The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-17 00:00:00

pression in his usually lazy brown eyes ; a restless light,
that I had never seen there before. Did it betoken morti-
fication, or what new excitement ?
It was a lecture night; and as my father was later than
usual in coming home we sat down at once at the tea table.
Hilary gratified my mother by eating with his usual school-
boy appetite. Charlie drank large draughts of tea, and
played with his spoon. My father soon pushed his plate
and cup from him, rose from the table, collected his books,
and walked to the door; then he turned, came back, and
stood for a minute or two opposite Hilary, looking at him.
" Hilary, my boy," he said, "it is better that you should
not be kept in suspense; I have heard what the decision of
the examiners is likely to be. You have done your best ; I
am satisfied with you; but you have failed again. Mr.
Carr, the youngest of the examiners, my late pupil, told
me before I lelt the school that, though you had done
better than any of the candidates of your own age, he and
his coadjutors considered that there was one among the
younger scholars to whom they should feel obliged to give
the first place. It is Charlie who has won the prize 1"
I was prepared, but my mother and Neste were not ; they
both burst out in acclamations that sounded very like in-
dignation against Charlie. He had jumped up when my
father spoke, quite white and trembling, and there was real
pain in the tone of his voice when it rose above theirs.
"Mamma, Nests, Hilary, I could not help itl I did not
moan—"

My father raised his hand and hushed them all. " Charlie
was bound to do his best," he said, rather sternly. " I
consider his success an accident ; not owing to any superior
diligence on his part, but to the unusual course one of the
examiners took in his questions. He happened to draw out
precisely the sort of knowledge and ability Charlie has. 1
am sorry, for his sake, that he has succeeded so soon and
BO easily; it will not be an advantage to him in the end.
Now I must go. Hilary, my boy, I know you too well to
think it needful to remind you in what spirit disappoint-
ment ought to be borne." In passing round the table my
father put his hand for an instant on Hilary's head—a
most unusual mark of favour with him—and then he
left us.

For a minute or two after the door shut behind him we
were all silent. Charlie, who was trembling so that he
could not stand, sat down, and dropped his face in his
hands. We none of us knew what to say to him; we could
not congratulate him, and yet, after my father's reproof, we
dared not do anything else.
Hilary looked appealingly at my mother, and then
crossed the room and put his arm round Charlie's shoulder.
"It is all right; what is the matter, Charlie ?" Le said.
At the touch of Hilary's hand Charlie lifted up his head,
but the glance he got at Hilary's face overcame the last
remnant of self-control; nothing but flight could save him
from the disgrace of being seen crying. He shook himself
free, and dashed out of the room ; the next minute the slam-
ming of the bedroom door shook the house.
All our extracts are taken from the first
volume, because they serve best to intro-
duce the various members of the family, and we
do not wish to betray any of the secrets of the after
story. The passages we have quoted may servo to
give some idea of the very graceful style of this
most charming story. In some respects, in her
simple life-like details of homely everyday affairs,
the writer of this novel has some resemblance to
Miss Bremer. We say this without detracting from
her merits as an original genius. For, genius of an
original kind the authoress of " Janet's Home" un-
doubtedly possesses. And c3nfident are we that
with merely ordinary care in the application of her
great natural gifts and graces as a writer, she may
readily win for herself as a delineator of home life
a position certainly unsurpassed, probably unri-
valled, among her contemporaries. The future
before her as a novelist is that of becoming the Miss
Austin of her generation.