look  for  the  worst.  Well,  what  is  it  then,  if  it  isn't
Dissent  ?"

Then  iMiss  ^\'arrender  gave  an  account  of  the  real  state
of  affairs.  "  The  letter  was  there  on  the  table,  dated  the
Elms,  Underwood,  Highcombe,  as  if — as  if  it  was  a  county
family;  just  as  we  put  it  ourselves  on  our  paper."

"  But  far  finer  than  ours, — gilt,  and  paper  so  polished
and  shining,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  Oh,  much
finer  than  ours  !"

"  Ours,  of  course,  will  be  black-edged  for  a  long,  long
time  to  come ;  there  could  not  be  any  comparison,"  said
Minnie,  with  a  sigh.  "  But  think  of  the  assurance  of  such
people !  1  am  so  glad  to  have  found  you  alone,  for  we
couldn't  have  talked  about  it  before  the  rector.  And  I
believe  if  we  hadn't  gone  there  just  at  the  right  moment
she  would  have  accepted.  I  told  her  mamma  would  never
employ  her  again."

"I  never  had  very  much  opinion  of  that  little  thing,"
said  Mrs.  Wilberforce.  "  She  is  a  great  deal  too  fine.  If
her  grandmother  was  a  sensible  person,  she  would  have
put  a  stop  to  all  those  feathers  and  flowers  and  things."

"  Still,"  said  Minnie,  with  some  severity,  "a  young  woman
who  is  a  dressmaker  and  gets  the  fashion-books,  and  is  per-
haps in  the  way  of  temptation,  may  wear  a  feather  in  her
hat ;  but  that  is  not  to  say  that  she  should  encourage  im-


X.  AND  HIS  FAMILY.  135

morality,  and  make  for  anybody  who  asks  her  :  especially
considering  the  way  we  have  all  taken  her  up."

"  Who  is  it  that  encourages  immorality  ?"  said  a  different
voice,  over  Mrs.  Wilberforce's  head, — quite  a  different  voice ;
a  man's  voice,  for  one  thing,  which  always  changes  the
atmosphere  a  little.  It  was  the  rector  himself,  who  came
across  the  lawn  in  the  ease  of  a  shooting-coat,  with  his
hands  in  his  pockets.  He  wore  a  long  coat  when  he  went
out  in  the  parish,  but  at  home  there  can  be  no  doubt  that
he  liked  to  be  at  his  ease.  He  was  a  man  who  was  too
easy  in  general,  and  might,  perhaps,  if  his  wife  had  not
scented  harm  from  the  beginning,  have  compromised  him-
self by  calling  at  the  Elms.
