It wouldn't be | close attention as old Mr. Thompson's, and made bond slaves of business men; she thought her husband was the only man who submitted to such daily tyranny.

tolerable state of anxiety and impatience lest | sale, how mortified they would be! But they dinner should be late-lest her father should not need not mind her; she loved them all better come, even if it was in season-and, worst of than ever. all, what if he had not allowed himself sufficient time to get to the steamboat!

But none of these hindrances befell her on her errand of mercy; though she did not breathe freely until she found herself actually depositing her carpet-bag in berth C, on board the little boat making its late autumn trips between Groton Landing and the great metropolis.

But the red flag of the auctioneer was not suspended from the drawing-room windows, and her uncle's name was still on the door. That did not give certainty, however, and her heart beat fast with nervous dread as she ascended the steps and rang at the well-known portal. It had not occurred to her to have the driver make the inquiry, though she bade him wait, while she took the carpet-bag in hand, for greater safety, remembering her mother's many warnings, and stood there shivering, for the morning air was already very keen, until it pleased Jackson, her uncle's man, to leave the newspaper he was air

Her father had confided her to the Captain's care as they came on board-a duty which he performed by sending her beef-steak at supper; and had “taken a bond of fate" by introducing her, just at the last moment, while "all ashore" sounded, to an old acquaintance he had discov-ing and reading at the same time, to respond ered among the passengers, Mr. Loundsberry, to her summons. whom she did not set eyes on again.

66

"Mr. Loundsberry will see to you, Kitty; so make yourself quite easy. My daughter is going to the city alone on very important and painful business. Carpet-bag all right? Remember, now, 7 Union Square," and the Doctor was obliged to retreat precipitately to the wharf, where he stood, waving his hand at intervals, until the clumsy Washington finally moved down the river.

Mr. Loundsberry meanwhile had gone to look after his baggage, and Kitty retired to the ladies' cabin, the sacred privacy of which the sable chambermaid was already demonstrating by drawing a Turkey-red curtain before the door.

He had but lately come to the place, and the unfamiliar face struck fresh dread to her heart. The man eyed her so curiously, too, with such an impertinent stare, not thinking it worth his while to inquire into her business.

"Does Mr. Groton live here yet?" "I rather think he does," responded the lofty Jackson.

Kitty turned around and went down the steps to pay the cabman and tell him he could go, but the door was still held by its unbending custodian when she returned.

"Will you tell them that I am here," she said, making a faint essay to pass by way of reminding him that she could not so long as he stood there.

"Oh, suppose they should want to know who it was! We don't see callers so early in the morning."

"Kitty Groton-from the country, tell them, if you please—or I should not have been here so early."

With the freshness and buoyancy incident upon a night passed in the narrow confines of a single berth, with insufficient covering-waking with a start each time the boat made a landing, and finally refreshed by a toilet in common with twenty-two fellow-passengers of whom nine were children-Kitty found herself at last actually embarked in a cab with the carpet-bag on "Country cousin, sure enough," the fashionthe seat opposite to her for company, and mak-able serving man, who had the honor of refering her solitary way through the gray, cheerless dawn toward her uncle's residence. The stores, as yet unarrayed in their bright window draperies and adornments, were depressing in themselves, so were the few pedestrians who hurried along to their shops and work-rooms. With every square her heart sank, and the reality of her position became divested of its romance. What if she should not find her uncle? the auction might already have taken place, and they have sought shelter in some of those miserable streets, unconscious of the warm hospitality that opened its doors to them. She dreaded the meeting now, the actual sight of her uncle so borne down by care and anxiety, of her aunt's and Helen's distress. What should she say to them? How could she comfort them?-it had seemed so easy yesterday! She looked out of the window eagerly as the clat⚫tering vehicle approached the aristocratic neighborhood to which it was bound. How she wished it was all over, and she on her way home again! There was the house! Oh, what if they were gone? or, if she had arrived the very day of the

