have let the greater part of the
ground, so that we are not having dairy produce or farm produce at
present. The meals, therefore, are plain."

"And insufficient; I have no doubt of that," said Miss Tredgold.

"They are very plain," he answered. "Perhaps you like dainty food; most
ladies of your age do. I must be as frank with you as you are with me.
You won't like our table. Sometimes we do without meat for a week at a
time."

"I do not care if you never touch meat again," said Miss Sophia. "Thank
goodness, with all my faults, I am not greedy."

"What a pity!" murmured Mr. Dale.

"What was that you said? Do you like greedy women?"

"No, Sophia; but I want to put matters so straight before you that you
will consider it your bounden duty to leave The Dales."

"Where my duty calls me I stay, whatever the circumstances, and however
great the inconveniences," remarked Miss Sophia.

"Well, Sophia, your attitude and manner and words distress me
considerably. But I must speak to you again. I am busy now over a most
important matter. I have just discovered----"

"A gold mine on your estate?"

"No; something fifty times more valuable--a new rendering----"

"Of what, may I ask?"

"'The noblest meter ever moulded by the lips of man.' Bowen is quite
wrong in his translation; I am about to prove it. I allude to Virgil's
_AEneid_."

"Good heavens!" exclaimed Miss Tredgold, "is the man staring mad? Now, my
dear fellow, you have got to put up with me. I can tell you plainly that
it will be no treat to live with you. If it were not for my sister I
would leave this house and let you and your family go your own way to
destruction; but as Alice was so fond of me, and did her best for me when
I was a little girl, I mean to do my best for your children."

"But in what way, Sophia? I told you I was poor. I am poor. I cannot
afford a governess. Verena can darn quite nicely, and she knows a little
about plain needlework. She turned a skirt of her own a month ago; her
work seemed quite creditable, for I did not notice it one way or the
other."

"Oh, you man--you man!" said Miss Tredgold.

"And the other children are also learning to use the needle; and most of
them can read, for all the novels that I happen to possess have been
removed from the bookshelves. The girls can read, they can write, and
they can use their needles. They are thoroughly happy, and they are
healthy. They do not feel the heat of summer or the cold of win