MR BLAIR was not a little surprised by the receipt of this letter, and by the intelligence it conveyed. Mrs Campbell, though a very near relation, and, in former times, a most intimate friend and companion of his late wife, had not exchanged any sort of communication with him, or any part of his family, for nearly nine years, and having heard of her some time before as being permanently resident in the Low Countries, he had given up, in a great measure, any notion of ever seeing or even hearing from her any more. At times, indeed, during the fatal illness of his wife, it had occurred to him how much both he and she might have been the better of having under their roof some such active, and affectionate, and cheerful inmate as Charlotte Bell was when she spent some three months with them at Cross-Meikle in the first year of their marriage. But various circumstances had occurred in the intervening space, which prevented him from ever wishing seriously for the return of Charlotte herself to the domestic circle, of which she had then formed the life and the ornament. At the same time, after all that passed, he could not now see once more her well-known handwriting, without having many kindly feelings again called up in his mind—and after thinking over the matter a great part of the night, the result was, that Mr Blair felt some pain in the idea of being disturbed by the presence of any six-weeks visitor whatever, but was, upon the whole, as much disposed to receive such a visit from Mrs Campbell, as from any other person of her sex who happened to occur to his recollection; besides, the letter was received on Friday, and as the lady was to leave Edinburgh on Monday morning, there was no time left for any farther epistolary communication on the subject. That she would arrive at Cross-Meikle on the day she had mentioned, was therefore certain; and Mr Blair's only business was to prepare his house and himself, as well as circumstances would permit, for her reception.