only to be borne in the best way she could devise, patiently waiting for the breaking-up of Parliament, when, with time and leisure on his hands, her husband, she hoped, would once more devote himself to home and its pleasures.

"You are early to-night," Ethel exclaimed, as Philip came into the drawing-room where she was at work; "Barbara assured me just now the House was not expected to break up till very late to-night."

"So every body imagined; but the ministry found themselves unexpectedly in a minority soon after the House met, and the Premier is gone off to consult her Majesty: of course the House broke up. It has made no end of commotion. Has Stephens brought in the evening's papers?"

"Yes; they are on the table beside you," Ethelind said; and then she rested with her needlework in her lap, and wondered how people could be so excited by politics as her husband's family were, wishing, for his sake, she could feel as enthusiastic as Barbara did.

For some time Philip was entirely absorbed in his paper; then suddenly looking up, he asked Ethelind if she had not some relative or connection a leading man at Wylminstre.

"I have not," she said, "but Margaret has,-old Mr. Waldron, the banker. Why? What makes you ask the question ?"

"Only that every one agrees in thinking that Lord L will try the effect of a new Parliament before he resigns office. In which case, we must strengthen his hands as much as possible. Redcar tells me, if he could secure the interest of one or two influential men at Wylminstre, he thinks he has a very fair chance of a seat for the borough; at all events, it is worth a trial. I mean to run down with him, and see what can be done. How is one to secure this man's interest, do you think?” "What man? Mr. Waldron, do you mean?"

"Yes; this uncle of Miss Atherton's."

"You forget he is a Quaker; you might not like to have any thing to do with them."

"Oh, never mind that; in politics one overlooks all minor considerations. If he is a good fellow, and answers our purpose, it does not signify what his creed may be, or the cut of his coat, for that matter. We must contrive to surmount that difficulty."

"But Mr. Waldron has some very strong prejudices; and if he should not happen to agree with Lord Redcar's opinions, and should oppose you?" Ethel said nervously.

"Then we must fight the battle out between us, that is all," Philip replied coolly; and he went on again with his paper. Presently he looked up, and asked abruptly, "Where is your sister now, Ethel? She seems to exercise great influence over all her family. Do you think, if you wrote to her, she would help us?"

Ethel looked up in astonishment. "You forget," she said, "that I have not written to Margaret since I married. I have, at your wish, care

fully avoided any intercourse with my family; I could not let my first letter to any of them be about politics."

Perhaps Philip's conscience accused him; he did not attempt to meet his wife's eyes, or notice the colour which dyed her cheeks.

"It does not signify," he said; "if you object to write to Miss Atherton, I suppose we must find some other way of going to work. I only thought you might have been glad of any chance of renewing your correspondence with your own people."

"Not in that way, Philip," Ethelind replied indignantly, for the cool manner in which her husband tried to make a convenience of her family ruffled her temper more than any thing which had occurred between them. "You yourself forbad my writing to or thinking of them; and, hard as it has been to resign them, I have done so for your sake. You would not seriously ask me to expose myself to their just condemnation for the mere sake of politics, which I neither understand nor care about. Gladly as I would accept your offer, on almost any terms," she added, with tears in her eyes, "my first letter to Margaret must not be a political one."

"If you are not political now," Philip replied, "you must learn to be before long. If the ministry should weather out this storm, it is more than probable I shall be offered a seat in the Cabinet. In that case, you must fulfil your part of the duties: receptions, entertainments, applicants to receive, suing, through you, for your husband's patronage. Needy politicians, and aspiring wives and daughters, will crowd round you, and beset you; and it will be your place to carry yourself in such a manner towards them all, as shall most conduce to your husband's peace of mind, under his trying duties and hard work."

"Then why engage in it at all?" Ethelind asked mournfully. "You do not want place; you have all you can desire, Philip, and honour at such a price cannot be worth the labour it will cost you."

