not fine eyes and well-cut features, and a
clear, princely forehead?"

"He has all that, Caroline. Bless him! he is both graceful and good."

"I was sure you would see that he was. When I first looked at your face
I knew you would."

"I was well inclined to him before I saw him. I liked him when I did see
him. I admire him now. There is charm in beauty for itself, Caroline;
when it is blent with goodness, there is a powerful charm."

"When mind is added, Shirley?"

"Who can resist it?"

"Remember my uncle, Mesdames Pryor, Yorke, and Mann."

"Remember the croaking of the frogs of Egypt. He is a noble being. I
tell you when they _are_ good they are the lords of the creation--they
are the sons of God. Moulded in their Maker's image, the minutest spark
of His spirit lifts them almost above mortality. Indisputably, a great,
good, handsome man is the first of created things."

"Above us?"

"I would scorn to contend for empire with him--I would scorn it. Shall
my left hand dispute for precedence with my right? Shall my heart
quarrel with my pulse? Shall my veins be jealous of the blood which
fills them?"

"Men and women, husbands and wives, quarrel horribly, Shirley."

"Poor things! Poor, fallen, degenerate things! God made them for another
lot, for other feelings."

"But are we men's equals, or are we not?"

"Nothing ever charms me more than when I meet my superior--one who makes
me sincerely feel that he is my superior."

"Did you ever meet him?"

"I should be glad to see him any day. The higher above me, so much the
better. It degrades to stoop; it is glorious to look up. What frets me
is, that when I try to esteem, I am baffled; when religiously inclined,
there are but false gods to adore. I disdain to be a pagan."

"Miss Keeldar, will you come in? We are here at the rectory gates."

"Not to-day, but to-morrow I shall fetch you to spend the evening with
me. Caroline Helstone, if you really are what at present to me you seem,
you and I will suit. I have never in my whole life been able to talk to
a young lady as I have talked to you this morning. Kiss me--and
good-bye."

* * * * *

Mrs. Pryor seemed as well disposed to cultivate Caroline's acquaintance
as Shirley. She, who went nowhere else, called on an early day at the
rectory. She came in the afternoon, when the rector happened to be out.
It was rather a close day; the heat of the weather had flushed her, and
she se