ring to Brown himself, remarked inwardly, and though he allowed her to pass, he did not trouble himself to open the drawing-room door for her, or offer to relieve her of the carpet-bag, which she still held tightly, when reflected in the great pier glass, a shy, dreary little figure, perched on the extreme edge of the divan in front of it. Kitty was a heroine only througl. her sympathies, and now that she had really reached the journey's end, her courage was fast giving way. If she could have seen the family at once she would have accomplished her errand in a steady, straightforward manner, but every moment she waited made their position seem harder, and her own embassy more perplexing. How could they ever come down from those lofty frescoed rooms to the old-fashioned parlor at home, apart from the new dining arrangement her mother had proposed in order to give Helen a school-room. There was her cousin's grand piano, if the creditors should give it up, as they always did in stories, especially where the young lady of the family supports them all, and educates her brothers by giving music les

|

into a college scrape, eh?" asked Mr. Groton, giving the great black lump of sea-coal a vigorous thump that started forth a cheerful blaze.

"Charlie? Oh no, it's only you all we are so sorry for; and mother cried herself half sick yesterday when she heard it, and I've felt so bad

sons-it would fill up the little parlor entirely!
Helen was a long time coming to her, but no
doubt she was struggling for composure, to meet
her with such changed fortunes; and this thought,
together with the physical sinking from fatigue
and lack of food, following the excitement of
the previous twenty-four hours, completely un-ever since!"
nerved her; so that when her cousin at last ap-
peared she could only throw her arms around
her and sob, "Oh, Helen, oh, Helen, I'm so
sorry; oh, we all are!"

Helen, leaning against the mantle, threw wondering glances at her father-what could it all mean!

"About me! Kitten ?"

"Yes, uncle; I wouldn't have come down

The mirror now had added to its "interior view" a tall showy figure, in an elegant dressing-alone, but father couldn't leave, and he said he gown, and embroideries to match, who returned the embrace affectionately but with a puzzled expression greatly in contrast to Kitty's dreary little face drenched with tears.

"Why, Kitty! sorry for what? you odd little thing! and where in the world did you drop from, and where's uncle ?"

never could make you understand in a letter:
only I was to tell you that you had better bring
Aunt Helena and Helen right up, and we would
all do our best to make them comfortable. I'm
sure I would work night and day, and I could
help Helen with the little children."
"Little children ?"

"He couldn't leave," said Kitty, feeling greatly relieved by the hysterical burst, and at finding that Helen was not entirely overwhelmed. "But he thought I had better come right away, and tell Uncle Charles to bring you all up there, and that he could have all the bank-stock, and mother says we can do very well without the dining-you will take it! Won't you, please, uncle? room, and she'll manage Ann." Oh, we all felt so dreadfully when we heard Guileless little diplomat-mystifying her cous-you had failed! But you don't look half so sick in more at every word, but anxious only to dis- as I was afraid you would!" charge her mission at once.

"If she would like to have a school to help you along, uncle, mother says she could have the dining-room; and, oh! I forgot, father said if the bank-stock wasn't enough to help you get into business again, he could raise some more money by a mortgage on our house. I hope

"You sing and play so beautifully, and speak French so well, father says a select school is sure to succeed in our neighborhood, as there isn't one nearer than the Seminary."

"Suppose you take off your things, Kitty, and come up in the dining-room, where you won't freeze to death; Jackson hasn't got the furnaces started yet. Papa's up there, and you can explain to him all about your school-keeping plan." And as the good-natured girl ushered her cousin through the hall, giving the beloved carpet-bag | into Jackson's charge, she thought she began to fathom Kitty's errand and her agitation. "Yes, it must be that her cousin wanted to open a school-people in the country had such odd notions about working for themselves-and her father had sent her down to the city to have some extra lessons in French and music, for which the bank-stock was proposed as payment, and they were all to be invited up there in the summer in return for taking charge of Kitty."

