An Old, Old Story.

very pleasant houses on the bauks of the Thames , that great and goodly river which we all so praise , and yet all so abuse in many ways . Some of them are larger , some of them are smaller ; you find here the stately mansion , with shady trees and

sloping meadows to the Thames ; you see there the comfortable villa , or the effective " cottage ornee , " nestling amid surrounding foliage , like—what shall I say ?—white swans on some shrub-befringed lake . Here , with all the comforts and luxuries

always of a well-appointed English house , are the abodes of many well-contented classes of our English civilization . The banker and the peer , the millionaire and the middleman , the professional , and the professor , the large class of persons with " limited incomes , '' all have sought for a pleasant

"gite" somewhere , and have found it on the banks of the Thames . Many are there who have set up their " tent" amid limes and laburnums , amid foliage and flowers , and croquet lawns and gay gardens , while Old Father Thames goes meandering along , bullied every now and then by steamers

full of cocknies , or deeply complaining of the noise and inhuman vulgarity of steam lauuchesaud of steam yawls . Bomeof us will recollect to-day perhaps , many a sheltered nest , many a genial homestead , where in summer-time we have taken pleasant

counsel with the true , the fair , the merry ; where all that softens life , and where all that sweetens life , may often be seen and realised in the most attractive of aspects , and where many weary travellers have found for themselves a veritable " oasis" in

this great sand y desert of time , in this weary wilderness—the world . It was in the garden of one of these " cottage ornees , " then , with its neat and flower-lined terrace , separated from the Thames by only a pleasant strip of turfy expanse , that four people were sitting in the shade one summer ' s afternoon a few years ago . Of these two were ladies and two were gentlemen .

Of the ladies one was elderly , the other wnsyoung , not , indeed , " sweet sixteen , "but " there-anent , " and the two gentlemen were young men in the early prime of life , say irom twenty-six to thirty . The elderly lady had so peculiar a countenance , that any one who saw it never tbrgot it , while her young companion had

an expression so very charming , that you would be tempted to say , "it ' s a face that Millais would like to paint . " As the antique rule still holds good , " seniores priores , " I will begin with my elder friend . A long , thin , careworn , linemarked visagevery whitewith two little

, , , stiff frizzed bows of grey hair oh each side of a broad , clear forehead , and two dark grey eyes , and thinnish eyelashes , make up the outward appearance of Margaret Margerison , " or " Miss Margerison , " as her friends liked to call her . Few who ever

met the scrutinizing gaze of those deep set eyes , so calm and so intense , ever forgot them . Miss Margerison was an old maitl of an older school , now passing away , and dressed with the greatest simplicity , yet care , and was a wonderfnl exemplification of outward neatness and decorum ; no

wanton curls , no stray ends of ribbon , but all on that nicely adjusting dress , with its accompaniments and etcetera , told of preciseness and regularity , of character and competence . But as I may say a little more about Miss Margerison laterI turn to

, her fair companion . And yet when I try to describe her with the best intentions in the world , I find my powers of description fail altogether . In fact I won ' t try ; but this I will say , few people ever saw her without deeply admiring her , or , as her

maid said , " falling clean head over heels in love with her at once . " Some ardent youth , some fervid hero , may long for a detailed account of ' ¦ ' so much grace and beauty , & c . j" but I hurry on , for fear of the consequences to myself and others . I am like the Frenchman , who said , in a moment of great peril , "je m ' en sauve , Madame . '' Yet when I tell vou that her

eyes were of the bluest , and her lashes of the longest ; that her hair was coiled round her head in masses of the richest brown ( no chignon ) ; that her figure was faultless , and her expression most striking , what more can I say to recommend Lucy Longlmrst to the warm spmpathies of my

readers ? If not the bri ghtest and best " of earth ' s daughters , she was very brig ht and very good indeed , andl hardly thinkthat I ever saw a pleasanter face or a sunnier smile than hers , and I am quite sure you , kind reader , will not find a prettier young woman on the " longest day ' s march . " Of the two gentlemen who formed this