Mrs. Brownlow.'

'And are you going to do it now?' said her sister in a tone of
remonstrance.

'I think Philip should hear it!' said Laura; and she proceeded to relate
the story. She was glad to see that her cousin was struck with it;
he admired this care to maintain strict truth, and even opened a
memorandum-book--the sight of which Charles dreaded--and read the
following extract: 'Do not think of one falsity as harmless, and another
as slight, and another as unintended. Cast them all aside. They may be
light and accidental, but they are an ugly soot from the smoke of the
pit, for all that; and it is better that our hearts should be swept
clean of them, without over care as to which is the largest or
blackest.'

Laura and Amy were much pleased; but he went on to regret that such
excellent dispositions should be coupled with such vehemence of
character and that unhappy temper. Amy was glad that her sister ventured
to hint that he might be more cautious in avoiding collisions.

'I am cautious', replied he, quickly and sternly; 'I am not to be told
of the necessity of exercising forbearance with this poor boy; but it is
impossible to reckon on all the points on which he is sensitive.'

'He is sensitive,' said Laura. 'I don't mean only in temper, but in
everything. I wonder if it is part of his musical temperament to be as
keenly alive to all around, as his ear is to every note. A bright day,
a fine view, is such real happiness to him; he dwells on every beauty of
Redclyffe with such affection; and then, when he reads, Charles says it
is like going over the story again himself to watch his face act it in
that unconscious manner.'

'He makes all the characters so real in talking them over,' said Amy,
'and he does not always know how they will end before they begin.'

'I should think it hardly safe for so excitable a mind to dwell much on
the world of fiction,' said Philip.

'Nothing has affected him so much as Sintram,' said Laura. 'I never saw
anything like it. He took it up by chance, and stood reading it while
all those strange expressions began to flit over his face, and at last
he fairly cried over it so much, that he was obliged to fly out of the
room. How often he has read it I cannot tell; I believe he has bought
one for himself, and it is as if the engraving had a fascination for
him; he stands looking at it as if he was in a dream.'

'He is a great mystery,' said Amy.

'All men are mysterious,' said P