sake of the dead lover of twenty years before. She had seen what man could be, and she loved to believe that there were many like him." It may have been this very point in Hester's character, that drew to her so much cordial regard from those whom she thus trusted and defended. Many young men entering upon life, came to her for advice and sympathy; many in far away lands counted their friendship with Hester Morris as one of the few bright spots in their lives which would still look bright from the great clear mountains of eternity. "I'm sure I wish all good ladies' were like Hester Morris," said Dr. Brown, “and I don't know why they are not. understood the Poor Laws!" If only she Dr. Brown was right. Hester Morris was nothing that every woman "good" from the only right principle of goodness might not, and ought not to become, according to the varied circumstances of life. CHAPTER II. DR. BROWN'S BREAKFAST-TABLE. : "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.-JOHN vii. 18. "But if greatness be so blind, As to burst in towers of air; Let it be with goodness lined, That at least the fall be fair. "Then, though darken'd, you shall say, But proves at last a bed of down."1 "Oh! true nobilitie, and rightly graced, Where goodnesse doth with greatnesse live embraced, "Where ancestors' examples are perused, Not in large tomes, or costly tombs alone; But in their heires; and being dayly used, As Dr. Brown looked from behind his newspaper one September morning, he thought that nothing could possibly be brighter than 1 Part of an old poem addressed to Lord Bacon, when falling out of favour.-Author unknown. his little breakfast-table, with the clear sunshine sparkling upon the snowy table-cloth, and white china, and silver urn. Now, for the last two years the same sun had shone through the same window, upon the same table; yet somehow it had looked quite different. The fire had burned dingily; Sally, the cross housekeeper and cook, had locked up the "best things;" the toast used to be black and the tea bitter, and above all-for the Doctor was not a man who thought much of these small externals, there had been the lack of the moral sunshine that now flashed and beamed behind the tea-cups from the eyes of Leslie North, his darling niece. It was a week since "Tuesday," that day when Leslie had well-nigh extinguished dear, happy, Aunt Hester with the vehemence of her greetings; when she had danced and glanced into every old nook and corner of the Corner House, when she had rejoiced Flora's heart with a new cookery book, and Susan's with a "Lady's Companion," and, through the medium of an illustrated Pilgrim's Progress, 66 made friends with Barney, who decided on the spot that she was an angel intirely, barrin' the wings." Since then she had stepped into her own old " niche," reading and singing to Aunt Hester, studying very hard and somewhat mysteriously in the little Roundel, scolding and laughing at cross old Sally, who made a point of going about the world like a thunder-storm, except when Leslie's bright face dispelled the clouds, and, as we have seen, making even the cups and saucers, and tea-spoons, and toast-rack, brighter and better in the eyes of Dr. Brown. Most people said that "Miss North was just the same as ever;" so said the admiring servants, so said the blind woman and sick girl in the village, who were under Leslie's especial charge. Only one person said "our Leslie is not quite our own Leslie," and that was Aunt Hester in a private colloquy with Dr. Brown, who had replied indignantly, "It's all nonsense, one of your silly fancies; she's identically the same, except perhaps a bit thinner and paler. I daresay she's bilious," added he with professional acumen. But Hester was not so easily satisfied. If the western windows and the Roundel walls could have spoken, I suspect they would have said the very same thing as Aunt Hester. Reserved by nature, Leslie North, like all growing and deepening characters, was more reserved year by year, so Hester said to herself, "Whatever it is, I must trust for her; it will all come right,—she is in better hands than mine." "Now, Uncle George," said Leslie North, as she was pouring out the tea, "why don't you ask me what I thought of the people at the Castle last night?" 66 Why don't I ask fire and water, or cats and dogs, what they think of each other?" answered the Doctor with a smile, but his expression changed as he added, "She's a fine creature though." "Do you mean Lady Elinor Mordaunt, uncle?" was all that Leslie said, but it had rather a doubtful sound. |