ged
that he and the Virgin were always looking at one another. On the other
side of the room were a likeness of Mr. Eaton in hunting array, with the
dogs, and a mezzotint of the Deluge.

Mr. Furze had just awaked on the Sunday afternoon following the day of
which the history is partly given in the first chapter.

"My dear," said his wife, "I have been thinking a good deal of Catharine.
She is not quite what I could wish."

"No," replied Mr. Furze, with a yawn.

"To begin with, she uses bad language. I was really quite shocked
yesterday to hear the extremely vulgar word, almost--almost,--I do not
know what to call it--profane, I may say, which she applied to her dog
when talking of it to Mr. Gosford. Then she goes in the foundry; and I
firmly believe that all the money which has been spent on her music is
utterly thrown away."

"The thing is--what is to be done?"

"Now, I have a plan."

In order to make Mrs. Furze's plan fully intelligible, it may be as well
to explain that, up to the year 1840, the tradesmen of Eastthorpe had
lived at their shops. But a year or two before that date some houses had
been built at the north end of the town and called "The Terrace." A new
doctor had taken one, the brewer another, and a third had been taken by
the grocer, a man reputed to be very well off, who not only did a large
retail business, but supplied the small shops in the villages round.

"Well, my dear, what is your plan?"

"Your connection is extending, and you want more room. Now, why should
you not move to the Terrace? If we were to go there, Catharine would be
withdrawn from the society in which she at present mixes. You could not
continue to give market dinners, and gradually her acquaintance with the
persons whom you now invite would cease. I believe, too, that if we were
in the Terrace Mrs. Colston would call on us. As the wife of a brewer,
she cannot do so now. Then there is just another thing which has been on
my mind for a long time. It is settled that Mr. Jennings is to leave,
for he has accepted an invitation from the cause at Ely. I do not think
we shall like anybody after Mr. Jennings, and it would be a good
opportunity for us to exchange the chapel for the church. We have
attended the chapel regularly, but I have always felt a kind of prejudice
there against us, or at least against myself, and there is no denying
that the people who go to church are vastly more genteel, and so are the
servi