make acquaintance with strange children without my leave."

"I did not make acquaintance with him, mother. I only talked with him a little while," said Egbert.

"What did he say to you?" asked Mrs. Pelham.

"He told me that he came from Paris, and that he had been to Jernsey."

"Jersey-or Guernsey you mean," said Mrs Pelham. "There is no such place as Jernsey." "It was some such place as that," said Egbert.

"I don't think he can be French," said Mrs. Pelham, looking toward John and speaking half to herself and half to Egbert. "He may have had an English nurse. He has not the least

accent."

"He is an American boy, mother," said Egbert.

"American ?" repeated his mother. "Ah! that explains it. I have seen his mother here on the grounds and could not imagine who she could be. Nobody seemed to know her, and yet she seemed to be a very nice person."

"I asked him if his mother was good to him," said Egbert, "and he told me she was very good indeed."

After a moment's pause Mrs. Pelham added, "Egbert, you may go now and play."

"But; mother," said Egbert, "that boy has not gone."

"No matter," said Mrs. Pelham.

So Egbert jumped down and went back toward the ant's nest. As he came to the place, however, John turned with Grimkie to go away. Whether it was that he had watched the ants as long as he wished, or whether he felt a little resentment at Egbert's mother for having called him away from him, and now resolved that it was his turn to repel advances toward an acquaintance, I can not say. At any rate, he turned with Grimkie.and went away.

AFTER the occurrence related in the last chapter Mrs. Pelham's manner toward Mrs. Morelle was greatly changed when she met her upon the grounds, or in the passages of the house. Instead of passing by with that look of cold and stolid indifference, usually assumed by English ladies in such a case, when they pass persons whom they wish to look down upon, and which seems to say that they are wholly unconscious even of their presence, she at once began, as the phrase is, to take notice of her. It was first only an amiable look, then a smile of recognition, and at last, on a favorable opportunity occurring the ladies interchanged a good morning, and the acquaintance was established.

It might, perhaps, have been supposed that Mrs. Morelle would have so far resented the haughtiness and disdain with which Mrs. Pelham regarded her at first, at to refuse to acknowledge her civilities when she changed her air and bearing. But Mrs. Morelle was entirely

above any petty jealousies and resentments of this kind, and always took people as she found them. Besides, in travelling about the world and visiting different countries, we find so many different customs and habits of demeanor, many of which appear to us at first extremely repulsive, that were we to take offence at every thing that displeases us, and turn away in a pet, we should make very little progress in initiating ourselves into the usages of foreign life, and should lose one of the chief advantages of foreign travel, which is that of enlarging and liberalizing our views in respect to the phases of human character, and forming within ourselves a tolerant spirit in regard to the faults and foibles with which the world is filled.

Mrs. Morelle did not, therefore, allow herself to feel any resentment at the coldness and haughtiness with which she was sometimes treated by strangers, but considered all these and similar inconveniencies as things to be expected in leaving one's native land and going out into the world, to be brought there into contact with the national peculiarities of different people. She was ready, accordingly, at all times, to treat Mrs. Pelham with politeness according to her idea of what was due among strangers in their casual intercourse with one another. The result

was that in the course of a few days she and Mrs Pelham formed quite an intimate acquaintance with each other, and they often sat together upon one of the seats on the lawn, talking about life in London, in Paris, or in New York, while the children, followed by Jocko, were rambling about the grounds.

One day Mrs. Pelham asked Mrs. Morelle if she had been at the Undercliff.

"No," said Mrs. Morelle, "I have never heard of the Undercliff. What is it?"

"It is the most charming part of the island," said Mrs. Pelham.

By looking at the map the reader will observe that the Isle of Wight terminates towards the south in a sort of blunt point, with a range of downs extending along a coast on the landward side. These downs are very high, and they lie very near the sea, but instead of presenting toward it a range of perpendicular cliffs, with only a narrow beach below, as is generally the case where the mountainous chalk formations lie contiguous to the sea, the shore is formed by a confused mass of shelving terraces, vast chasms and precipices, and steep green slopes, and deep wooded ravines and dells, with the range of chalk mountains beyond rising above and towering over them—presenting a picture of the wildest