The Two Guardians or, Home in This World. Charlotte M. Yonge

      "Ah! Marian was very angry indeed," said Clara; "quite in a passion."

      "Very proper," said Mr. Lyddell. "A spirited thing. She is a girl of sense."

      Mrs. Lyddell let the matter drop with the girls, but going to the schoolroom, she inquired into it more fully, and found that by poor unfortunate faithful Morley's own account, she had allowed herself to be made the tool of the curiosity of Caroline and Clara. She spoke severely, and Miss Morley had displeasure to endure, which was considerably more disagreeable than all Clara's importunities could have been.

      However, the next morning it appeared as if the whole affair was forgotten by all parties; Marian win just as usual, and so were her cousins; but, in secret, Caroline felt guilty, and held her in higher estimation since she had seen the contents of the letter, which, as she could perceive, Marian might well be doubly unwilling to show; she wished that Marian would but be as open to her as she was to Agnes, but this unfortunate business seemed like another great bar to their ever being really intimate, and she did not know how to surmount it.

      These reflections were shortly after driven out of Caroline's head by a severe fit of toothache, which for three days made her unfit for anything but to sit by the fire reading idle books. Mrs. Lyddell proposed to take her to Salisbury to consult a dentist, and Lionel was supposed likewise to require inspection. Then, turning to Marian, Mrs. Lyddell said, "This is not the pleasantest kind of expedition, but perhaps you may like to see Salisbury, and I think your bonnet wants renewing."

      "Thank you," said Marian, pleased with the Invitation. "I shall be very glad to go; I believe my teeth ought to be looked at. The dentist at Exeter said last winter that they were crowded and ought to be watched."

      "Very well," said Mrs. Lyddell, "we will see what Mr. Polkinghorn says."

      "Polkinghorn," said Marian, as Mrs. Lyddell left the room; "that is a

       Devonshire name."

      "You are very welcome to him, I am sure," said Caroline; "I wish the trade was abolished."

      "What cowards girls are!" said Lionel.

      "Let us see how boys behave before we say anything against girls," was

       Marian's answer.

      "Shan't you scream?" said Lionel.

      "Of course she will not," said Caroline, "unless with joy at meeting a

       Devonshire man."

      Marian laughed, and Lionel began an exhilarating story about an unfortunate who was strapped to the dentist's chair, dragged nine times round the room, and finally had his jaw broken.