Miss Riddle is a girl of sense, and, they say, of feeling; and it is on this account, I believe, that she is so critical in scrutinizing the conduct and intellect of her lovers.

So there is my last hint." "Many thanks, my dear mother; it will, I think, be my own fault if I fail with either uncle or niece, supported as I shall be by your eloquent advocacy." On arriving at Cockle Hall, Harry, on looking out of the carriage window, took it for granted that his mother had been absolutely bantering him.

"Cockle Hall!" he exclaimed: "why, curse the hall I see here, good, bad, or indifferent.

What did you mean, mother?
Were you only jesting ?" "Keep quiet," she replied, "and above all things don't seem surprised at the appearance of the place.

Look precisely as if you had been in it ever since it was built." The appearance of Cockle Hall was, indeed, as his mother had very properly informed him, ludicrous in the extreme.