her fancy; she knew from drawing and description nearly every window,
every buttress, every cornice; she had heard by letter of every step
in the progress of the building; but now, that narrow white point, in
the greyish green of the distance, shewed her, for the first time,
what really was the work of her father--yes, of her father, for
without him that spire would never have been there; with the best
intentions, Mr. Woodbourne could not have accomplished more than a
solid well-proportioned building, with capabilities of embellishment.
It was not till they had nearly reached the town, that her thoughts
turned to the pleasure of seeing her cousins, or even of meeting her
brother, whom she expected to find at the Vicarage, on his return
from Scotland, where he had been spending the last six weeks.

In this anticipation, however, she was disappointed; he was not among
the group who stood in the hall, eager to greet the travellers, and
no tidings had been heard of him. After talking over the chances of
his arriving in the course of the evening, Sir Edward went with Mr.
Woodbourne to see the new church, and the ladies were conducted to
their apartments; Mrs. Woodbourne making apologies to Anne for
lodging her with Elizabeth, and Anne laughingly declaring that she
enjoyed Elizabeth's company much more than solitary grandeur. The
two cousins were followed by the whole tribe of children, flaxen-
haired and blue-eyed little sprites, the younger of whom capered
round Anne in high glee, though with a little shyness, sometimes
looking upon her as a stranger, sometimes recollecting former
frolics, till Elizabeth declared that it was time to dress; and
Dorothea, the eldest, a quiet and considerate little maiden of seven
years old, carried off Winifred and Edward to their own domains in
the nursery.