Fe SS EST a aaa a

THE PANELLED HOUSE.

of the rest of the party, increased, since they had
left it, by the presence of Colonel Armyn, Miss
Imogen Rivers, and Mrs. Heydon. Then Escott
suddenly vanished ; and Winny, who had at all
times less strength than spirit, sat down to rest on
a mossy stump, while Jack Heydon came and threw
himself on the ground by her side. They began to
talk, and Winny forced herself into high spirits,
and soon was laughing and chattering even more
than usual. Jack Heydon always found Winny’s
wit very amusing, though it was of too slight a

137
| Flora, who was not best pleased to see any one de-
youed to any young lady except herself, remarked,
What a flirt Winny is,” sotto voce to the trees ; but
they did not betray her confidence to any ae
Before long, Colonel Armyn called away his
daughter and they went home together. Many
people would have agreed that Jack Heydon showed
bad taste in deserting Flora for Winny; for the
long, slim girl of eighteen had bloomed out into a
very “magnificent-looking woman. Flora had a
| dazzling complexion, bright eyes, and a mass of

THE MEETING IN THE LANE (p. 142).

kind to bear repetition, and indeed owed more than
half its charm to the bright eyes and gleesome
voice which uttered it. All the time, however, she
was longing to be alone, to think over Escott’s con-
fidence, and wondering whether she had said the
right thing to him, or not enough.

Aunt Immy and Mrs. Heydon, with the match-
making propensities of their years, watched the
couple—the fair, red-whiskered giant of an Oxonian
and the dark sparkling prettiness of the girl—and
smiled a telegram to one another as they did so.

Ee SSS SS

chestnut-red hair; her features were not perfectly
regular, but well-formed ; and if it had not been

for the peculiar curl of the lip, which Aunt Immy
called scornful, and Mrs. Heydon discontented, hers
would have been a face to look at again and again.
But the curl of the lip, and the working of the eye-
brows detracted considerably from Flora’s beauty ;
and made women, who are more attracted by ex-
pression than men, assert that if it were not for her
complexion, her hair, and her figure, Flora would

be no beauty at all. Her figure at least was fault-

;
HH