fate.

Her mother said her daughter was too unwell to see him, and to his
questioning admitted that it was in consequence of a letter received from
himself; which had distressed her deeply.

'You know what it was about, perhaps, Mrs. Phippard?' he said.

Mrs. Phippard owned that she did, adding that it put them in a very
painful position. Thereupon Shadrach, fearing that he had been guilty of
an enormity, explained that if his letter had pained Joanna it must be
owing to a misunderstanding, since he had thought it would be a relief to
her. If otherwise, he would hold himself bound by his word, and she was
to think of the letter as never having been written.

Next morning he received an oral message from the young woman, asking him
to fetch her home from a meeting that evening. This he did, and while
walking from the Town Hall to her door, with her hand in his arm, she
said:

'It is all the same as before between us, isn't it, Shadrach? Your
letter was sent in mistake?'

'It is all the same as before,' he answered, 'if you say it must be.'

'I wish it to be,' she murmured, with hard lineaments, as she thought of
Emily.

Shadrach was a religious and scrupulous man, who respected his word as
his life. Shortly afterwards the wedding took place, Jolliffe having
conveyed to Emily as gently as possible the error he had fallen into when
estimating Joanna's mood as one of indifference.

CHAPTER II

A month after the marriage Joanna's mother died, and the couple were
obliged to turn their attention to very practical matters. Now that she
was left without a parent, Joanna could not bear the notion of her
husband going to sea again, but the question was, What could he do at
home? They finally decided to take on a grocer's shop in High Street,
the goodwill and stock of which were waiting to be disposed of at that
time. Shadrach knew nothing of shopkeeping, and Joanna very little, but
they hoped to learn.

To the management of this grocery business they now devoted all their
energies, and continued to conduct it for many succeeding years, without
great success. Two sons were born to them, whom their mother loved to
idolatry, although she had never passionately loved her husband; and she
lavished upon them all her forethought and care. But the shop did not
thrive, and the large dreams she had entertained of her sons' education
and career became attenuated in the face of realities. Their schooling
was of