MILLIE HOWARD.

CHAPTER I.

MILLIE'S HOME.

THE chateau had just enough of the past about it to make one who looked at it for the first time a little thoughtful.

The ancestral elms which encircled it, in their whispered communings with the evening breeze, seemed talking of other generations; but on a nearer approach to that stately dwelling, the undulating tones of familiar converse were heard from within, making one in a moment recollect his close connection with this living, breathing world of ours.

The softened sunbeams came trembling through the delicate creepers which formed a partial net-work over the large low window of the breakfast-room,— they rested on Millie Howard's face, bringing out that peculiar expression of uncarefulness and trust in all around, which seldom finds a habitation but in the heart of early childhood.

A

They rested, too, tenderly on her friends, Florence Pemberton and her sister Kate, marking by their clear tracery the early thoughtfulness of the one, and placing it in bold contrast against the joy-beaming expression of the other.

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Millie, Millie, why are you laughing so?" inquired Mr Strafford, with a faint attempt at rebuke, whilst his own tones caught the merry cadence as it fell. "You have forgotten that this is Monday morning, and mamma is calling to you for the text of yesterday."

Millie was grave in a moment, and with unusual earnestness repeated the following words :- Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are. exercised thereby."

Whilst she spoke, the dear child could not, as she afterwards expressed herself, look away from Mr Strafford. She felt as if every word she uttered were the link of a stern chain binding her to him in an unaccountable and mysterious way. A weight pressed on her heart, and her fixed and earnest gaze was suffused by tears. This momentary melancholy, however, soon dissolved before the genial influence of home.

Mrs Howard had long been a widow. She was gentle and very lady-like, but without any strong points of character; and so delicate was her health, that sometimes she would be for weeks in her bed

room, during which time she saw but little of her children.

Millie had a morning governess,- -one who went faithfully enough through the prescribed lessons, but never thought of moulding her pupil's mind and feelings.

Mr Strafford, a barrister, who had formerly been a ward of Mr Howard, was a continual guest at the chateau, and he did a great deal for Millie, gaining that ascendancy over her which the sun ever gains over early morning, tracing out spots of beauty which existed before it had risen, and giving radiance to dew-drops which till its arrival were scarcely discernible. He first showed her of what she was capable, and then watched and guarded the shoots of intellect he had brought forward till they were almost able to stand up alone.

Thus Millie went on, with but little knowledge of the usual routine of a young English girl's education. She grew like a violet on a high rock, above the common and beaten track of tuition, but with a very visible simplicity of heart, and a mountain freshness of thought, that would have been ill exchanged for the studied demeanour and carefully regulated manner of a more conventional mode of instruction.

At thirteen years of age, Millie was a fair young creature, of mingled thoughtfulness and mirth, balancing the two qualities so gracefully, that that which was prominent appeared for the time to possess the greatest charm. In this artificial world, her un

studied manners were strange as the odour of an Eastern flower mingling with the lilies of the field. And yet no one could pass Millie unnoticed by, for in the very absence of what the world calls style consisted perhaps her peculiar attraction.

CHAPTER II.

HOUSEHOLD LOVE.

BEAUTIFUL was the affection uniting Millie and her brother. It was a tie of crystal purity and granite strength. This sweet love came in at the morning time, before care was up, ere anxiety had unfolded its heavy wings, before interest or worldly policy had dared to accost them with unholy pleadings, and, gently taking possession of their hearts, dwelt in them as dew in the flower bud, softening their spirits and preparing them for all the finer impressions of life.

Arthur was the elder by some two or three years; and this gave just an infusion of protection to his love, which made it yet more precious to a tender heart like Millie's; for this brotherly affection does not prostrate one with the force of what is called love, which startles our feelings into so intense a realization of happiness, that the spirit often staggers under its weight; on the contrary, it only

gives a rosy colouring to morning life, weaving its own dewy influences into the texture of familiar things.

They both loved and valued Mr Strafford. He was some few steps above them on the ladder of time, and from their situation, looking up whenever they looked at him at all, the distance which separated them appeared greater than it really was. When once fairly in manhood, no matter how near we stand to the portal by which we made entrance, we are on the other side of the barrier, and the pursuits and habits of the boy become but remembered things.

But to this general appreciation of his society, Millie added a delicate girlish perception of peculiar pleasure in his approval; she derived a sense of happiness from his smile which was all her own, and with which Arthur had nothing to do.

And then the sweet atmosphere of her mother's love noiselessly pervaded all, so that the dayspring of Millie's life was folded in the embrace of kindness; and if sometimes a little impulsive waywardness appeared in her ardent nature, it was obseryable only to Mr Strafford, and encircled as it was by her prompt and ingenuous confession of wrong, if he viewed it as a weed, it was with the persuasion that, at all events, the blossom was not unsightly.

The flower-dial of the ancient Grecians would have been a fitting note of time with her; for were