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can I show proper gratitude to Mrs. Cabot? She takes me in, and she can't ask me into her drawing-room, and I'm sure I don't want to sit up here, poking, and you don't want me in the kitchen." Mrs. White winced at the last word. The girl went on, nimbly turning over her wardrobe. Her face was turned away, and she kept it away as she continued: "I can guess how it is, though I knew nothing before. You had nothing to depend upon when he died, and you were too proud to come back, and you thought we were too proud to wish to think of our dear aunt Mary as cook, and so you kept back the worst, and let us think of you as a sort of companion to Mrs. Cabot. And I had an opportunity to go out to Henry, but he could not come from Chicago, so mother thought I would best go right to you for a day or two until you could send me on. It's all plain, isn't it?" and she turned about now, with the tears just dimming her eyes. "Yes, you have spoken truly; and Mrs. Cabot is a good woman. But, Stella, shall the daughter of the rector of Everingham act as a lady's-maid ?"

"For one night only-positively her only engagement.

Mrs. White sighed. "I can not say anything," she said.

"You do not need to say anything," said the girl, gayly. "You needn't tell Mrs. Cabot I'm a lady. Let her find it out for herself, if she can. I have ever so much family news to tell, but you really must not keep me waiting. I am sure the people are beginning to come. What a delicious introduction to American society! I shall see it on the wrong side first. Mrs. Cabot moves in the first circles? There are first circles in-Harlem, is it? What a funny name! Was it settled by the Dutch? Is there a little organ here?" "Yes, Mrs. Cabot is a lady, Stella. Her friends chiefly live in New York, and not in Harlem."

"Oh, they come from New York, do they? Well, I'm safe. I only know one New-Yorker. The chances are as one towhat's the population of New York?" A knock came at the door.

"Mrs. Cabot is sorry to interrupt you, Mary, but she needs you."

I'll come at once, Ellen. do stay here. I'm troubled. everything to Mrs. Cabot." "Not a word to Mrs. Cabot. I'll follow."

Oh, Stella, I'll explain

Lead on;

Mrs. White returned to her own quarters, and the girl made her way to the room where the ladies had already begun to lay aside their wraps. She needed no instruction. Much practice upon elder sisters had made her proficient, and she flitted about the room, giving deft touches to the toilets of the ladies, and receiving most condescending thanks.

"What is your name, my good girl?" asked one portly lady, who had come in all askew, and for the first time in her life really looked dressed, as she prepared to go down.

"Stella, madam," and she dropped a courtesy.

"I shall tell Mrs. Cabot she has a treasure," said the dame, as she moved away, with an inward resolve to get that treasure into her own possession as soon as possible.

The girl dropped her eyes meekly, and concealed a smile. There was for a moment no one left in the room, and she stepped to the doorway to get a peep at the staircase and the company. Her feet tapped impatiently as she heard the sound of a violin. A little twinge of regret at her situation seized her. She turned to go back into the room, for other ladies were coming up the staircase. At that moment she encountered a gentleman issuing from the room adjoining. She turned her head quickly, but not quickly enough.

"Ah! Miss Greyson. So soon, you see. Is not this like a witticism?-the unforeseen, you know, is what always happens. Who would have dreamed that I should find Mrs. Cabot's card for me when I reached home?"

"I did not expect to meet you here, Mr. Winslow. Pray excuse me now," and she darted off.

"I am afraid young Winslow has come home with foreign manners," whispered Mrs. Talbot to her husband as they passed down the staircase. "You saw him speak to that pretty maid of Mrs. Cabot's. You didn't see that her face was on fire when she came into the dressing-room."

"Mighty pretty girl," said Mr. Talbot, briefly.

Mr. Edward Winslow lingered about the door, but finally, much perplexed, went down stairs, and presented himself to Mrs. Cabot.

"I am truly delighted to see you, Mr. Winslow, and only sorry that your charm

ing mother could not come. I call it a proof of a glorious future for the republic, Mr. Talbot, when our young gentlemen come home from Europe and immediately offer themselves up to Society."

"Very."

"You came this very afternoon, Mr. Winslow, I think you said?" "Yes, by the Polynesia. If I am not mistaken I had the pleasure and the honor of making the acquaintance of your niece, Mrs. Cabot."

"My niece? Not Serena Garland, at Dresden ?"