"Here's Cousin Kitty, papa; she's come down all alone, and I found her freezing in the drawing-room. I wish you would speak to Jackson about the furnace; he doesn't take the trouble to keep it up at night !"

--

"You little soft-hearted goose!"—and Helen knelt down in the most graceful of attitudes on the rich velvet hearth-rug- "I keep school! How excessively funny! Only think, papa!" But "papa" did not seem to see the proposition in the same light. By the working of his fine face-care-worn but by no means wretched

as he caught the true state of the case from the confused explanations of his niece, its simple warm-heartedness was fully recognized and appreciated. He coughed a little, and took out his handkerchief before he trusted himself to reply.

"Just what I might have expected from all of you! Kitty, it's done me more good than a full clearance would have!"

"Then you will take it. Oh, I'm so glad! Father was afraid you wouldn't understand."

"I do, tell him-every bit of it. I understand him, and Sarah, and you. So my Kitten is ready to work for her old uncle, as well as give up all her little property!"

"Oh yes, indeed, if I could only help you." "There, Helen, think of that next time you think you are sacrificing yourself by giving up a frock or a party. Send Bridget to tell your mother that we are going to try and have breakfast at eight instead of half past nine this morn"Why, Kitten! you do look as blue and mis-ing. See how they keep me waiting, Kitty; I erable as if some one had tried to drown you. have old country habits." Take off her cloak, Helen, and ring for breakfast at once. How's Sarah and the Doctor?" "They're very well, uncle ;" and Kitty tried to keep the flood-gates of her sympathy closed: but this affectionate salute had raised them again.

"But is it really so very bad?" asked Kitty, who could not be enlivened even by the prospect of breakfast until she knew the depth of the calamity.

"It's bad enough, but not quite sufficient to make me rob you. Ask Helen how bad it is. I believe she's recovered."

"Why, I couldn't imagine what you meant, Kitty, when you began to cry so; I thought you were homesick, or had lost your trunk. By-theway, take Miss Groton's trunk up to the blue room, Jackson. You're not wanted just now." Jackson, bent on picking up his little bit of information as a breakfast relish for the servants' hall, disappeared with all outward civility and inward wrath. "Comes of living with a family still in business; couldn't expect better manners," he remarked to a friend, stopping at the Clarendon, that evening, when detailing the circumstance, and his private impression that the said family must have been extremely "low" originally; which conclusion was derived chiefly from the disposition their newly arrived visitor and relative evinced to wait on herself as far as it was possible to do so-a positive evidence of ill-breeding, as they both agreed.

"I did not bring a trunk; mother thought I might put you out if I staid over night."

"Nonsense! You're going to make a good long visit now we've got you here. You're come just in time for our dinner company to-day; hasn't she, Helena? Helena, Kitty's come all this way alone, to offer us every dollar her father can raise, and a home besides; it seems my suspension's pretty well known, thanks to the Defiant, I suppose."

"Dinner at seven? you need not expect me till the last moment, Helena. Any thing I can do for you? Good-by, Kitty; mind I find you here when I come back. I'll write to your father, so they won't be uneasy"—and he kissed her heartily. She was the only one he did kiss; she noticed that too. But the good old habit of morning and evening salutations is fast becoming traditional in Gotham.

"It's quite a relief," began Helen, the moment the two girls were alone together, "to have you to talk to about it. Of course we never breathe it before the servants or to any of our friends; if it wasn't for the horrible taste for failures, papa says, that the public have got up lately, not a soul need have known any thing. As it is, I'm mortified to death every time I go out, for you never know who's heard it, and who hasn't; we're all so dreadfully civil to each other, though I know perfectly well that Georgy Berrian's father has gone all to bits, and so has Alice Gregory's."

"But has Uncle Charles really failed? I suppose he hasn't, from-" and here she hesitated— it might not be entirely kind to say "from the way you are living;" but she thought of the great house and fine furniture and many servants still retained.

