She vm rare a charming little girl! It was last Christmss I went down to Squire Chenery's large country bouse, near K , for a few weeks. I had met the Squire aome months be fore in town, and learning that I wis a solitary bachelor , he pressed me to M come and keep Christmss " with him, an invitation I gladly accepted. He was a widower with two children — Tom, a public school boy of twelve, then at home for the holidays; and May, aged twenty, who had ruled the household since her mother died, seven yea*s before, and was at once her father's tyrant snd devoted slave. I don't think J can describe her. She wis very little, had wavy-brown hair, splendid eve*. and was the most be witching, charming, fairy-like creature vnu ever saw, and as fond of pranks as her hmtW We had a house full, and *he ruled us all. I believe all the menkind were in love with her (more or less, of course), from old General Starley, the Squire's bosom friend— an awful old bore, who would sit over his wine after dinner, and discuss with his host the last great 44 bag," or that everlasting "splendid run," till we younger ones thought we should never see the drawing room and the ladies again—down to little Harry Campling, Tom's school chum, come to spend part of his holidays with him. I was in love with her! I was, really! I don't mind writing this, though I shouldn't much like to tell anyone; they might laugh. Not that I am old. Oh, no! I am—well, I shan't see thirty-eight again, but you can't call that old, can you ? And I fell '• head over ears" in love with little May—l, who never cared a jot for a pretty woman before, though, I may say, without conceit, I have frequently been "angled " for—l was captivated by this little siren of twenty. She was certainly very impartial in her favours to her various admirers, and at the end of a week 1 could not decide which she liked teat; still, without vanity, I believed she seemed to seek my society a little more than that of others. 