wants nothing, are more easily requited than those of the real and poor sufferer, the attached and needy exile, his claims to notice and favour were most graciously acknowledged. Accordingly, he returned to his seat in a little fever of royal devotedness—it was the fashionable epidemic; and who coming from Whitehall could be without it?
Bells ringing, flags waving, may-poles—so long unseen—bonfires in due preparation for night, morris-dancers, who had practised for the last four-and-twenty hours unremittingly to refresh their ancient craft, an ox roasted whole, cakes, ale, crowds, confusion,—all assembled in and about Avonleigh Park, to greet the master's return. A procession was arranged, and perhaps Francesca was the only individual in the whole country that did not go forth to join either actors or spectators. Lucy, full of girlish delight, eagerly pressed her to accompany her and Charles Aubyn to the park; but she refused. She felt that her place was not among her father's dependants; some chance might bring them in contact, and to her it would only be with a sense of degradation. Perhaps, too, an aversion to what had fallen under her own observation of the kind of amusement likely to be found, or contempt, which called itself distaste, strengthened her reso-
