soon as he had left the room she began to put away her work that she might escape into solitude. This and the necessary arrangements took her up some time—she found he had entangled her silk whilst sitting by her side; and before she had put every thing in proper order, she found her solitude again invaded by Lord Osborne, who returned together with Sir William and Miss Carr, when all three united in entreating her to come at once to the library.

Emma still persisted in begging for an explanation of their request; and as soon as any of the party would attend to her sufficiently to give her an answer, she learnt that the object they had in view was, that she should sit to Sir William, in order to give him the opportunity of correctly finishing the sketch he had hastily made in the morning. Emma declined; the original sketch, she declared, had been surreptitiously taken, and must now be finished in the best way it could without any intervention on her part.

"How cruel—how unkind!" exclaimed Miss Carr; "my dear Miss Watson, you will break Sir William's heart. I assure you he is bent on carrying away a faithful remembrance of you."

"No, no, Gordon is to give it to me," interposed Lord Osborne, "I told him so, and I shall certainly expect it."

"I shall do no such thing, I assure you", returned Sir William, "if I part with it at all, I shall give it to Mrs. Willis, my particular friend and favorite, Mrs. Willis, to hang in the parlour at the parsonage."

"Finish it as you please—and hang it where you please, but excuse my undergoing the penance of a sitting for any such object," replied Emma.

"I had not the presumption to ask it," said Sir William, "and only accompanied my good friends here, lest they should take liberties in my name which I could not sanction. The utmost I request is, that you should come and look at my picture."

To get rid of their importunity, she consented to go with them; and in the library she found Miss Osborne, who had not joined the embassy, and did not look in a particularly happy mood. Emma saw at once that all was not right there, and regarded her friend's disturbed countenance with some anxiety. Miss Carr amused herself with finding all manner of fault in the painting, which Sir William persisted in denying, declaring the defects she saw arose only from the unfinished state of the work. Emma did not attend to them, but turned to Miss Osborne, and began to explain to her, how, when, and where, the 

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