THE FARRINGDONS  Copyright , 1900 ,  By ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER .  All rights reserved .  DEDICATION  For all such readers as have chanced to be  Either in Mershire or in Arcady ,  I write this book , that each may smile , and say ,  " Once on a time I also passed that way .  "  THE OSIERFIELD  They herded not with soulless swine , Nor let strange snares their path environ : Their only pitfall was a mine — Their pigs were made of iron .  In the middle of Sedgehill , which is in the middle of Mershire , which is in the middle of England , there lies a narrow ridge of high table-land , dividing , as by a straight line , the collieries and ironworks of the great coal district from the green and pleasant scenery of the western Midlands .  Along the summit of this ridge runs the High Street of the bleak little town of Sedgehill ; so that the houses on the east side of this street see nothing through their back windows save the huge slag-mounds and blazing furnaces and tall chimneys of the weird and terrible , yet withal fascinating , Black Country ; while the houses on the west side of the street have sunny gardens and fruitful orchards , sloping down toward a fertile land of woods and streams and meadows , bounded in the far distance by the Clee Hills and the Wrekin , and in the farthest distance of all by the blue Welsh mountains .  In the dark valley lying to the immediate east of Sedgehill stood the Osierfield Works , the largest ironworks in Mershire in the good old days when Mershire made iron for half the world .  The owners of these works were the Farringdons , and had been so for several generations .  So it came to pass that the Farringdons were the royal family of Sedgehill ; and the Osierfield Works was the circle wherein the inhabitants of that place lived and moved .  It was as natural for everybody born in Sedgehill eventually to work at the Osierfield , as it was for him eventually to grow into a man and to take unto himself a wife .  The home of the Farringdons was called the Willows , and was separated by a carriage-drive of half a mile from the town .  Its lodge stood in the High Street , on the western side ; and the drive wandered through a fine old wood , and across an undulating park , till it stopped in front of a large square house built of gray stone .  It was a handsome house inside , with wonderful oak staircases and Adams chimneypieces ; and there was an air of great stateliness about it , and of very little luxury .  For the Farringdons were a hardy race , whose time was taken up by the making of iron and the saving of souls ; and they regarded sofas and easy-chairs in very much the same light as they regarded theatres and strong drink , thereby proving that their spines were as strong as their consciences were stern .  Moreover , the Farringdons were of " the people called Methodists " ; consequently Methodism was the established religion of Sedgehill , possessing there that prestige which is the inalienable attribute of all state churches .  In the eyes of Sedgehill it was as necessary to salvation to pray at the chapel as to work at the Osierfield ; and the majority of the inhabitants would as soon have thought of worshipping at any other sanctuary as of worshipping at the beacon , a pillar which still marks the highest point of the highest table-land in England .  At the time when this story begins , the joint ownership of the Osierfield and the Willows was vested in the two Miss Farringdons , the daughters and co-heiresses of John Farringdon .  John Farringdon and his brother William had been partners , and had arranged between themselves that William 'sonly child , George , should marry John 'seldest daughter , Maria , and so consolidate the brothers 'fortunes and their interest in the works .  But the gods — and George — saw otherwise .  George was a handsome , weak boy , who objected equally to work and to Methodism ; and as his father cared for nothing beyond those sources of interest , and had no patience for any one who did , the two did not always see eye to eye .  Perhaps if Maria had been more unbending , things might have turned out differently ; but Methodism in its severest aspects was not more severe than Maria Farringdon .  She was a thorough gentlewoman , and extremely clever ; but tenderness was not counted among her excellencies .  George would have been fond of almost any woman who was pretty enough to be loved and not clever enough to be feared ; but his cousin Maria was beyond even his powers of falling in love , although , to do him justice , these powers were by no means limited .  The end of it was that George offended his father past forgiveness by running away to Australia rather than marry Maria , and there disappeared .  