ght imbibe prejudices and aversions
that would render him gloomy and vindictive, and unlike other people for
the rest of his life; she could not have behaved more wisely. I am
inclined to suppose that Mrs. Jardine of Whitethorn has more knowledge
of the world and self-command than the whole set of my relations here,
unless, perhaps, my Aunt Crawfurd--she will only speculate on your
dresses--that is the question, Susan."

II.--THE ORDEAL.

"Would you not have liked to have gone with the other girls, Joanna? for
Conny, she must submit to be a _halflin_ yet. But is it not dull for you
only to hear of a party? country girls have few enough opportunities of
being merry," observed Mr. Crawfurd, with his uneasy consciousness, and
his sad habit of self-reproach.

"Oh, Mr. Crawford, it would not have done--not the first time--Joanna
had much better stay at home on this occasion. She is too well brought
up to complain of a little sacrifice."

It is curious how long some wives will live on friendly terms with their
husbands and never measure their temperaments, never know where the shoe
pinches, never have a notion how often they worry, and provoke, and pain
their spouses, when the least reticence and tact would keep the ship and
its consort sailing in smooth water.

Mrs. Crawfurd would have half-broken her heart if Mr. Crawfurd had not
changed his damp stockings; she would fling down her work and look out
for him at any moment of his absence; she would not let any of her
children, not her favourite girl or boy, take advantage of him; she was
a good wife, still she did not know where the shoe pinched, and so she
stabbed him perpetually, sometimes with fretting pin-pricks, sometimes
with sore sword-strokes.

"My dear, I wish you were not a sacrifice to me." It is a heart-breaking
thing to hear a man speak quite calmly, and like a man, yet with a
plaintive tone in his voice. Ah! the old, arch spirit of the literary
Laird of the Ewes had been shaken to its centre, though he was a
tolerable man of business, and rather fond of attending markets, sales,
and meetings.

"Papa, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Joanna indignantly. "I am
very proud to help you, and I go out quite as often as the others. Do
you not know, we keep a card hung up on Lilias's window-shutter, and we
write down every month's invitations--in stormy weather they are not
many--and we fulfil them in rotation. You don't often want me in the
evenings, for