"Suppose every man thought as you do, Ethel, what would become of the country? Wait a year or two, and I will answer for it you will make as good a minister's wife as Lady L herself. An interest in politics depends very much on ourselves. Read the clever leading articles in the daily papers, listen to the arguments wise men urge and argue, and an interest springs up in the breast of every man or woman, which, depend upon it, is the source of that patriotism that so distinguishes England from the whole world beside.-I seem to have alarmed you, Ethie," he added; "but what will you say when I tell you, in the strictest confidence, remember, that I have already been offered a seat in the House of Lords?"

It would be unnatural to suppose Ethelind, young as she was, totally insensible to the ambition which, in more or less degree, is innate in every breast. And Philip watched with a quiet smile of satisfaction her visible start of surprise, and then the deep bloom which spread over her neck and face.

"You are not trying to play on my credulity, are you, Philip?"

she asked.

Lord

"In simple truth, I mean what I say. a seat in the Lords, by any title I liked to name. forty hours given to accept or decline."

"And the title ?" Ethelind asked.

offered me to-day I have eight-and

"There can be no question about that," Philip replied; "the same my ancestors bore will serve me. In fact, it is but the restitution of a forfeited right that I would accept. I could not have listened for a moment," he said proudly, "to the offer of any new creation, such as is enacted by mere monied or political interest. In my case it is only a question of restitution to an old and well-earned right, which no man, when it has been so freely offered, has a right to refuse."

"Earl of Redenham!" Ethelind said slowly, as she came up to her husband's side, and laid her hand on his arm. "It is a pretty title, and an old one, I suppose. But I think I am glad you were only Philip Leigh when you married."

Philip laughed. "You silly little thing," he said, "would you try to cheat yourself into a belief that a countess's coronet would have made you refuse me?" and he stooped down and kissed the white forehead resting against his arm.

"I did not mean that exactly," Ethelind replied; "but no idea of your wealth or your position influenced me. I could have loved you just as well had you been without a name or a belonging-"

"A real case of love at first sight, eh, Ethie?" and he put his arm round her waist and drew her closer to his side.

"How pleased they will be in Eaton Place!" "Yes, it will gratify my mother and sister's ambition, which has always been more aspiring for me than my own. My great trouble is about Ann. Poor soul, it will be a blow to her, I fear; but she will exercise her usual self-sacrifice, and we shall hear nothing from her but warm congratulations; but I would rather it had not come upon her through me."

It was very seldom Philip alluded to his cousin, and when he did there was always something in his manner which, while it puzzled Ethelind, forbade her asking any questions.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Two days later the announcement of the Redenham Peerage appeared in the Gazette. Ralph Atherton read it in the paper, while the bells of the old church at Leigh-Delamere rung out their most joyous peal. And . Margaret read it aloud to the delighted Mrs. Atherton and Gracie as they all sat round the tea-table in their tiny parlour at Deignton. And John Waldron threw down the Times newspaper with one of his expressive grunts, and deliberately took off his spectacles and rubbed them bright

in his coat-tail before transferring them to his pocket, wondering in his sober mind what inducement a man could have for accepting such a doubtful honour, when he already possessed every thing else which wealth and position could give him, and deciding satisfactorily to himself that it must have been the influence of Ethelind, who had doubtless inherited her mother's weak ambition, and whose little thoughtless head had been turned by the absurdities of that gay world into which, without any preparation, she had been so suddenly thrown.

A fortnight later, as Lady Redenham was returning through Hyde Park from an early drive, she came upon the conspicuous figure of a Quaker lady, tripping along the broad walk beside the Serpentine; the freshness of her subdued colour-silk dress, in its straight close folds, gathered up so as to display the white dimity petticoat and the snowy stocking; the large Norwich shawl, and the stiff drab bonnet, with its deep cardboard poke, throwing into shade the prominent features and bright intelligent eyes, which could belong to no one but Margaret's Aunt Sarah; at whose eccentric and unchanging dress Ethelind had so often laughed, and of whom in her heart she had always stood in great

awe.