Years afterward a rumour reached his people that he had married and died out there , leaving a widow and an only son ; but this rumour had not been verified , as by that time his father and uncle were dead , and his cousins were reigning in his stead ; and it was hardly to be expected that the proud Miss Farringdon would take much trouble concerning the woman whom her weak-kneed kinsman had preferred to herself .  William Farringdon left all his property and his share in the works to his niece Maria , as some reparation for the insult which his disinherited son had offered to her ; John left his large fortune between his two daughters , as he never had a son ; so Maria and Anne Farringdon lived at the Willows , and carried on the Osierfield with the help of Richard Smallwood , who had been the general manager of the collieries and ironworks belonging to the firm in their father 'stime , and knew as much about iron ( and most other things ) as he did .  Maria was a good woman of business , and she and Richard between them made money as fast as it had been made in the days of William and John Farringdon .  Anne , on the contrary , was a meek and gentle soul , who had no power of governing but a perfect genius for obedience , and who was always engaged on the Herculean task of squaring the sternest dogmas with the most indulgent practices .  Even in the early days of this history the Miss Farringdons were what is called " getting on " ; but the Willows was , nevertheless , not without a youthful element in it .  Close upon a dozen years ago the two sisters had adopted the orphaned child of a second cousin , whose young widow had died in giving birth to a posthumous daughter ; and now Elisabeth Farringdon was the light of the good ladies 'eyes , though they would have considered it harmful to her soul to let her have an inkling of this fact .  She was not a pretty little girl , which was a source of much sorrow of heart to her ; and she was a distinctly clever little girl , of which she was utterly unconscious , it being an integral part of Miss Farringdon 'ssystem of education to imbue the young with an overpowering sense of their own inferiority and unworthiness .  During the first decade of her existence Elisabeth used frequently and earnestly to pray that her hair might become golden and her eyes brown ; but as on this score the heavens remained as brass , and her hair continued dark brown and her eyes blue-gray , she changed her tactics , and confined her heroine-worship to ladies of this particular style of colouring ; which showed that , even at the age of ten , Elisabeth had her full share of adaptability .  One day , when walking with Miss Farringdon to chapel , Elisabeth exclaimed , à propos of nothing but her own meditations , " Oh !  Cousin Maria , I do wish I was pretty !  "  Most people would have been too much afraid of the lady of the Willows to express so frivolous a desire in her august hearing ; but Elisabeth was never afraid of anybody , and that , perhaps , was one of the reasons why her severe kinswoman loved her so well .  " That is a vain wish , my child .  Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain ; and the Lord looketh on the heart and not on the outward appearance .  "  " But I was n't thinking of the Lord , " replied Elisabeth : " I was thinking of other people ; and they love you much more if you are pretty than if you are n't .  "  " That is not so , " said Miss Farringdon — and she believed she was speaking the truth ; " if you serve God and do your duty to your neighbour , you will find plenty of people ready to love you ; and especially if you carry yourself well and never stoop .  " Like many another elect lady , Cousin Maria regarded beauty of face as a vanity , but beauty of figure as a virtue ; and to this doctrine Elisabeth owed the fact that her back always sloped in the opposite direction to the backs of the majority of people .  But it would have surprised Miss Farringdon to learn how little real effect her strict Methodist training had upon Elisabeth ; fortunately , however , few elder people ever do learn how little effect their training has upon the young committed to their charge ; if it were so , life would be too hard for the generation that has passed the hill-top .  Elisabeth 'swas one of those happy , pantheistic natures that possess the gift of finding God everywhere and in everything .  She early caught the Methodist habit of self-analysis and introspection , but in her it did not develop — as it does in more naturally religious souls — into an almost morbid conscientiousness and self-depreciation ; she merely found an artistic and intellectual pleasure in taking the machinery of her soul to pieces and seeing how it worked .  In those days — and , in fact , in all succeeding ones — Elisabeth lived in a world of imagination .  There was not a nook in the garden of the Willows which was not peopled by creatures of her fancy .  