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S. E. F. R. begs to inform ERIKAwhose letter appeared in the December number that she has belonged to a Drawing Club for the last year and a half, but it has not the advantage of criticism or correction. The annual subscription is 2s. 6d. Address to the Hon. Sec., Miss Preston, The Vicarage, Winslow, Bucks.

ESSAY AND STORY SOCIETY.

SIR, I am desirous to start an Essay and Story Society, the subjects to be Proverbs, Old Sayings, and Events in History. If any readers of this Magazine would like to belong to the Society, I will send them the rules and any particulars. Address, Miss B. Goldingham, Britannia Square, Worcester.

Queries.

66 MAN AND BEAST."

Would any reader of the Churchman's Companion lend me "Man and Beast,"

by the Rev. J. G. Wood? Great care would be taken of the book and postage paid. Address, Miss Mabel Standidge, Wanstead, Essex.

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE DE ROHAN.

SIR,-Can any of your readers inform me what was the subsequent fate of the Princess Charlotte de Rohan? the fiancée, or, as some suppose, the wife of that unfortunate Duc d'Enghien, who was murdered at Vincennes by the orders of the first Napoleon ?-Yours, &c., MAGPIE.

BLOEMFONTEIN MISSION.

An Associate of the Bloemfontein Mission will be very thankful for Christ.mas cards or pictures of any kind to fill some scrap-books she is making for school-children in that Diocese. Address, Miss Isabella Cripps, Kendrick Place, Reading.

CHILDREN'S LENDING LIBRARY. Will any reader of the Churchman's Companion kindly send me old books of any sort, suitable for a children's lending library, no matter how shabby, if complete? Address, F., 13, Chantrey Road, Stockwell, S.W.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

SIR,-Can you or any of your correspondents tell me which is the best English grammar? - Yours, &c., A STUDENT.

TELEGRAPH BOYS.

M. C. Crofton (S. John's College, Oxford,) acknowledges the following contribution with many thanks: W. H. T. 2s. 6d.

Notices to Correspondents.

M. S. "Humeral" is a word derived from humerus, the shoulder, and it means that portion of the priest's vestments which is otherwise called the "amice;" it is made of linen, and is worn over the shoulders. The "Meditations" by our contributor G. C. Niffac have not yet been published in a separate form.

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BY AUSTIN CLARE, AUTHOR OF THE CARVED CARTOON."

CHAPTER VIII.

A NEW ERA.

"Five years have passed; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters."

WORDSWORTH.

FIVE years passed swiftly away, without anything out of the common happening to mark the passage of time to the inhabitants of Carrockcleugh,—and then, a grand piece of news suddenly threw the whole glen into a state of the greatest excitement. The Carlaverocks were coming! Sir George, the present baronet, had taken the old Castle for an indefinite time, on account, as it was given out, of his wife's health, with which Carburn, their estate in Scotland, did not agree. It was however whispered in the valley that Sir George had stronger motives for his change of residence, which he did not find it convenient to reveal.

Might it not be, said the gossips of Carrockcleugh, that, confidently expecting that the whole of the Carrock estates would lapse to him in the course of a few years, he wished to accustom the tenants to having a Carlaverock for their laird, by residing among them for a time before he actually came into possession?

This was not unlikely, for there was a strong feeling in the place in favour of the family which had possessed Carrockcleugh for so many generations, and the old traditions of deadly feud, and hatred to the

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name of Carlaverock had not entirely died out in the hearts of the sturdy dalesmen.

Ronald's guardians had not raised any objections to Sir George's application for the old Castle, for, as they wisely judged, it was much better to let it, now that a tenant had been found, than to allow it to stand empty and fall into worse and worse repair every year. Besides the rent was always something to lay by towards clearing off the debt.

As for Ronald, he was obliged to submit, for he was not yet of age; and, though it was gall and wormwood to him to think of the Carlaverocks lording it in his ancestral halls, he could not but agree in the wisdom of his guardians' arguments. Moreover he was still looking forward to the day when he should be able to pay off the debt, and redeem his inheritance. Sometimes indeed he almost despaired of ever doing so, and the wished for day receded further and further into the future, as he found how much more difficult it was to make money than he had at first expected. But he would not give up hope, and so continued to work hard, seldom allowing himself a holiday; and, as he was a sharp steady lad, he stood high in Mr. Bertram's favour, who, for the sake of old friendship for Captain Carrock, as well as out of real good will and liking to his son, advanced the lad in every way in his power.

