Mr. Heydon made himself agreeable to old Mrs.
Escott, and Colonel Armyn talked to Aunt Immy,
while Nest listened. By this arrangement, Flora

ras left with only Mrs. Heydon, and she did not
like it. It was a peculiarity of Flora’s mind that
her temper was always set on edge, as it were, if
she saw any one else receiving any attention,
admiration, or pleasure which she did not receive.
It made her strain her mind to the utmost to find
some way of sharing the good things from which
she was excluded, and whatever Flora wished, she
wished intensely. This was the real cause of the
bitterness with which she spoke of Skepwith, and
of what she considered her father’s niggardliness
to her there.

She had one means of forcing attention, how-
ever, which she had not tried yet at Lyke. There
was a pianoforte in the room, but no one had yet
opened it: so she said to Mrs. Heydon, “Does
Nest Williams play? I should so much like to

hear her.”

“She does not play much, but sings prettily,”
said Mrs. Heydon, “Nest, go and give us a song,
that is a good girl.”

70 THE PANELLED HOUSE.
Nest obeyed. She went to the piano, and sang

a little German song: one of those little Volks-

lieder which seem to be the true expression of the |
life of a people, and which produce true pathos by |

their very incoherence. Nest’s voice was sweet,
true, and pathetic, but not powerful: and when
Mrs. Heydon said to Flora “ Now, Miss Armyn,
it is your turn,” she felt well pleased.

There was a sudden hush through the room
when the first note of Flora’s rich contralto voice
rang out “In questa tomba oscura.” It was a
beautiful voice ; lacking cultivation, it is true, but
full, sweet and powerful, and giving promise of
still greater power than it had. If any thing, it
was too powerful for the small Rectory drawing-
room; but Flora’s point was gained, for not only
Mr. Burnet and Jack Heydon, but Nest, and
Winny herself, were grouped around the piano
when she had finished, and were unanimous in
begging for more. Mr. Heydon, too, had come
behind her, and was saying, “I had no idea we
had such a musical acquisition in you, Miss Armyn.
We must positively get you to help us in the
choir.”

Flora’s eyebrows were still for once, as she
enjoyed her little triumph: and she had sense to
see that airs of unwillingness would be out of
place here. So she sat and sang, song after song,
until Aunt Immy gave the signal to go, saying,
“A quarter past ten! Hermy will think we are
lost. Come, Nest and Winny.” Then they all
began to disperse, Mrs. Heydon saying to Flora,
much more cordially than before, “Thank you
very much for your singing, Miss Armyn. I do

nga ia

like to see a girl good-natured enough to sing |

without putting on airs about it!”
By which Flora felt that she had been successful.
As they were going to bed, Winny said, “I am

conquering that boy, Nest; I said I should. He.

and I had a great deal of talk, and Ilike him. I
said I should find out what there was in him.”
“Sometimes he looks quite bright, but at other

times he looks as sulky and disagreeable that I.
wish he would go away,” said Nest; “so different |

from his father.”

“His father is a good man,” said Winny, “and
he is by no means a good boy. All the more
reason for taking him up, poor fellow !”

“Why, Winny! Would you rather take up a bad
person than a good one ?”

“Of course I would. The good people would
not want me and the bad would.”

*“ Yes, to do them good,” said Nest.

‘Look here, Nest; you and I have our different
lines,” said Winny, stopping short in brushing her
hair, ‘You like the good people, and the wise
people, and civil people, and they like you, and
you talk sensibly to them. But I can’t talk