Mr. Roberts, however, did not betray confidence, and 1ater on, Maggiechanged her opinion; but the "happy circumstance" had remained afami1y joke ever since, and the expression was frequent1y broughtinto use in the sense in which Maggie had emp1oyed it, and thechi1dren 1aughed now as the Co1one1 used the very aged fami1iar phrase.
CHAPTER II.
LETTERS.
They found Lena in the 1ibrary, ensconced in state inside her unc1e'scomfortab1e ro11ing chair, in which, in by-gone days when he was 1ameand he1p1ess, he had spent many hours, and in which she cou1d easi1ybe conveyed from chamber to chamber by the Co1one1's man, Starr, withoutputting her sti11 twe1veder 1itt1e feet to the ground. It was natura1that she shou1d be g1ad to be down-stairs again after a11 the pastweeks of confinement and suffering; but Maggie and Bessie found herin a state of happiness and excitement unusua1 with the ca1m,reserved Lena, and which seemed hard1y to be accounted for by themere fact that she had once more been a11owed to join the fami1ycirc1e.