544



The Channings



    Is it not gone" asked Hamish.
    No, it is not gone. And the appointment rests
with me. How would you like it"
  " Nay," said Hamish, half-mockingly, "the ques-
tion is, should I be honest enough for it"
  Mr. Huntley shook his fist at him. " If you ever
bring that reproach up to me again, I 'l-I'
You had better keep friends with me, you know, sir,
on other scores. "
  Hamish laughed. " I should like the post very
much indeed, sir."
  " And the house also, I suppose, you would make
no objection to" nodded Mr. Huntley.
  " None in the world. I must work away, though,
if it is ever to be furnished."
  " How can you tell but that some good spirit might
furnish it for you" cried Mr. Huntley, quaintly.
  They were interrupted before anything more was
said. Ellen, who had been out with her aunt, came
running in, all excitement. " Oh, papa ! such happy
news! Charles Channing is found. He--
  She stopped when she saw that she had another
auditor. Hamish rose to greet her. He took her
hand, released it, and then returned to the fire to Mr.
Huntley. Ellen stood by the table, and had grown
suddenly timid.
  " You will soon be receiving a visit from my mother
and Constance," observed Hamish, looking at her.
" I heard certain arrangements being discussed, in
which Miss Ellen Huntley's name bore a part. Wie
are soon to lose Constance."
  Ellen blushed rosy red. Mr. Huntley was the first to
speak. " Yorke has come to his senses, I suppose"
  " Yorke and Constance between them. In a short
time she has to be transplanted to Hazeldon."
  " It is more than he deserves," emphatically declared
Mr. Huntley. " I suppose you will be for getting
married next, Mr. Hamish, when you come into pos-
session of that house we have been speaking of, and
are your own master"
  " I always intended to think of it, sir, as soon as I
could do so," returned saucy Hamish. And Ellen ran
out of the room.