Year: 1878

II won't be polite to him-I won't do my
best to please him; I'll do all can to vex
and worry him! don't want to see him
and I'll do all can to make him wish him
self anywhere else !" And the speaker stamp.
ed her foot, threw boquet Of flowers
which she had already seriously damaged-to
the other side of the room, and looked beau
tiful defiance.


In grave and stern surprise, Mrs. Lynn
stood regarding her niece. She knew that
Cora was wild, high.spirited, self-willed; but
she had not expected such an outburst as this
on being told that q man, young. handsome
and wealthy, needed only fair encouragement
to become q willing wooer. Surely such un-
reasonable rebellion must arise from great
ignorance. The girl was very young; she
had been brought up in this secluded spot on
the coast of Devonsbire, with few companions
hut her favorite dogs, and little reading save
what she selected for herself from the old
fashioned library. A little diplomacy might
make her see things in an altogether different
light.


Cora" said Mrs. Lynn, mildly. II think
YOU are exciting yourself quite needlessly,
and behaving in q very childish manner. You
surely do not want Mr.. Proctor to suppose
that Devonsbire girls of seventeen or eighteen
are about ON an intellectual level with Lon
don girls of twelveY


Il don't care what he thinks" declared
Cora "he is no more to me than some parcel
of goods that you may have sent for"


"Cora, try to be calm-you are really act
pA- horr
nothing about Mr.. Proctor, who is man of
great attachments. He took high honors at
Oxford, and has travelled all over the Cont
nent and in the East He is coming here by
my invitation and by the wish Of his father,
who, as 1 have already told you, had the
greatest regard for your father, and would be
only too happy if, in his daughter, his son
could End congenial wife. Why, then,
should you deliberately try to make yourself
disagreeable to your cousin? You are all
Sut portionless he is not only rich, but, from
al hear man likely to be able to make
you happy. I simply ask you to consider
these things, and behave as any sensible
young lady would behave under the circum-
stances, and you turn upon me with the petu-
lance of child, throw things about, and not
suffer me to speak without interruption. Tru'
". Cora, you both astonish and wound me-
you do, indeed"


Neither the matter nor the manner of these
speeches was likely. to produce favorable
impression upon an impetuous and sensitive
girl, already in by-no-means mild temper ;
and, if this was a specimen of Mrs. Lynns 8
diplomacy, it would not have won her high
place in circles where diplomacy is regarded
as valuable art.


Cora, who had with difficulty kept silent
during her aunt's harangue, now answered
passionately-


II dare say do astonish you-aDd I'm
glad of it. You astopish mel All, you may
stare, aunt Lynn, but tell you that, child or
not-and I would far rather be child than
such a young lady as you would make me
l shall not do one thing to make this cousin
of mine patronize me! | don't want his
money, and, if he expects to 6ll up the au-
tumn, when town is empty, by amusing him
self with Irritation at my expense, why, you
had better tell him to 60 somewhere else. |
don't understand Irritation, and am not to
be trotted out and made over to my cousin
because you and his father have your heads
together about it. | shall just snub him
I mean what I say. So now, if you don't
choose to countermaud your invitation, you
know what your guest has to expect"


With that she called to large wolf.dog
that was lying near the open window, and
laid her hand upon the door,


Cora" said Mrs. Lynn, sternly, "you ut
terly forget yourself. shall write to your
father by the next post"


"You can if you like" was the impudent
reply; "but you had better write to ny para
gon cousin and tell him to keep away. Come,
Luath p


Without another word she walked out of
the room, and into the grounds, followed by
half dozen dogs beside Luath, and present
" seated herself on the trunk of fallen tree
in the wood half mile away from the old
red brick mansion. She was fustered and
trembling still with passion, and hot tears
fell upon Luath's head as she strung together
field flowers, hardly knowing what she was
doing, and hung them round her neck, he re-
parding her meanwhile with loving wonder
ing eyes. -.


II won't be treated y" she cried, biting
her lip till the blood almost came. "Aunt
Lynn shall find that am too old to be put
in leading-strings; father never treated me So
Because he has gone to India, and she has
come to take care of me, she fancles she can
make puppet of me and put me up for sale
I'll snub Allan Proctor till | make her mad,
and him too p


This resolution evidently afforded the young
lady considerable satisfaction, for she grew a
little calmer, and the angry flush on her face
gradually abated, and the almost stern COM
preston of the lips gave place to an expires
sion of pain and perplexity the flowers she
had plucked up violently by the roots dropped
from her fingers, and she fell into a reverie
in which there was little repose, to judge by
the face and the restive movement of the