rning
round in that way, after being the foremost to laugh at the Tryanite
cant, and especially in a woman of her habits; she should cure herself of
them before she pretends to be over-religious.'

'Well, I think she means to cure herself, do you know,' said Mr. Pilgrim,
whose goodwill towards Janet was just now quite above that temperate
point at which he could indulge his feminine patients with a little
judicious detraction. 'I feel sure she has not taken any stimulants all
through her husband's illness; and she has been constantly in the way of
them. I can see she sometimes suffers a good deal of depression for want
of them--it shows all the more resolution in her. Those cures are rare:
but I've known them happen sometimes with people of strong will.'

Mrs. Lowme took an opportunity of retailing Mr. Pilgrim's conversation to
Mrs. Phipps, who, as a victim of Pratt and plethora, could rarely enjoy
that pleasure at first-hand. Mrs. Phipps was a woman of decided opinions,
though of wheezy utterance.

'For my part,' she remarked, 'I'm glad to hear there's any likelihood of
improvement in Mrs. Dempster, but I think the way things have turned out
seems to show that she was more to blame than people thought she was;
else, why should she feel so much about her husband? And Dempster, I
understand, has left his wife pretty nearly all his property to do as she
likes with; _that_ isn't behaving like such a very bad husband. I don't
believe Mrs. Dempster can have had so much provocation as they pretended.
I've known husbands who've laid plans for tormenting their wives when
they're underground--tying up their money and hindering them from
marrying again. Not that _I_ should ever wish to marry again; I think one
husband in one's life is enough in all conscience';--here she threw a
fierce glance at the amiable Mr. Phipps, who was innocently delighting
himself with the _facetiae_ in the 'Rotherby Guardian,' and thinking the
editor must be a droll fellow--'but it's aggravating to be tied up in
that way. Why, they say Mrs. Dempster will have as good as six hundred
a-year at least. A fine thing for her, that was a poor girl without a
farthing to her fortune. It's well if she doesn't make ducks and drakes
of it somehow.'

Mrs. Phipps's view of Janet, however, was far from being the prevalent
one in Milby. Even neighbours who had no strong personal interest in her,
could hardly see the noble-looking woman in her widow's dress, with a s