Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VII. Nearly a fortnight had passed since Mr. Erskine's introduction to Chavenage, and during that time, his frequent visits had served to establish him on a pleasant and familiar footing with all its inmates, save Chipie, who ignored the encomiums which the different members of the family were pleased to shower upon him, and refused, generally, to speak of him in any terms. As she was sure,, by this time, that her secret was unknown to Mr. Erskine, there seemed no reason why she should keep up her feeling of animosity ; but she could not forgive him the bitter humiliation which he had innocently caused her, nor did she try, but went on cherishing her indignation and annoyance in amanner quite foreign to her forgiving nature. As much as common courtesy would permit, she avoided contact with him, telling herself that " a barrier had been thrown up which excluded everything but the barest civility." And this was the state of affairs, when Grove, in company with Mr. Erskine, approached the archery- field, where the girls were having an exciting contest, and exclaimed breezily: " Girls, 't is a glorious day for pic-nicing ! What do you say to starting at once, for Mt. Norcott, and making a day of it? It isn't ten o'clock yet, and we can easily get off in half.an hour! The proposal was received with pleasure by one and all, and Grove, after holding a brief consultation with Kate, went to the stables to order the carriages, leaving her to superintend the lunch preparations. Quick hands and many soon got everything in readiness. Mr. Erskine took charge of the phseton, which was to carry Mrs. Sturgis, Kate and Madge, while Grove and Chipie, with the two children, took possession of the somewhat antiquated, though still highly respectable vehicle which, in its day,...