This was as regards the religious instruction for his emigrants. He knew, and it was especially impressed upon him by Mr. Thurston, that a great emigration scheme conducted by very noble persons, which had been based upon uniformity in religion, had partially failed. Finally, he resolved to take with him three young clergymen, one an evangelical, another a ritualist, another belonging to what is called the broad church, and a fourth, a dissenting minister, I believe a Wesleyan. This sectarian division went terribly against the grain with Casimir, who longed for uniformity in the religious as well as in the political status of his colony. But in the divided state of religious opinion in England, he did not see how he could do otherwise. He would have taken a Roman Catholic priest with him, if there had been any Catholics amongst his emigrants. What he hoped was, that ultimately he might induce something like conformity in matters of religion, and that there should be a oneness as regards this important matter as well as in the political and social state of his colony.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE GUESTS AT LOUDENHAM CASTLE.

ASIMIR'S success, in dealing with the denizens of that miserable part

of the town where he had lived, had,

as we have just seen, been very great. It remains to be told what success he met with when dealing with the agricultural classes on Lord Lochawe's estate in Scotland.

Loudenham Castle, the ancestral seat of the Lochawes, is one of the most picturesque piles of building in Great Britain. It is situated on a height, and overlooks a vast extent of loch, and glen, and mountain. It is an irregular building, about which a history of architecture might be written, as it comprises and illustrates the styles of many eras.

The main plan of the castle is this. There is a very large square court-yard, capable of holding between two and three thousand men; and in old times a body of troops of this number has often been gathered together to accompany former Earls of Lochawe in their forays upon the territories of hostile neighbours. At the north end of the square, there is an immense range of stabling; at the south end there are the principal reception rooms, which look out upon a rapid river that flows close under the walls, so closely, indeed, that from the windows of the lowest rooms you might fish for the salmon for which that noble river is so renowned.

On the east, and on the west sides, are long ranges of bed-rooms, intermixed with larger rooms, which had in former times been halls and guard-rooms.

It is a most puzzling place to find your way about. You have to descend and ascend, and wind about hither and thither, in a way which is unknown in modern mansions. A well-known writer, having once been induced to pay a visit

to Loudenham Castle, and being, like many of his tribe, a very unobservant man as regards locality, used to strew pieces of paper from the dining-room to his bed-room, in order that he might find his way back again, when the gong was sounded for dinner.

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of apartments in Loudenham Castle, there was not one very large room. It might have accommodated a small army with sleeping room; but for any great gathering, there was only the courtyard.

It was in the dining-room of Loudenham Castle, at a time somewhat nearer eleven than ten o'clock in the morning, that a party were assembled at breakfast. This party included almost all the persons who have been mentioned in this story, with many additions. Casimir Maremma was there, and his father, and the Professor, together with Lady Alice, and Lord Glenant, and Mr. Thurston. The Duke and Duchess of Brecon were there, as also the Marquis and Marchioness of Templemore, together with Mr. Elwyn, one of the principal writers

on sanitary matters, and Mr. Brentwood, a leader in the cause of education. Miss Ansley, the governess to whose forbearance Ruth had been so much indebted when conducting the Count and his companions through Russia, was also there, having become a friend of the Lochawes, and one who was not likely ever to be long separated from them, for all of them felt how deeply indebted they were to her.

The host, Lord Lochawe, entered the room, and after the usual morning greetings, exclaimed, "What a treasure the Lady Usefulness is, Mr. Thurston!"

"What new merit," said the Duchess, "has papa discovered in his paragon?”

"Well, my dear, when you were all going to bed last night, Miss Bethnal suggested to me that we should see what would be the effect of lighting up the new room, and she had made her preparations for the experiment. I should have thought of it myself, you know; I always do think of these things; but it was very judicious of her to suggest it. Do what we would,