เ

"No, indeed, only suspended;' though I suppose it's much the same thing, only it saves people's feelings. If it hadn't been for some body or other-I don't remember who—he might have extended, which is quite a different

"Oh!" said Kitty, though it was not very clear to her comprehension.

Kitty rose as her aunt came into the room; she was always a little afraid of her, and blushed guiltily at her uncle's off-hand explanation of her errand, remembering what her mother had said of "Helena's spirit." Mrs. Groton was at-thing." tired in a robe de chambre of rich Chiné silk; her sister-in-law would have considered it quite too fine, even for her best dress, opening in front to display a skirt, embroidered en tablier; her head was adorned by a Honiton cap fastened by large Spanish pins. Mrs. Charles Groton frequently remarked that she did not see how people contrived to lose their teeth and hair at forty; from which it is needless to infer that both were in an unusual state of preservation. She had a habit of passing her hand caressingly over the one when she talked, and of smiling to display the last, as she now did when advancing to salute her husband's niece.

"It's very good in her, I'm sure, and in your father, my dear; how did you leave your mother ?"

Kitty could not comprehend this smiling indifference to what had seemed half an hour ago of vital importance to the whole family; but she understood a part of the response aright, that having made this amiable acknowledgment the subject was not to be returned to for the present, especially as Jackson had reappeared with the coffee-urn and breakfast was placed on the table.

Mr. Groton ate very little-nothing in fact but drank enormously of the strong coffee, as he finished the money article which Kitty's arrival had interrupted. She could not help noticing this, and how a shadow seemed to settle on his face as he rose to go down town.

"Papa thought at first it was a great deal worse than it is-last week; but now he expects to go on again, as soon as he has come to the bottom of every thing, and so, of course, mamma and myself felt quite satisfied. But in spite of all that, what do you think? He insists on our laying down the carriage, and having a woman in Jackson's place. Jackson don't know it yet. I'm dreadfully afraid he'll get hold of it; that's why I sent him out of the room this morning." "But he's got to know it when he goes, hasn't he?"

"Yes, of course; but his month won't be up in ten days or more, and he'd take such airs the moment he knew it, and set up all the rest. We are not going out in the carriage again, as papa insists upon it, though I can't see why; but mamma has it brought round every morning, and then changes her mind, you know, so that Peter won't think-Peter and Jackson are going together. It's a very great misfortune, I'm sure; and I don't wonder you pity us-we are dreadfully to be pitied, mamma and me."

"But I think uncle has the hardest part," said Kitty, beginning to feel the fatigue of her journey greatly, and wondering if the great high bed in the blue room, with its tinted counterpane, and square pillows frilled with Valenciennes, was made to lie down on, or only intended for ornamental service.

"Oh, men don't mind such things; and, be- | goose! Don't you want to lie down a while?-sides, papa's never been out in the carriage only you look tired to death. Here, take this lounge three times since we had it, except when he -I'll change. There, stretch your feet out, and drove up to Groton last summer; it's going to make yourself comfortable. Wait; I'll get you be dreadful for us, though, to stand shivering and a dressing-gown; one of mamma's will fit you hailing an omnibus at Beck's, with our friends better than mine. What have you got with you getting into their carriages and driving off be- that will do to wear to-night ?" fore our very faces-though for that matter he's put a veto on any new dresses this season, and I shall positively feel too shabby to go to church a month from now."

"No, indeed, that's the worst of it. Do you know he actually paid over every dollar he had from pressing business cares to give those at in the world, and made an assignment out-and-home awaiting the speeding of her embassy so out! He's got to begin all over again, and has anxiously word of her safe arrival and detengone into an importing house as book-keeper. tion. Only think of that! Actually a book-keeper!" Helen's accents were expressive of the deepest infamy and disgrace as she looked to see if her cousin realized the full extent of her escape. "But if you loved him well enough to think about being engaged to him before, I shouldn't think that would make any difference."