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"Oh no, I mean on the voyage. That is always the last thing in my mind, of course. I mean Miss Stella Greyson.' "Good heavens, Mr. Winslow! This is more mysterious than ever. I don't like the looks of it at all."

"But is not Miss Greyson your niece?" "My niece? No. Did she say she was?" "Why, yes. She certainly said she expected to spend the night at her aunt's, and she gave me your address. I did not for the moment recognize the name of one of my mother's friends, whose acquaintance she had made during my absence."

Mrs. Cabot looked serious. "Still," she said, as if to herself, “it might be explained."

"Oh, come now, Mrs. Cabot. You didn't let her!"

“Why, yes. I thought it would relieve her. Ah! good-evening, Mr. Dolbear. I am very glad to see you. Do you know Mr. Winslow, Mr. Dolbear? Mr. Winslow has just returned to-day by the Polynesia ;" and so Mrs. Cabot escaped more embarrassment. But Winslow was very ill at ease. There was Stella Greyson up stairs, a lady's-maid, and he, as he knew perfectly well, desperately in love with her, down stairs with his mother's polite friends. Eleven feet or so of space between them, but a whole degree of social longitude. He danced, he chatted, he smiled with his old friends, but all the while with a remorseful feeling that he was acting a shamefaced part, and that up stairs Miss Greyson was comparing him with the attentive young man whom she had met in the freedom of the Polynesia quarter-deck.

In point of fact Miss Greyson was thinking of Mr. Winslow, and wishing to Heaven she had not been seen by him under such compromising circumstances. She was not at all averse to a little lark of this sort, provided she could keep it to herself and one or two very intimate friends, but Mr. Winslow was not yet to be counted "Explain it to me, then, please," said among such, and now bade fair never to Mr. Winslow. "I am sure there can be come even within the range of friendship. nothing Miss Greyson is the daughter Why had her aunt concealed her real situaof an English clergyman, and was certain- tion? Why had she deceived them? Yes, ly the most charming lady on the steam- cruelly deceived them, so that her own She was the life of the little party into nicce, coming innocently to America, had which I managed to ingratiate myself." fallen into this hateful trap? She never, Mrs. Cabot hesitated. "I hope she did never could forgive her aunt Mary, and not mean to convey a false impression. she would go this very instant and shut She has an aunt living with me.' herself up in her room, and not see any"Ah, now I remember. That is what body till she left the house, the very earlishe said."

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"But her aunt-her aunt is my cook." Mrs. Cabot longed to say housekeeper or companion, to let Mr. Winslow down gently, but she was the soul of truthfulness. Really," she went on, "the young -woman appears very well-very well in deed. It was a somewhat awkward situation for her, since she did not know, until she drove here, that her aunt sustained such a relation to me" (the phrase was cumbrously diplomatic, but it seemed to be required by Mr. Winslow's face); "but I must say that she accepted the situationI mean, took the thing in the best spirit, and offered to act as lady's-maid this evening."

est hour in the morning, to take the very first train to Chicago. As she left the room to carry this threat into immediate execution she ran again almost into the arms of Mr. Winslow, who, in his disturbance of mind, had bade good-evening to his hostess, and was coming out of the dressing-room now with his overcoat on.

"Oh, Mr. Winslow!" she gasped. In his substantial wraps, he looked at the instant as if he were going out of her world altogether.

"What must you think of me?" he exclaimed.

"Of you? It is I who must say that to

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But

"Then meet me in Central Park. no, that would never do. Where can I see you, if not here? I will come to see you here. You must see me." And refusing to hear any protests, he rushed down stairs.

"Oh, what shall I do ?" she exclaimed. "And I was going to Chicago the very first thing in the morning." She went up to her room to think about it, leaving the ladies to put on their wraps as well as they could without her. Her aunt came up to see her late in the evening.

"Stella," she whispered through the key-hole, as she got no response to her knock; but the young lady refused to give signs of hearing.

Winslow went home in a feverish frame of mind. He found his mother sitting by the fire, her headache having faded away. He sat down by her, and looked steadily at her.

"Mother," he began, and then stopped. "Go on, Edward. I've thought it all out."

"Oh, come now, you haven't secondsight."

