sweet good-tempered smile. "Ah!"
said he, "what can we do; they have got the land, and the land governs
the people. The Norman knew that, Sybil, as you just read. If indeed we
had our rights, one might do something; but I don't know; I dare say if
I had our land again, I should be as bad as the rest."

"Oh! no, my father," exclaimed Sybil with energy, "never, never! Your
thoughts would be as princely as your lot. What a leader of the people
you would make!"

Harold sprang up suddenly and growled.

"Hush!" said Gerard; "some one knocks:" and he rose and left the room.
Sybil heard voices and broken sentences: "You'll excuse me"--"I take it
kindly"--"So we are neighbours." And then her father returned, ushering
in a person and saying, "Here is my friend Mr Franklin that I was
speaking of, Sybil, who is going to be our neighbour; down Harold,
down!" and he presented to his daughter the companion of Mr St Lys in
that visit to the Hand-loom weaver when she had herself met the vicar of
Mowbray.

Sybil rose, and letting her book drop gently on the table, received
Egremont with composure and native grace. It is civilization that makes
us awkward, for it gives us an uncertain position. Perplexed, we take
refuge in pretence; and embarrassed, we seek a resource in affectation.
The Bedouin and the Red Indian never lose their presence of mind; and
the wife of a peasant, when you enter her cottage, often greets you with
a propriety of mien which favourably contrasts with your reception by
some grand dame in some grand assembly, meeting her guests alternately
with a caricature of courtesy or an exaggeradon of supercilious
self-control.

"I dare say," said Egremont bowing to Sybil, "you have seen our poor
friend the weaver since we met there."

"The day I quitted Mowbray," said Sybil. "They are not without friends."

"Ah! you have met my daughter before."

"On a mission of grace," said Egremont.

"And I suppose you found the town not very pleasant, Mr Franklin,"
continued Gerard.

"No; I could not stand it, the nights were so close. Besides I have a
great accumulation of notes, and I fancied I could reduce them into a
report more efficiently in comparative seclusion. So I have got a room
near here, with a little garden, not so pretty as yours; but still a
garden is something; and if I want any additional information, why,
after all, Mowbray is only a walk."

"You say well and have done wisely. Besides you have such late h