Remembering Philip's anxiety for an introduction to Mr. Waldron, Ethelind instantly pulled the check-string, and, to the no small astonishment of her well-bred servants, desired to be put down by Miss Waldron's side. Poor old lady! when she a little recovered her surprise, and Ethelind had succeeded in persuading her to return with her for an early luncheon to Belgrave Square, they seated themselves in the carriage, and the order "home" was given.

"Thou wilt wonder what can have brought me here, I dare say," she said to Ethelind; "but just now it is our yearly meeting, and the confinement is rather hard work for an old woman like myself; and feeling this morning as if a little fresh air and sunshine would do me good, I played truant, and came as far as Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park for a stroll among grass and green trees. But I hope to get back in time for the evening meeting."

"I will take you myself, Miss Waldron," Ethelind said, "after I have given you a luncheon. I am so glad I met you; I am sure, after such a long walk, you must require rest and refreshment."

Time had been when Ethelind would have shrunk from an hour's têteà-tête with Margaret's stiff and very plain-spoken old Aunt; but her long abstinence from home-news, and her desire to forward Philip's schemes if she could do so without compromising her own family, made her overlook all such fears now; and she sat by Miss Waldron's side, chatting as freely as if she had been Margaret herself.

The old lady followed Ethelind into her morning-room, and took off her bonnet and smoothed her neat cap over her gray hair, and gazed on the luxurious apartment; and then, drawing Ethel to her side, imprinted warm kiss on her cheek. "With so much around thee, dear,

to make thy heart cling to this world," she said, "thou must not forget that riches bring with them great responsibilities. Though thou art but a young wife and mistress, it is well to bear in mind that there are many things better worth living for than the pleasures or applause of this world."

"I think of it often, Miss Waldron," Ethelind replied meekly; "and I often long to share my comforts with those who do not possess them. But there are some difficulties," she added with a blush, "which I suppose every wife experiences when she first enters her husband's family. I cannot, and perhaps I ought not, to explain them to you; but I think, at least I hope, that Philip's prejudices are giving way, and then I trust I shall be able to have my own family about me."

"I am not sure, dear, that it would be desirable for Grace to be much here," Miss Waldron said, looking round her. "Grace is easily led away, and she has not the same steadiness of purpose which Margaret inherits from her mother. I am not sure it would be right to fill her mind with ideas or hopes which could never be realised. It would only unfit her for her own sphere of usefulness. Now Margaret would be a great help to thee. I wish thy husband knew our Margaret!" the old lady said, firmly believing her favourite niece could combat every difficulty in Ethel's way.

"Before very long you will see Philip at Wylminstre," Ethelind ventured to say; "he wishes very much for an introduction to Mr. Waldron. Lord Redcar, who is trying to get in for Wylminstre at the next election, has heard that Mr. Waldron has great influence in the town."

"My brother is but a poor invalid," Miss Waldron replied; "but I am sure, for thy sake, dear child, he will see thy husband. I must not promise his interest in favour of any one, until he is sure their views on political matters would agree; but he has read with great interest thy husband's speeches, and will be very glad to make his acquaintance."

Ethelind smiled at the old lady's caution; but she had gained her point, and the only one which concerned herself; and, with a light heart, she led her guest through her long suite of rooms, and showed her all the pretty things which adorned them, and, after a hot luncheon, ordered the carriage, and drove with her to the narrow little entrance of that long stone-passage in Bishopsgate Street leading to the sombre amphitheatre which, during the bright month of May, is crowded by "Friends," young and old, who throng up to London, from their far-off country homes, to discuss the business of the Society at their annual meeting.

Many an inquisitive glance was cast upon the gay equipage which stood at the low archway, while Aunt Sarah bade an affectionate "farewell" to Lady Redenham. Many a young man ("Friend") or fair girl, in her delicate dress of pale-coloured silk, trusting entirely to her unadorned simplicity for that admiration which not even the Quaker training for generations can entirely subdue, turned again to get a second