came down, and said the scene had been wild and exciting beyond every thing. The people had been drinking health in whisky, and were in great ecstasy. The whole house seemed in a wonderful state of excitement. The boys were, with difficulty, awakened; and when at last this was the case, they begged leave to go up to the top of the cairn.

"We remained till a quarter to twelve; and, just as I was undressing, all the people came down under the windows, the pipes playing, the people singing, firing off guns, and cheering-first for me, then for Albert, the Emperor of the French, and the downfall of Sevastopol."

BETROTHAL OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL.

Just nineteen days after the celebration at Balmoral of the victory of the Allies, Victoria, the eldest born of the Queen, and Princess Royal, was betrothed at the age of fifteen. The Queen, in her journal, alludes to this event thus (September 29, 1855):

"Our dear Victoria was this day engaged to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, who had been on a visit to us since the 14th. He had already spoken to us, on the 20th, of his wishes; but we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her himself, or wait till he came back again. However, we felt it was better he should do so; and during our ride up Craig-na-Ban, this afternoon, he picked a piece of white heather (the emblem of 'good luck') which he gave to her; and this enabled him to make an allusion to his hopes and wishes, as they rode down Glen Girnoch, which led to this happy conclusion."

VISITS TO THE OLD WOMEN.

Here is a beautiful little sketch in the journal (for September 26, 1857), which the Queen must tell for herself:

also, a warm petticoat; she said: May the Lord ever attend ye and yours, here and hereafter; and may the Lord be a guide to ye, and keep ye from all harm!' She was quite surprised at Vicky's height; great interest is taken in her. We went on to a cottage (formerly Jean Gordon's) to visit old widow Symons, who is past fourscore,' with a nice rosy face, but was bent quite double. She was most friendly, shaking hands with us all, asking which was I, and repeating many kind blessings: May the Lord attend ye with mirth and joy; may He ever be with ye in this world, and when ye leave it!' To Vicky, when told she was going to be married, she said: 'May the Lord be a guide to ye in your future, and may every happiness attend ye!' She was very talkative; and when I said I hoped to see her again she expressed an expectation that she should be called any day,' and so did Kitty Kear.

"We went into three other cottages: to Mrs. Symons's (daughter-in-law to the old widow living next door), who had an 'unwell boy;' then across a little burn to another old woman's; and afterward peeped into Blair the fiddler's. We drove back, and got out again to visit old Mrs. Grant......who is so tidy and clean, and to whom I gave a dress and handkerchief, and she said: "You're too kind to me; you're over kind to me; ye give me more every year, and I get older every year.' After talking some time with her she said: 'I am happy to see ye looking so nice.' She had tears in her eyes, and, speaking of Vicky's going, said: 'I'm very sorry, and I think she is sorry hersel';' and having said she feared she would not see her (the Princess) again, said: 'I am very sorry I said that, but I meant no harm; I always say just what I think, not what is fut' (fit). Dear old lady, she is such a pleasant person!

"Really the affection of these good people, who are so happy to see you, taking interest in every thing, is very touching and gratifying."

"Yes, it is; and they must despise me-any girls would. There are times when I despise myself."

This outburst was so sudden, vehement, and inconsequent, as it seemed, that Will Stedman, though tolerably used to the like, scarcely knew what to answer. When he did, he spoke gently, as to a passionate child who was talking at random.

"Indeed, Julius, I had no thought of annoying you in what I said, which was, in truth, very little; and I felt I was saying it to a friend of yours, who was quite welcome to repeat it to you if she chose.

"But why talk to her at all about me? What are my concerns to her? If a friend, she isn't an old friend. Three weeks ago we had neither of us set eyes on either of these women. I wish we never had. I wish to Heaven we never had!"

Will replied a little seriously:

"I can not exactly see the reason of that. They are both pleasant enough, and, so far as we can judge, very excellent women.'

"I hate your excellent women!" "You don't hate these, though, I am sure of that, lad," said the doctor, smiling. "Be content; I have done you no harm. I said not a word against you to Miss Edna-quite the contrary.

"But, I repeat, why speak of me at all ?" "Perhaps I had my own reasons.' "What are they? I insist upon knowing!" and Julius rose and walked up to his brother with a dramatic air.

Will was comparing his watch with the clock on the mantle-piece. He paused to wind up and set both before he replied:

"Since you compel me to speak-and perhaps after all it's best-it has struck me more than once, Julius, that you would very well like -and, moreover, it would not be a bad thing for you to spend your life, as you have pretty well spent the last fortnight, with such a sweet, good, sensible little woman as Edna Kenderdine." Julius threw himself back into his chair, and burst into shouts of laughter.

"Was that it? And so you were saying a good word for me to her! What a splendid idea! You are the queerest old fellow that ever was."

"But, Julius-"

"Don't interrupt. Do let me have my laugh out. It's the best joke I've ever heard. You dear old boy! What on earth have I ever done or said to make you take such a ridiculous notion into your head?"

The doctor looked a little bewildered. "It did not seem to me so ridiculous; and, at any rate, it is hardly civil to the lady to suppose so. She is about your own age-perhaps a year older; but that would not signify much. She is healthy, bright, active, clever-"

"But oh, so plain. Now, Will, in the name of common-sense, do you think I ever could fall in love with a plain woman?"

The childlike directness and solemnity of the appeal broke down Will's gravity; he, too, laughed heartily.

all.

"Never mind. I've made a mistake, that's I don't know whether I'm glad or sorry. But still, it is a mistake; and I beg your pardon-Miss Edna's too-for mixing up her name in such talk. I am certain no idea of the kind

has ever entered her head."