At this particular time she was greatly fascinated by the subject of heathen mythology , as set forth in Mangnall 'sQuestions , and had devoted herself to the service of Pallas Athene , having learned that that goddess was ( like herself ) not surpassingly beautiful , and was , moreover , handicapped by the possession of gray eyes .  Miss Farringdon would have been horrified had she known that a portion of the wood was set apart by Elisabeth as " Athene 'sGrove , " and that the contents of the waste-paper basket were daily begged from the servants by the devotee , and offered up , by the aid of real matches , on the shrine of the goddess .   " Have you noticed , sister , " Miss Anne remarked on one occasion , " how much more thoughtful dear Elisabeth is growing ?  " Miss Anne 'slife was one long advertisement of other people 'svirtues .  " She used to be somewhat careless in letting the fires go out , and so giving the servants the trouble to relight them ; but now she is always going round the rooms to see if more coal is required , without my ever having to remind her .  "  " It is so , and I rejoice .  Carelessness in domestic matters is a grave fault in a young girl , and I am pleased that Elisabeth has outgrown her habit of wool-gathering , and of letting the fire go out under her very nose without noticing it .  It is a source of thanksgiving to me that the child is so much more thoughtful and considerate in this matter than she used to be .  "  Miss Farringdon 'sthanksgiving , however , would have been less fervent had she known that , for the time being , her protégée had assumed the rôle of a Vestal virgin , and that Elisabeth 'scare of the fires that winter was not fulfilment of a duty but part of a game .  This , however , was Elisabeth 'sway ; she frequently received credit for performing a duty when she was really only taking part in a performance ; which merely meant that she possessed the artist 'spower of looking at duty through the haze of idealism , and of seeing that , although it was good , it might also be made picturesque .  Elisabeth was well versed in The Pilgrim 'sProgress and The Fairchild Family .  The spiritual vicissitudes of Lucy , Emily , and Henry Fairchild were to her a drama of never-failing interest ; while each besetment of the Crosbie household — which was as carefully preserved for its particular owner as if sin were a species of ground game — never failed to thrill her with enjoyable disgust .  She knew a great portion of the Methodist hymn-book by heart , and pondered long over the interesting preface to that work , wondering much what " doggerel " and " botches " could be — she inclined to the supposition that the former were animals and the latter were diseases ; but even her vivid imagination failed to form a satisfactory representation of such queer kittle-cattle as " feeble expletives .  " Every Sunday she gloated over the frontispiece of John Wesley , in his gown and bands and white ringlets , feeling that , though poor as a picture , it was very superior to the letterpress ; the worst illustrations being better than the best poetry , as everybody under thirteen must know .  But Elisabeth 'slibrary was not confined to the volumes above mentioned ; she regularly perused with interest two little periodicals , called respectively Early Days and The Juvenile Offering .  The former treated of youthful saints at home ; and its white paper cover was adorned by the picture of a shepherd , comfortably if peculiarly attired in a frock coat and top hat — presumably to portray that it was Sunday .  The latter magazine devoted itself to histories dealing with youthful saints abroad ; and its cover was decorated with a representation of young black persons apparently engaged in some religious exercise .  In this picture the frock coats and top hats were conspicuous by their absence .  There were two pictures in the breakfast-room at the Willows which occupied an important place in Elisabeth 'schildish imaginings .  The first hung over the mantelpiece , and was called The Centenary Meeting .  It represented a chapel full of men in suffocating cravats , turning their backs upon the platform and looking at the public instead — a more effective if less realistic attitude than the ordinary one of sitting the right way about ; because — as Elisabeth reasoned , and reasoned rightly — if these gentlemen had not happened to be behind before when their portraits were taken , nobody would ever have known whose portraits they were .  It was a source of great family pride to her that her grandfather appeared in this galaxy of Methodist worth ; but the hero of the piece , in her eyes , was one gentleman who had managed to swarm up a pillar and there screw himself " to the sticking-place " ; and how he had done it Elisabeth never could conceive .  