Tuileries, drives to the Bois de Boulogne, and visits to the
shops. As for the lessons which had, at one time, entered into
the plan, they had never been even commenced. Jane was too
indolent to take pleasure in anything of the kind; and her
companions, the daughters of Mrs. Howard, led her into so much
gaiety, that she really seemed to have little time for anything
else. Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst thought, indeed, that her sister was
quite too dissipated; still, Jane seemed to enjoy it so much, she
looked so well and happy, and Mrs. Howard was such an obliging
chaperon, that the same course was pursued, week after week;
although Mrs. Hazlehurst, herself, who had an infant a few weeks
old, seldom accompanied her.

Elinor, in the mean time, was passing the quietest of country
lives at Wyllys-Roof, where the family remained all winter. Even
the letters, which the previous year had given her so much
pleasure, had been wanting during the past season. Jane never
wrote oftener than was absolutely necessary; and only two of
Hurry's letters reached their destination. There was a package
from Europe, however, in the Longbridge Post-Office, on the
morning of the sleigh-drive we have alluded to. It contained a
long letter from Harry, written at Smyrna, announcing that he
hoped to be in Paris some time in March; and one from Mrs.
Hazlehurst, informing her friends of their plans for the
summer--including an excursion to Switzerland--after which they
were to return home late in August.

The very day Elinor received these letters, Harry returned to
Paris. After pitching his tent among Grecian ruins, and riding on
camels over the sands of Egypt and Syria, he had returned to