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"Good grandmother!" he exclaimed. "I had entirely forgotten. What! that little Serena Garland at Dresden Mrs. Cabot's niece? So she was-so she was. His mother looked at him blankly. He seemed to have swept down her house of cards. "I see I must tell a plain story in a straightforward way," said he; and he told his mother of meeting Miss Greyson on the steamer, of his unconquerable affection for her, and of the evening's embarrassment. "Of course," he concluded, "I don't care a snap of my finger for what anybody says-" But he happened to catch sight of his mother's woful face. "Yes, I do care for you, mother; but you only need to see her, and all your doubts will disappear."

"I don't know-I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "Everybody will know. Was Mrs. Talbot there?"

"Yes."

"Dear! dear! She will never stop talking."

"Pooh! nobody would notice her. Yes, they would, too. But no matter. Go to-morrow to see her, and your doubts will all vanish."

Winslow went the next day, and very early. He asked for Mrs. Cabot, and when she left the parlor Miss Greyson

"Oh, I can see through a ladder." "Well, tell me my dream, and the in- came down. She had not gone to Chicaterpretation thereof."

go, and she did not go that day. Mrs.

"No; tell me first if you think Mrs. Winslow herself called in the afternoon. Cabot looks like her niece."

He hopped out of his chair.

"Yes, yes," said the little lady, smiling shrewdly. "You are very open, Edward."

"Mother, just explain yourself, will

you ?”

“Oh, you needn't look so solemn, Edward.

"I think we can arrange it, Edward," said his mother, a few evenings afterward, as she talked it over with her son. "Mrs. Cabot has found another place for Mrs. White, a place as housekeeper in a widower's family, and has invited Stella to make her a visit. We'll give a party, and dress Stella's hair differently, and nobody will recognize her in the world. We'll invite everybody who was at Mrs. Cabot's. The only trouble is Mrs. Talbot. She has been twice, when Mrs. Cabot was out, on purpose to try and persuade the pretty lady's-maid to come to live with

My dear boy, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see you married, and well married. Why, that is what I sent you to Europe for, chiefly, and I am sure she must be charming." "Who?" "I'll whisper, since you are so diffident. her. She let it out, for all she thought S. G." she was so shrewd. It was, of course, a Winslow started again, and stared at very dishonorable thing to do. Shall we his mother.

"Oh, I'm a necromancer," she said, but at the same time threw her handkerchief too adroitly over a package on the table. He lifted it, and saw a package of his letters beneath it. His mother laughed.

VOL. LXIL-No. 367.-8

ask her ?"

"Oh, invite Mrs. Talbot, of course." And Mrs. Talbot was invited. She looked very narrowly at Winslow's fiancée. "My dear," she said to her husband, afterward, "that Miss Greyson looks ex

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THE

HE social and commercial intercourse between England and the United States, which is becoming daily more intimate, is developing an extraordinary interest among the people of each nation in the affairs of the other, and in the construction and machinery of the government by which these affairs are regulated| and controlled. With the view of partially meeting this desire the present article, compiled from the latest sources of information open to the writer, has been prepared.

The government of England may be divided into four departments, the Queen, Ministry, Lords, and Commons, each possessing separate and distinct functions, and each restraining, limiting, and controlling the others. It is neither a Democracy in which the sovereign power is vested in the people, nor an Aristocracy in which a few members distinguished by birth or wealth are supreme, nor, again, a Monarchy in which sovereign authority is wielded by a single person. It is a mixed government, formed out of all of these, and blending some of the advantages of each. This mixed government is called a Limited Monarchy, in which the crown has no absolute power, but must rule according to the usages of the constitution, and in subjection to the laws of the realm. The constitution, so called, is unwritten, and is made up of Parliamentary and constitutional law, or, in other words, of law and precedent. When Victoria was crowned she took the following oath, which is called the coronation oath:

"I solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same. I will to the utmost of my power cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all my judgments. I will to the utmost of my power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant form of religion established by the law, and will preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to my charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them. The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep, so help me God."

