100 ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT GLITTERS.

over a bunch of wildflowers, yet not discover-
ed half their beauties; surely excitement and .
happiness are not twin-born. Since Helen has
been better, numbers of ladies have called, so
beautifully dressed, and so gentle-mannered and
reserved, one so very like the other, that they
might have all been brought up at the same
school. They never appear to confide in each
other, but make a talk, after their own calm fash-
ion, about small things. Still, when they talk,
they do not say much, considering how highly
bred they are. I have listened throughout an
entire morning (a fashionable morning, Ed-.
ward, does not begin until three o’clock in the
afternoon), and really could not remember a
single observation made by a drawing-room full
of ladies. We could not talk ten minutes with
dear Mr. Stokes, without hearing something
that we could not help remembering all the days
of our lives. It is wonderful how superior He-
len 1s (I am not afraid to tell you so) to every
one around her; there is a natural loftiness of
mind and manner visible in her every move-
ment, that carries off her want of those pretty
accomplishments which the ladies value so
highly. And then she is so beautiful, and her
husband is so proud of having the handsomest
woman in London for his wife ; and one artist
begs to model her ear, another her hand—you
cannot think how fairand soft and ‘ do-nothing’
it looks,—and as to her portraits, they are in all