nbury philosophy _too_ far.'

'I have not accepted it.'

'That is not required; it is your fate, Phoebe; why don't you speak, or
are you under an embargo from any of the wicked enchanters? Even if so,
you might be got off among the pious juveniles.'

'Papa was so kind as to say I might go wherever Miss Charlecote liked,'
said Phoebe; 'but, indeed, I had rather do exactly what suits her; I dare
say the morning party will suit her best--'

'The oily popular preachers!'

'Thank you, Owen,' laughed Honor.

'No, now you must accept the whole. There's room to give the preachers a
wide berth, even should they insist on "concluding with prayer," and it
will be a pretty sight. They have the Guards' band coming.'

'I never heard a military band,' ejaculated Phoebe.

'And there are to be sports for the village children, I believe,' added
Owen; 'besides, you will like to meet some of the lions--the Archdeacon
and his wife will be there.'

'But how can I think of filling up Mrs. Charteris's house, without the
least acquaintance?'

'Honey-sweet philosopher, Eloisa heeds as little how her house is filled,
so it _be_ filled, as Jessica did her father's ring. Five dresses a day,
with accoutrements to match, and for the rest she is sublimely
indifferent. Fortune played her a cruel trick in preventing her from
being born a fair sultana.'

'Not to be a Mahometan?' said Phoebe.

'I don't imagine she is far removed from one;' then, as Phoebe's horror
made her look like Maria, he added--'don't mean that she was not bred a
Christian, but the Oriental mind never distinctly embraces tenets
contrary to its constitution.'

'Miss Charlecote, is he talking in earnest?'

'I hope not,' Honora said, a little severely, 'for he would be giving a
grievous account of the poor lady's faith--'

'Faith! no, my dear, she has not reflection enough for faith. All that
enters into the Eastern female mind is a little observance.'

'And you are not going to lead Phoebe to believe that you think it
indifferent whether those observances be Christian or Pagan?' said
Honora, earnestly.

There was a little pause, and then Owen rather hesitatingly said--'It is
a hard thing to pronounce that three-fifths of one's fellow-creatures are
on the high road to Erebus, especially when ethnologically we find that
certain aspects of doctrine never have approved themselves to certain
races, and that climate is stronger than creed. Am I not talking
Fennim