ailing to loosen the complicated knots.
'Well, well,' he said, at last, 'I see it is the will of the Lord that
you should have the whole.' And, giving them all his wealth, he returned
home penniless.

Dame Elliot never showed any displeasure at these improvident acts of
her husband. She admired and respected his pious motives, and his
beautiful spirit of self-denial: and she only strove the more to limit
her expenses, and to make their home cheerful and comfortable with the
scanty means she possessed, while she willingly conformed to the life
of extreme simplicity which he felt it right to adopt. More than one
dish was never allowed to appear on his table, and water was his only
beverage. If wine was offered him at the house of a friend, he
courteously declined, but never blamed in others the indulgence which
he denied to himself. He used to say, 'Wine is a precious, noble thing,
and we should thank the Lord for it; but to suit me aright, water
should rather be there.'

Such were the Christian pair who came to attend the wedding of Edith
and Roger; and to offer their congratulations on the event, and their
prayers that it might tend to the present and the eternal happiness of
their valued friend and his interesting bride. It could not be
otherwise than that Dame Elliot and Edith should form a speedy and a
lasting friendship. There was a similarity of feeling, and a difference
of character, that rendered them peculiarly agreeable to each other;
and made them mutually rejoice in the prospect of future intercourse
which the strong regard that subsisted between Elliot and Williams, and
the nearness of Salem to Roxburgh, promised to afford them. The young
matron was of a much more calm and subdued temperament than her new
friend. Her early life and education had been very different from
Edith's; and the man on whom she had fixed her affections, and the mode
of life to which her marriage had conducted her, had alike tended to
promote a quiet composure, and steady regulation of mind, rather than
to arouse the enthusiastic feelings and the lively fancies that
distinguished Edith's character, and which had proved so irresistible a
charm to the fervid soul of Williams. But each of the young women was
well adapted to the lot which Providence had assigned them; and each
proved a blessing, and a support through life, to their respective
partners.

But little preparation was required for the Puritan nuptials that were
now about