Part of the curriculum was an enforced absence from home of two years, during which time none of her own people were to visit her except in case of emergency.
To-night, the once famous house shone with something of its old-time color.

The candles were lighted in the big bronze candelabra--the ones which came from Paris; the best glass and china and all the old plate were brought out and placed on the sideboard and serving-tables; a wood fire was started (the nights were yet cold), its cheery blaze lighting up the brass fender and andirons before which many of Colonel Cobden's cronies had toasted their shins as they sipped their toddies in the old days; easy-chairs and hair-cloth sofas were drawn from the walls; the big lamps lighted, and many minor details perfected for the comfort of the expected guests.
Jane entered the drawing-room in advance of Lucy and was busying herself putting the final touches to the apartment,--arranging the sprays of blossoms over the clock and under the portrait of Morton Cobden, which looked calmly down on the room from its place on the walls, when the door opened softly and Martha--the old nurse had for years been treated as a member of the family--stepped in, bowing and curtsying as would an old woman in a play, the skirt of her new black silk gown that Ann Gossaway had made for her held out between her plump fingers, her mob-cap with its long lace strings bobbing with every gesture.

With her rosy cheeks, silver-rimmed spectacles, self-satisfied smile, and big puffy sleeves, she looked as if she might have stepped out of one of the old frames lining the walls.
"What do ye think of me, Miss Jane?
I'm proud as a peacock--that I am!" she cried, twisting herself about.

"Do ye know, I never thought that skinny dressmaker could do half as well.

Is it long enough ?" and she craned her head in the attempt to see the edge of the skirt.
"Fits you beautifully, Martha.