ng better, both in herself and for him, than his fancy had ever
painted. Her powers of sympathy had been increased by her knowledge;
she was as just as she was generous. There was no corner of his heart
he could not lay bare to her; no passage of his past life that he could
not trust to her judging fairly and charitably. Whether he rose or fell
in the world; whether he gained social influence or lost it in the
career that he had again to begin, her foot would be planted firmly
beside his; her insight and sympathy would heighten every enjoyment and
fortify him for every trial. That he felt her to be beautiful, perhaps,
was more in his powers of seeing than in her positive charm of
countenance; but so far as the soul looked through her eyes and
breathed from her lips, she had a sort of beauty that did not weary any
intelligent gazer, and at all events, which could never weary Francis
Hogarth. After all the flattery he had met with since his accession to
fortune, and the conventionalisms of society in which he had been
plunged, he felt the transparent sincerity of Jane's character
something to rest in with perfect confidence and perfect satisfaction.
The most brilliant Frenchwomen had not her earnestness or her power,
though they had far more vivacity, and made their interlocutors more
satisfied with themselves. And Francis felt that he ought to be
married; and how could he ever attach himself sufficiently to any other
woman and not draw comparisons between her and the woman whom his
interest--his worldly interest alone--forbade him to make his wife? He
must learn to love Jane less, or obtain from herself leave to love her
more.

Jane's joyous greeting, when he came to Peggy's for his cousins, to
take them to the Exhibition, startled him not a little; and when she
eagerly told him of Mr. Brandon's views for her future advancement; and
that both he and Peggy had no doubt that she would suit the Phillipses;
and that an answer was sure to be had in a few days, and demanded his
congratulations on her altered prospects; then asked him to submit his
plans for cottages to Peggy's inspection, as she was by far the most
competent judge as to their merits or deficiencies. Old Thomas Lowrie
was also taken into council, and his wondering admiration of the bonny
slated houses was something worth seeing. Peggy's suggestion of the
addition of a little storeroom, in which milk and meal and potatoes
could be kept, was put and carried unani