This mixed government is, therefore, a government in which the supreme power is virtually in the laws, though its majesty and administration are vested in a single person. Though it is called a hereditary monarchy, it is not absolutely so, for the right of inheritance rests upon, and may from time to time be changed by, act of Parliament. Under the provisions of the Act of Settlement, passed in 1701, this right is conditional upon the heir-apparent being a member of the Church of England, and of the issue of Princess Sophia of Hanover, who was a granddaughter of James I. At the death of the Duke of Gloucester in 1700 the succession of the crown was unprovided for after the death of William and Anne. The next in blood, after the children of James II., was the Duchess of Savoy, daughter of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, and then the family of the Elector of the Palatinate, all of whom had abjured the reformed faith, except Sophia, the wife of the Elector of Hanover. As papists were excluded from the succession by an act of Parliament, a bill was passed in the spring of 1701, known as the Act of Settlement, declaring Sophia and the heirs of her body next in succession to the King after the Princess of Denmark.

It is also said that the King or Queen can do no wrong; but this is only true in the sense that whatever is exceptionable in the conduct of public affairs is not to be imputed to the crown, because all its acts are presumed to have been done by some minister, who is responsible to Parliament. If, for instance, Victoria should command some unlawful act to be per

formed, the act must be performed through | pleasure, subject to the constitutional right the medium of a cabinet officer, who, if he of the Queen to nullify them by her veto. obey the command, becomes responsible The Queen can convene Parliament and for a wrong administration of power. A terminate its sessions at will. striking illustration of this principle may be found in the case of Lord Danby, who was impeached by Parliament for writing a letter, which contained a postscript in the handwriting of Charles II., declaring that the letter had been written in obedience to his command.

There have been but two instances in which the Lords and Commons have met by their own authority, namely, previous to the restoration of Charles II., and at the Revolution in 1688. There is one contingency, however, upon which, under authority of law, Parliament may meet without summons. the reign of Anne that in case there should be no Parliament in being at the time of the demise of the crown, then "the last preceding Parliament shall immediately convene and sit at Westmin

It was provided in

been dissolved." Such a Parliament, however, by a statute in the reign of George III., can only continue in existence for six months, if not sooner dissolved.

The Queen alone can create a peer, baronet, or knight, and confer privileges on private persons. She alone can erect corporations, and raise and regulate fleets and armies, though under such restrictions relating to the appropriation and expenditure of money as make it impossi-ster, as if the said Parliament had never ble for her to exercise her power to the detriment of English liberty. She is the head of the Church; she convenes and dissolves all ecclesiastical synods and convocations, and nominates to vacant bishoprics and other Church offices. She sends ambassadors to foreign states, receives ambassadors at home, makes treaties and alliances, and declares war and peace, though her power in these respects also is in a large degree limited by the power of Parliament to enact or reject such laws as may be necessary to make it effective.

Previous to the Revolution of 1688 the government of England was mainly carried on by virtue of what was called the royal prerogative, that is, by the King in person, with the advice of ministers appointed by himself, who were only responsible to their sovereign for their management of public affairs. One of the results, however, of that revolution was the transfer of the power of the state from the crown to the House of Commons. Instead of a government by prerogative, there was then established a government by Parliament, from whom all laws must emanate, requiring only the approval of the crown as a condition of their enactment.

This, then, is the power of the Queen. She may, with the advice of her Ministers alone, assemble, prorogue, and dissolve Parliament, declare war, confirm or disallow the acts of colonial legislatures, give effect to treaties, extend the term of patents, grant charters of incorporation to companies or municipal bodies, create ecclesiastical districts, regulate the Board of Admiralty, and make appointments to offices in the various departments of the state, create new offices and define the qualifications of persons to fill the same, and declare the periods at which certain acts of Parliament, the operation of which has been left to the Queen and Council, shall be enforced. With regard to the expenditure of money, it is expressly provided in the act of settlement, to which reference has been made, that money levied for the use of the crown without grant of Parliament is illegal. Thus the crown is entirely dependent upon Parliament for its revenues, but, though deAs is well known, the Queen appoints pendent, it has a direct control over all her own advisers, irrespective of the wish- supplies when raised. The crown, acting es or approval of Parliament, and though with the advice of its responsible minispopularly the Ministry is supposed to posters, is charged with the management of sess the whole executive power, no important measure is presented by them to the consideration of Parliament without her sanction and approval. It is not, however, essential that all acts and measures should be presented to Parliament through the channel of the Ministry, and Parliament may originate and pass acts at its

all the revenues of the country, and with all payments for the public service. It makes known to the House of Commons by its annual budget its necessities, and the House grants such acts or supplies as these necessities require. The crown demands money, the Commons grant it, and the Lords assent, and no money can be voted

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