deed if persons so differently constituted, could have
met without antagonism.

Mrs. Ready's harsh unfeminine voice and manners; her assumption of
learning and superiority, without any real title to either, were very
offensive to a proud sensitive mind, which rejected with disdain the
patronage of such a woman. Flora had too much self-respect, not to say
_vanity_, to tolerate the insolence of Mrs. Ready. She had met all her
advances towards a closer intimacy with marked coldness; which, instead
of repelling, seemed only to provoke a repetition of the vulgar, forcing
familiarity, from which she intuitively shrank.

"Mrs. Lyndsay," she was wont to say, when that lady was absent, "is a
young person of some literary taste, and with the advice and assistance
of a friend (herself of course) she may one day become an accomplished
woman."

Lyndsay was highly amused at the league, offensive and defensive,
carried on by his wife and Mrs. Ready, who was the only _blue stocking_
in the place; and he was wont to call her Flora's Mrs. _Grundy_.

But _Mrs. Grundy_ is already in the room, and Flora has risen to meet
her, and proffer the usual meaningless salutations of the day. To these
her visitor returns no answer, overwhelmed as she is with astonishment
and grief.

"Mrs. Lyndsay!" she exclaimed, sinking into the easy chair placed for
her accommodation, and lifting up her hands in a tragic ecstasy--"Is it
true--true, that you are going to leave us? I cannot believe it; it is
so absurd--so ridiculous--the idea of your going to Canada. Do tell me
that I am misinformed; that it is one of old Kitson's idle pieces of
gossip; for really I have not been well since I heard it."

Mrs. Ready paused for breath, and applied her handkerchief to her eyes.

Flora remained silent and embarrassed. What could she say? She placed no
confidence in the grief of the weeping lady, and despised the
affectation of her tears--till she gasped forth--

"Do not leave me in suspense; I would rather hear the truth at once. Are
you really going to Canada?"

"I believe so. That is, if no untoward circumstances arise to prevent
it."

"Good heavens!--And you can regard such a dreadful event with such
stoical indifference? Why does not your mother exert her authority, to
make you give up such a mad project?"

"My mother would never interfere with my husband's wishes, particularly
when she considers them reasonable, and knows that no real objections
can be