"I trust not-nay, I am sure not," replied Julius, warmly. "She's not an atom of a flirt quite different from any girl I ever knewthe best, kindliest, sweetest little soul. would as soon think of marrying her—or, indeed, of marrying any body—”

But I

"Wait till your time comes. Meanwhile, shake hands, and forget all this nonsense. Only, if ever you do fall seriously in love, come and tell it to your brother. He'll help you."

"Will he ?" said Julius, eagerly.

But at that moment, sweeping past the window, plainly visible beneath the half-drawn Venetian blind, came the violet folds of Letty Kenderdine's well-known gown-the muchabused winter gown which had in its old age been complimented, and sketched, and painted, as making the loveliest bit of color, and the most charming drapery imaginable.

"There they are: we must not keep them waiting," said Dr. Stedman, as he took his hat and went out at once to the sisters.

The three sat talking very merrily on the bench at the cliff edge for several minutes, till finding Julius did not appear, his brother went in to look for him. He had started off alone, leaving word that they were not to wait-he might possibly join them on their return.

"Perhaps he wants to make a sketch or two alone," said the doctor, apologetically. "We will go without him."

"Certainly," said Letty, who was a little tenacious of the disrespect of delay. "Dr. Stedman, your brother is a most peculiar person ; and I can never understand peculiar people."

"He is peculiar in the sense of being much better than other people," replied the doctor, who-whatever he might say to Julius--never allowed a word to be said against him, which idiosyncrasy at once amused and touched Edna. With the new idea she had taken concerning him, she resolved to watch William Stedman rather closely, and when, before they had gone half a mile, Julius turned up, and attached himself very determinedly, not to her side, but her sister's, she fell into the arrangement with satisfaction. It would give her opportunities of observing more narrowly this big, quiet, grave man, who was not nearly so easy to read as his volatile, impulsive, but clever, affectionate brother.

So they descended the steep cliffs, and walked along underneath, just below high-water mark, where the wet sand was solid to their feet: a little party of two and two, close enough to make neither seem like a tête-à-tête, and yet

sufficiently far apart to give to each a sense of voluntary companionship. But the conversation of neither seemed very serious; for Letty's gay laugh was continually heard, and Edna made, ever and anon, sundry darts from her companion's side to certain fascinating islands, formed by deeper channels intersecting the damp sand, and which had to be crossed through pools of shallow sea-water, crisped by the wind into wavelets pretty as a baby's curls. Edna could not resist them; but whenever Dr. Stedman fell into silence-which he did pretty often-she quitted him, and ran with the pleasure of a child to stand on one or other of these sand islands, and watch the long white rollers creeping in, each after each, as the tide kept steadily advancing upon the solitary shore.

Very solitary it was, with the boundless sea before, and the perpendicular wall of cliff behind, and not an object to break the loneliness of the scene, except that loneliest thing of all-the stranded ship. She lay there, fixed on the rock where she had struck, with the waves gradually reaching her and breaking over her, as they had done night and day, at every tide, for six months.

could respond to much more easily. Indeed she had felt the change of companionship tonight rather an advantage, and had exerted herself to be agreeable accordingly. Though no one could say she smiled on one brother more sweetly than on the other; for it was not her habit either to feel or to show preference. She just went smiling on, like the full round moon, on all the world alike, as she had nothing to do but to smile. Did any hapless wight fall, moonstruck-who was to blame? Surely not Letitia Kenderdine.

And, meanwhile, Edna too had been enjoying herself very much, in a most harmless way, clambering over little rocks, and trampling on sea-weed-the bladders of which "go pop," as the children say, when you set your feet upon them—a proceeding which, I grieve to say, had amused this young schoolmistress as much as if she had been one of her own pupils. Finally, by Dr. Stedman's assistance-for the rocks were slippery, and she was often glad of a helping hand-she gained the furthermost and most attractive sand-island, and stood there, with her hat off, letting the wind blow in her face, for the sake of health and freshness; she was

“And what a fine ship she must have been! How very stupid of the sailors to go so near the rocks!"

"How very stupid of any body to do any thing which is not the best and wisest thing to do! Yet we all do it sometimes, Miss Kenderdine."

"Eh, Mr. Stedman? Just say that again, for I did not quite understand. You do say such clever things, you know."

66

That was not clever, so I need not say it again. Indeed I'd better hold my tongue," replied Julius, looking full at Letty Kenderdine, with the sudden thirst of a man who is looking for perfection, has been looking for it all his days, and can not find it. And Letty, with those blue eyes of hers-the sort of azure blue, large and limpid, which look so like heaven, except for a certain want of depth in them, discoverable not suddenly, but gradually-Letty

"Gave a side glance and looked down,"

in her long accustomed way, thinking of nothing in particular, unless it was that the evening was coming on, misty and gray, and the sands were wet, and she had only her thin

boots on.

affected enjoyment in her whole mien, which made her interesting even beside her beautiful sister. While she was looking at the sea, Dr. Stedman stood and looked at her, with a keen observation-inquisitive, and yet approvingapproving rather than admiring; not at all the look he gave to Letty. And yet, perhaps, any woman, who was a real woman, would rather have had it of the two.

"You seem to enjoy yourself very much, Miss Edna. It does one good to see any person past childhood, who has the faculty of being so thoroughly happy.'

"Did I look happy? Yes, I think I am: all the more so because my happiness, my sea-side pleasure, I mean, will not last long. I want to get the utmost out of it I can, for we go home in three days."

"So soon? When did you settle that?"

"At tea-time to-day. We must go, for we have spent all our money, and worn out all our clothes. Besides, it is time we were at home."

"Have you taken all precautions about fumigating, whitewashing, etc., that I suggested?" (For she had told him about the fever, and asked his advice, professionally.)

!

Then, after a pause, "Forgive me for asking, but have you no father living, no brothers? Are there only you two?"