"Very serious to us all." Mr. Lennox had never had the opportunity of having any private conversation with her father after her refusal, or else that would indeed be a very serious affair. In the first place, Margaret felt guilty and ashamed of having grown so much into a woman as to be thought of in marriage; and secondly, she did not know if her father might not be displeased that she had taken upon herself to decline Mr. Lennox's proposal. But she soon felt it was not about anything, which having only lately and suddenly occurred, could have given rise to any complicated thoughts, that her father wished to speak to her. He made her take a chair by him; he stirred the fire, snuffed the candles, and sighed once or twice before he could make up his mind to say--and it came out with a jerk after all--"Margaret! I am going to leave Helstone."
"Leave Helstone, papa! But why?"

Margaret immediately thought of Mr. Lennox, and felt guilty and ashamed of having grown so much into a woman as to be thought of in marriage. But she soon felt it was not about the day's events that her father wished to speak to her. He made her take a chair; he stirred the fire, snuffed the candles, and sighed once or twice before saying, with a jerk-
'Margaret! I am going to leave Helstone.'
'Leave Helstone, papa! But why?'
