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Of course, such a girl as Laura hadthe the first place in her esteeht that her aunt had in mind or no, she was not sure, but he realized her ideal more completely than any man whom she had ever e," although she was not so sure of the oak-like qualities She often asked herself wherein she could find fault with him or with all that related to him, and even her delicate discrimination could scarcely find a vulnerable point He was fine-looking, his heavy side-whiskers redeeant in his proportions; his taste in his dress was quiet and faultless; he possessed the hly cultured ly proud and aristocratic, but as far as there can be reason for these characteristics, this old and wealthy family had such reason Laura certainly could not find fault with these traits, for froht to pay her especial attention It was quite evident that they thought that the orphaned girl as so richly dowered ealth and beauty ood a wife for their matchless son as could be found, and such an opinion on their part was, indeed, a high co No one else in Hillaton would have been thought of with any equanimity

The son was inclined to take the same view as that entertained by his parents, but, as the party most nearly interested, he felt it incumbent upon him to scrutinize very closely and deliberately the woht beco to do

There was nothing mercenary or coarse in his delicate analysis and close observation Far from it Mr Beaumont was the last man in the world to look a lady over as he would a bale of s else, Mr Beauht Mrs Arnot's parlors with increasing frequency because he believed that he would there find the woman best fitted to become the chief ornament of the stately family mansion

Laura had soon become conscious of this close tentative scrutiny, and at first she had been inclined to resent its cool deliberateness But, reht to learn well the character of the woman who in his action of which she could complain; and it soon beca else, to satisfy those fastidious eyes that hitherto had critically looked the world over, and in vain, for a pearl with a lustre sufficiently clear She began to study his taste, to dress for hi for him, to read his favorite authors; and so perfect was his taste that she found herself aided and enriched by it He was her superior in these matters, for he had made them his life-study The first hour that she spent with hi remembered, for never before had those fine and artistic reat been so clearly pointed out to her She was brought to believe that this hest point of culture to which she could attain, and satisfy every refined taste that she possessed It seeallery of beautiful objects, through which she ant leisure, ever conscious that lie who stood by to s else in admiration of herself