"You did not wish me to refuse, Alick," said she, struck by his grave

countenance, when she found him lying on the slope of the lawn shortly

after, in deep thought.

"No, not at all," he replied; "it is likely to be a pleasant affair, and

my uncle will be delighted to have us with him. No," he added, seeing

that she still looked at him inquisitively, "it is the old story. My

sister! Poor little thing! I always feel as though I wore more unkind

and unjust to her than any one else, and yet we are never together

without my feeling as if she was deceiving herself and me; and yet it

is all so fair and well reasoned that one is always left in the wrong.

I regretted this marriage extremely at first, and I am not the less

disposed to regret it now."

"Indeed! Every one says how attentive she is to him, and how nicely they

go on together."

"Pshaw, Rachel! that is just the way. A few words and pretty ways pass

with her and all the world for attention, when she is wherever her fancy

calls her, all for his good. It is just the attention she showed my

uncle. And now it is her will and pleasure to queen it here among her

old friends, and she will not open her eyes to see the poor old man's

precarious state."

"Do you think him so very ill, Alick?"

"I was shocked when I saw him yesterday. As to sciatica, that is all

nonsense; the blow in his side has done some serious damage, and if it

is not well looked-to, who knows what will be the end of it! And then, a

gay young widow with no control over her--I hate to think of it."

"Indeed," said Rachel, "she is so warm and bright, and really earnest in

her kindness, that she will be sure to see her own way right at home. I

don't think we can guess how obstinate Lord Keith may be in refusing to

take advice."

"He cut me off pretty short," said Alick. "I am afraid he will see no

one here; and, as Bessie says, the move to Scotland would not be easy

just now. As I said, she leaves one in the wrong, and I don't like the

future. But it is of no use to talk of it; so let us come and see if my

uncle wants to go anywhere."

It was Alick's fate never to meet with sympathy in his feeling of his

sister's double-mindedness. Whether it were that he was mistaken, or

that she really had the gift of sincerity for the moment in whatever

she was saying, the most candid and transparent people in the

world--his uncle and his wife--never even succeeded in understanding his

dissatisfaction with Bessie's doings, but always received them at

her own valuation. Even while he had been looking forward, with hope

deferred, to her residence with him as the greatest solace the world

could yet afford him, Mr. Clare had always been convinced that her

constant absence from his Rectory, except when his grand neighbours

were at home, had been unavoidable, and had always credited the outward

tokens of zealous devotion to his church and parish, and to all that was

useful or good elsewhere. In effect there was a charm about her which no

one but her brother ever resisted, and even he held out by an exertion

that made him often appear ungracious.




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