The Three Brides

ful Sug

e a moment before you go

n-stairs, met him and drew him into her apartment-his mother's

thinking that Julius might have s

d be moved more than she is." Then, as he was beginning to speak, "Do you know that, the morning of the fire, I carried her with only

t was ex

General M'Kinnon, my father's old friend, who runs about everywhere in a whe

e was recollecting his morning's talk about the occupancy

. I wanted to write to Mary M'Kinnon; but Julius said I had better talk to you, because he

, till that day, when, after the rains, the bank where the bridle-path to Squattles End was built up, gave way with the horse's feet, and down she went twenty feet, and was under the ho

that now. Was not t

ayter down to see her, and he said per

t he seen h

little watching and attention. I dare say we all have learnt to acquiesce too much in her present state,

samond, eagerly. "It would be such a thing if she

evening," said Raymond, his face l

Rosamond; and Raymond, hearing the door-bell, hurried down, to find h

e you been

n a chair on which it might be possible

was not to interfere in her department any more than she in Rosamond's; but she

ond. "To have her among us again-!" but he was cu

his, which, as Mr. Bindon said, was rather a reason for not marrying-a town with few gentry, and a petty unthriving manufacture, needing an enormous amount of energy to work it properly, and getting-Mr. Fuller, with force yearly decreasing under the pressure of a sickly wife, ill-educated,

tographs and illustrations on which she could lay hands, and only eliciting alternately 'Very nice,' and 'How sweet!' A little more was made of the alarms of the fire, and the preparations for clearing the house, and there was a further thaw about the bazaar. It would be such a relief from plain work, and she c

ices, and when the Rector explained how brief those intervals would be, looked astonished, and dryly complimen

his own church, made the handsomer donation, and held out hopes of buying it afterwards for the use of Squattles End. Then, having Mr. Fuller's ear to hi

ders. "If every one subscribe

to do so, without the app

" said the

t you get from the insurance, a weekly offertory, and add improvements as

uld create nothing but offence. When you have been in Orders as long as I have, you will find

bazaar, and I promise you our collection every Sunday evening for the year,

wn feelings to consider, I might attempt it. But it would be only mischievous to interfere with the bazaar. Lady Tyrrell-all the ladies, in fact

nough to make his forehead burn and bring out his white eyebrows in strong relief. "How about a

o Briggs," he said, "and he would answer, 'Cash for me, and the blessing may take care of itself.' A

t they want their a

d on them, Charnock-I don't know about the fine ladies; but there are qui

nd one would gladly find a saf

in a tone that Julius liked even less than the mere hopeless faint-h

this matter later that night, on the stair

s meeting to-morrow, J

t I should be of

ess

ms to me the right proposal, an

t's

e church and town-hall, then make the drainage of Water Lane and Hall Street the first

h?" said Raymond, smiling, with an elder brother'

Little good can be done to people's souls while their bodies are in the feverish discomfort of foul ai

but I could not get a hearing; they said there never had been any illness w

dorous-or odious, savours sweet," said Julius. "I heard a good

be at once. The subject is too new to them, and the irritation it produces must subside befo

cour

n do at the committee; but there is no good in bringing it forward at this great public affair, when every ass can put in his word. Everyth

loyment of the numerous women thrown out of employment by the destruction of the paper-mills. A subscription wa

it stockings; and he replied by recommending the suppression of Dunstone. How strange it was that what s

ious smile recalled Cecil's good-humour; Raymond saw them to their seats, and then had to go and take the chai

s Slater; but Cecil, concluding that this last could have no vote, and that the Vicarage was secure, felt free to indulge herself b

have missed this meeting for anything. It is a true woman's question. A fair muster, I see," looking round with

" said Lady Tyrrell. "Mrs.

out her hand. "May we often meet in the same manner, though I honestly tell you I'

e of the young ladies who, in the first decades of the reformed Parliament, used to look on a Liberal as a lusus natur?, whom they hardly believed to be a gentleman. But a lady who

asant's, while the thin aquiline nose made Cecil think of Queen Elizabeth. The dress was a tight-fitting black silk, with a gorgeous many-coloured gold-embroidered oriental mantle thrown loosely over

been insufficiently insured, and moreover, that many more sittings were needed than the former building had contained. He then read the list of subscriptions already promised, expressed hopes of more coming in, invi

ercepted by Lady Tyrrell's eyes, which flashed back sympathetic amusement, with just such a glance as used to pass between t

he spoke as if it were the subject of anticipations as sanguine as any the poor man could ever appear to indulge in. And there was, in fact, the greatest stampin

ed; and after the heavy losses, they could not attempt to keep their people together by any payment. It had been suggested that the readiest way of meeting the difficulty, would be to employ the subscriptions already promised in laying in a st

, who had instructed him to be their mouthpiece. There was due applause as the mayor seconded his resolution; but in the midst a clear

oor themselves," said Raymond, judiciously concealing

throw in ninety-five or one hundred pair of hands depending on their work for their livelihood, the supply must necessarily soon go beyond any demand, even fictitious. It will not do to think

to be proposed?" asked the

pent yesterday in col

combe move it?" s

s no use to instruct anybody; I

and with as much ease as if she had been Queen Bess dragooning her parliament, she gave wha

d from the loss of so many houses, and could besides be little depended on for working well enough without superintendence, her plan was to hire a room, collect the women, and divide the sup

e seconded; which the Vicar accordingly did, and it was carried without opposition, as in truth nothing so good had been thought of; and the next thing was to name a committee of ladies

Lady Tyrrell and her sister undertook two, Cecil two more, and others were found to fill up the vacant space. The chairman moved a vo

t burn as long as Dark Hag thrives! When do I expect him? I don't know; it depends on Dark Hag," she said in a tone of superior good-natured irony, the

said Cecil, when her husban

she is ve

spoke c

k. What would your f

been needful to her existence; she was learning that Dunstone was an unrecognized elevation in this new coun

opinion; Raymond recounted the adventure at his mother's kettle-dr

e censured," said Cecil. "You

r husband to speak for

s not

said Mrs. Poynsett. "A woman spoils all the effect of

isgusting!"

ready at repartee, she was pleased when Rosamond exclaimed, "Ah! that's just what men like,

wer of working usefully and gaining information, but the one t

for the man!" l

ely fair,"

erceived that she had been speaking in jest. "Any woman who is worth

icate edges of true womanhood ought not

of man in public would be far from compensated by th

that it always is an inferior power of man, which

had special knowledge and inf

orced to thank

t it was as much as I could do to get it don

ere all jealous

play. Those extorted thanks seemed to her a victory of her sex in a field she had never thought of; and though she had no desire to emulat