The  character  of  a  Christian  gentleman  is
much  too  precious  to  trifle  with,  in  order  to
carry  out  an  impracticable  theory."

Anna  was  silent.  Probably  she  was  con-
fused between  the  opinions  which  she  most
liked  to  cherisli,  and  the  faint  glimmerings  of
truth  to  which  we  are  reduced  by  the  ordi-
nary relations  of  life.  As  for  the  good  rector
himself,  I  had  no  difficulty  in  understanding
his  bias,  though  neither  his  premises  nor  his
conclusions  possessed  the  logical  clearness  that
used  to  render  his  sermons  so  delightful,  more
especially  when  he  preached  about  the  higher
qualities  of  the  Saviour'^s  dispensation,  such
as  charity,  love  of  our  fellows,  and,  in  par-
ticular, the  imperative  duty  of  humbling  our-
selves before  God.
A  month  after  this  accidental  dialogue,
chance  made  me  the  auditor  of  what  passed
between  my  ancestor  and  Sir  Joseph  Job,  an-


THB  MONDLIHt.  75

odier  celebrated  dealer  in  the  f imda,  in  an
intenriew  that  took  place  in  the  home  of  the
fiBrmer,  la  Cfaeapeide.  Aa  the  diffierenoe  was
to  paienij  as  the  Frendi  eiqpreaa  it,  I  flfaafl
liindsh  the  Mibntance  of  what  paascd.