And what had these five years done for Helen? Much certainly in the way of growth; for, as old Davie was wont to say as he placed his withered hand caressingly on the fair head of "his young leddy,”"She has waxed to the length of a woman, an' of a stately ane too." But except in the matter of height, there was little yet of the woman about Helen Carrock. Her countenance still retained the rounded outline, and open ingenuous expression of childhood, and her movements were as free, her step as light and bounding as those of a wild deer. That is to say, when she was out of the restraint of Mrs. Carrock's stately presence, for when her august grandmother was by, you would hardly have known the wild mountain lassie in the demure damsel which she became under the spell wrought by the presence of that awe-inspiring dame. Nevertheless the rigorous discipline under which she had lived for the last five years, had not been without its good effects on Helen's character. Hers was a disposition which needed to be kept within due bounds, and her spirit was much too sunny and elastic to suffer, as some would have done, from the strict

and sometimes galling pressure to which it had been subjected. It was however in outer rather than in inner things that this change was observable, for to her inner world her grandmother's influence had not been able to penetrate. And thus, though Helen was now nearly as punctual as any one in the orderly Burnstones household, and fulfilled all her appointed duties with the most praiseworthy exactitude, she was still the same creature of impulse, and cherished the same romantic notions and strong prejudices as ever.

"Helen, child," exclaimed Mrs. Carrock, opening the drawing-room door, as her granddaughter crossed the hall equipped. for walking, one lovely evening towards the end of June, about two months after the news of the expected arrival of the Carlaverocks had reached Carrockcleugh, "I want you to go up to the Castle this evening, I think I've found the key that Dorothy wanted. Take it to her, and tell her I've heard from my nephew, Sir George, and he expects to be at the Castle on Friday evening, this is Monday, so she will only have four more days in which to finish her preparations. And be sure you observe particularly how they're getting on, both inside the house and out,-for David Craig is not famous for speed in his operations; and I should be excessively annoyed if my nephew and niece did not find everything in readiness for them on their arrival. And-stop, child, what are you in such a hurry for? Be pleased to wait till you have received my message. I wish you to go to the Rectory, on your way back, and request Miss Dodds, with my compliments, to do me the honour of calling here to-morrow morning, -I did not understand her message about the clothing-club. It would be more proper, I think, if she were always to wait on me when she has any communication to make, instead of sending a dirty school-child, it is not what I am accustomed to."

Having received this long message from her lady grandmother, the delivering of which occupied several minutes, owing to the measured tone always employed by Mrs. Carrock, as the only manner of speech befitting a gentlewoman of her high birth and standing, Helen started off for her walk.

It was one of those beautiful summer evenings so enjoyable everywhere, especially in the hill-country. The sun, still some time from its setting, was bathing the landscape in soft evening light. The rugged outlines of the fells were veiled in a light golden haze, which filled up every wrinkle and chasm in their weather-worn sides, and painted

them all one uniform tint of ethereal violet, deepening almost imperceptibly into purple in the ravines and hollows. The sky was of a soft, perfectly cloudless blue, flushing into rose-colour towards the west, and suffused all over with golden light, which reflected itself in the clear brown pools of the low-running stream, where the water had sunk so much as to leave the mossy stepping-stones standing high above its surface. Helen paused a moment on the middle stone as she was passing over, to dip her hand in the shallow current which dimpled so lazily over the yellow pebbles, and take a drink of the bright water. She always did so whenever she crossed those stepping-stones, for it seemed to her that the water which rose by Sir Kenneth's Carrock, far up on the lone Hallow Fell, had a particular virtue in it, which gave her, in some far-off way, a taste of the feeling which always came to her when she stood on that wild, solitary hill-top. The long grass stood in the adjacent meadow all but ready for the scythe, rich in soft purple cats'-tails, feathery cock's-foot, and trembling ladies'-tresses. So high had it grown that it reached above Helen's knees as she carefully threaded the narrow, almost over-grown footpath which led to the stile into the Castle woods. Snowy tufts of meadow-sweet pushed themselves above the tall grass, and filled the air with luxurious perfume, seeming to triumph proudly in the title of Queen of the Meadows over the humble ragged-robins and sturdy red-brown burnets which could not attain so high. As Helen reached the stile, the clear note of a late cuckoo rang out from among the pines, and was caught up by an echo in the opposite mountains. A few moments she stood listening to the sweet notes, and then the brown piper ceased, and all was still. Solemn and still indeed did it seem in those silent woods, this calm June evening, and Helen felt as though she were entering a vast, old cathedral, as she passed under the shadow of the dark old pines. A soft, mellow gloom reigned throughout, only broken here and there by the subdued golden light which filtered down through some opening where a tree had been felled, and glinted on the red trunks of the stately Scotch firs, bringing out the rich ruddy colour of the rough bark, in striking contrast with the sombre green of the dark foliage. Glinting too on the golden-green moss which grew over the rough masses of grey rock, from amongst which stately spikes of fox-gloves lifted their rows of purple bells, whose hairy linings embroidered with hanging golden threads, looked meet gloves for the delicate hands of the fairy-folk, from whom their name of fox-gloves, or folks-gloves, is

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