are called magazines. A powder magazine is a store of barrels of gunpowder. Now do you see why it was dangerous to light a fire?'
'It blows up,' said Phyllis; 'that was the reason why Robinson Crusoe was afraid of the lightning.'
'Right, Phyl, and therefore a candle is never allowed to be carried into a powder magazine, and even nailed shoes are never worn there, lest they should strike fire. One spark, lighting on a grain of gunpowder, scattered on the floor, might communicate with the rest, make it all explode, and spread destruction everywhere. Think in what fearful peril these reckless men had placed, not only themselves, but the whole town, and the army. An English officer chanced to discover them, and what do you think he did?'
'Told all the people to run away.'
'How could he have told every one, soldiers, inhabitants, and all? where could they have gone? No, he raised no alarm, but he ordered the Portuguese out of the building, and with the help of an English sergeant, he carried out, piece by piece, all the wood which they had set on fire. Now, imagine what that must have been. An explosion might happen at any moment, yet they had to walk steadily, slowly, and with the utmost caution, in and out of this place several times, lest one spark might fly back.'
'Then they were saved?' cried Phyllis, breathlessly; 'and what became of them afterwards?'
'They were both killed in battle, the officer, I believe, in Badajoz, and the sergeant sometime afterwards.'
Phyllis gave a deep sigh, and sat silent for some minutes. Next, Claude began a droll Irish fairy-tale, which he told with spirit and humour, such as some people would have scorned to exert for the amusement of a mere child. Phyllis laughed, and was so happy, that when suddenly they heard the sound of wheels, she started up, wondering what brought the others home so soon, and was still more surprised when Claude told her it was past ten.
'Oh dear! what will papa and Emily say to me for being up still? But I will stay now, it would not be fair to pretend to be gone to bed.'
'Well said, honest Phyl; now for the news from the castle.'
'Why, Claude,' said his eldest brother, entering, 'you are alive again.'
'I doubt whether your evening could have been pleasanter than ours,' said Claude.
'Phyl,' cried Ada, 'do you know, Mary Carrington's governess thought I was Florence's sister.'
'You look so bright, Claude,' said Jane, 'I think you must have taken Cinderella's friend with the pumpkin to enliven you.'
'My fairy was certainly sister to a Brownie,' said Claude, stroking Phyllis's hair.
'Claude,' again began Ada, 'Miss Car-'
'I wish Cinderella's fairy may be forthcoming the day of the ball,' said Lily, disconsolately.
'And William is going after all,' said Emily.
'Indeed! has the great Captain relented?'
'Yes. Is it not good of him? Aunt Rotherwood is so much pleased that he consents to go entirely to oblige her.'
'Sensible of his condescension,' said Claude. 'By the bye, what makes the Baron look so mischievous?'
'Mischievous!' said Emily, looking round with a start, 'he is looking very comical, and so he has been all the evening.'
'What? You thought mischievous was meant in Hannah's sense, when she complains of Master Reginald being very mischie-vi-ous.'
Ada now succeeded in saying, 'The Carringtons' governess called me Lady Ada.'
'How could she bring herself to utter so horrid a sound?' said Claude.
'Ada is more cock-a-hoop than ever now,' said Reginald; 'she does not think Miss Weston good enough to speak to.'
'But, Claude, she really did, she thought I was Florence's sister, and she said I was just like her.'
'I wish you would hold your tongue, or go to bed,' said William, 'I have heard nothing but this nonsense all the way home.'
While William was sending off Ada to bed, and Phyllis was departing with her, Lily told Claude that the Captain had been most agreeable. 'I feared,' said she, 'that he would be too grand for this party, but he was particularly entertaining; Rotherwood was quite eclipsed.'
'Rotherwood wants Claude to set him off,' said Mr. Mohun. 'Now, young ladies, reserve the rest of your adventures for the morning.'
Adeline had full satisfaction in recounting the governess's mistake to the maids, and in hearing from Esther that it was no wonder, 'for that she looked more like a born lady than Lady Florence herself!'
Lilias's fit of petulance about the ball had returned more strongly than ever; she partly excused herself to her own mind, by fancying she disliked the thought of the lonely evening she was to spend more than that of losing the pleasure of the ball. Mr. Mohun would be absent, conducting Maurice to a new school, and Claude and Reginald would also be gone.
Her temper was affected in various ways; she wondered that William and Emily could like to go-she had thought that Miss Weston was wiser. Her daily occupations were irksome-she was cross to Phyllis.
It made her very angry to be accused by the young brothers of making a fuss, and Claude's silence was equally offensive. It was upon principle that he said nothing. He knew it was nothing but a transient attack of silliness, of which she was herself ashamed; but he was sorry to leave her in that condition, and feared Lady Rotherwood's coming into the neighbourhood was doing her harm, as certainly as it was spoiling Ada. The ball day arrived, and it was marked by a great burst of fretfulness on the part of poor Lilias, occasioned by so small a matter as the being asked by Emily to write a letter to Eleanor. Emily was dressing to go to dine at Devereux Castle when she made the request.
'What have I to say? I never could write a letter in my life, at least not to the Duenna-there is no news.'
'About the boys going to school,' Emily suggested.
'As if she did not know all about them as well as I can tell her. She does not care for my news, I see no one to hear gossip from. I thought you undertook all the formal correspondence, Emily?'
'Do you call a letter to your sister formal correspondence!'
'Everything is formal with her. All I can say is, that you and William are going to the ball, and she will say that is very silly.'
'Eleanor once went to this Raynham ball; it was her first and last,' said Emily.
'Yes, not long before they went to Italy; it will only make her melancholy to speak of it-I declare I cannot write.'
'And I have no time,' said Emily, 'and you know how vexed she is if she does not get her letter every Saturday.'
'All for the sake of punctuality, nothing else,' said Lily. 'I rather like to disappoint fidgety people-don't you, Emily?'
'Well,' said Emily, 'only papa does not like that she should be disappointed.'
'You might have written, if you had not dawdled away all the morning.'
This was true, and it therefore stung Emily, who complained that Lily was very unkind. Lily defended herself sharply, and the dispute was growing vehement, when William happily cut it short by a summons to Emily to make haste.
When they were gone Lily had time for reflection. Good-temper was so common a virtue, and generally cost her so little effort, that she took no pains to cultivate it, but she now felt she had lost all claim to be considered amiable under disappointment. It was too late to bear the privation with a good grace. She was heartily ashamed of having been so cross about a trifle, and ashamed of being discontented at Emily's having a pleasure in which she could not share. Would this have been the case a year ago? She was afraid to ask herself the question, and without going deep enough into the history of her own mind to make her sorrow and shame profitable, she tried to satisfy herself with a superficial compensation, by making herself particularly agreeable to her three younger sisters, and by writing a very long and entertaining letter to Eleanor.
She met Emily with a cheerful face the next day, and listened with pleasure to her history of the ball; and when Mr. Mohun returned home he saw that the cloud had passed away. But, alas! Lilias neglected to take the only means of preventing its recurrence.
The next week William departed. Before he went he gave his sisters great pleasure by desiring them to write to him, and not to let him fall into his ancient state of ignorance respecting the affairs of Beechcroft.