The second picture hung over the door , and was a counterfeit presentment of John Wesley 'sescape from the burning rectory at Epworth .  In those days Elisabeth was so small and the picture hung so high that she could not see it very distinctly ; but it appeared to her that the boy Wesley ( whom she confused in her own mind with the infant Samuel ) was flying out of an attic window by means of flowing white wings , while a horse was suspended in mid-air ready to carry him straight to heaven .  Every Sunday she accompanied her cousins to East Lane Chapel , at the other end of Sedgehill , and here she saw strange visions and dreamed strange dreams .  The distinguishing feature of this sanctuary was a sort of reredos in oils , in memory of a dead and gone Farringdon , which depicted a gigantic urn , surrounded by a forest of cypress , through the shades whereof flitted " young-eyed cherubims " with dirty wings and bilious complexions , these last mentioned blemishes being , it is but fair to add , the fault of the atmosphere and not of the artist .  For years Elisabeth firmly believed that this altar-piece was a trustworthy representation of heaven ; and she felt , therefore , a pleasant , proprietary interest in it , as the view of an estate to which she would one day succeed .  There was also a stained-glass window in East Lane Chapel , given by the widow of a leading official .  The baptismal name of the deceased had been Jacob ; and the window showed forth Jacob 'sDream , as a delicate compliment to the departed .  Elisabeth delighted in this window , it was so realistic .  The patriarch lay asleep , with his head on a little white tombstone at the foot of a solid oak staircase , which was covered with a red carpet neatly fastened down by brass rods ; while up and down this staircase strolled fair-haired angels in long white nightgowns and purple wings .  Not of course then , but in after years , Elisabeth learned to understand that this window was a type and an explanation of the power of early Methodism , the strength whereof lay in its marvellous capacity of adapting religion to the needs and use of everyday life , and of bringing the infinite into the region of the homely and commonplace .  We , with our added culture and our maturer artistic perceptions , may smile at a Jacob 'sLadder formed according to the domestic architecture of the first half of the nineteenth century ; but the people to whom the other world was so near and so real that they perceived nothing incongruous in an ordinary stair-carpet which was being trodden by the feet of angels , had grasped a truth which on one side touched the divine , even though on the other it came perilously near to the grotesque .  And He , Who taught them as by parables , never misunderstood — as did certain of His followers — their reverent irreverence ; but , understanding it , saw that it was good .  The great day in East Lane Chapel was the Sunday School anniversary ; and in Elisabeth 'schildish eyes this was a feast compared with which Christmas and Easter sank to the level of black-letter days .  On these festivals the Sunday School scholars sat all together in those parts of the gallery adjacent to the organ , the girls wearing white frocks and blue neckerchiefs , and the boys black suits and blue ties .  The pews were strewn with white hymn-sheets , which lay all over the chapel like snow in Salmon , and which contained special spiritual songs more stirring in their character than the contents of the Hymn-book ; these hymns the Sunday School children sang by themselves , while the congregation sat swaying to and fro to the tune .  And Elisabeth 'ssoul was uplifted within her as she listened to the children 'svoices ; for she felt that mystical hush which — let us hope — comes to us all at some time or other , when we hide our faces in our mantles and feel that a Presence is passing by , and is passing by so near to us that we have only to stretch out our hands in order to touch it .  At sundry times and in divers manners does that wonderful sense of a Personal Touch come to men and to women .  It may be in a wayside Bethel , it may be in one of the fairest fanes of Christendom , or it may be not in any temple made with hands : according to the separate natures which God has given to us , so must we choose the separate ways that will lead us to Him ; and as long as there are different natures there must be various ways .  Then let each of us take the path at the end whereof we see Him standing , always remembering that wayfaring men , though fools , shall not err therein ; and never forgetting that — come whence and how they may — whosoever shall touch but the hem of His garment shall be made perfectly whole .   CHRISTOPHER  And when perchance of all perfection You 'veseen an end , Your thoughts may turn in my direction To find a friend .  There are two things which are absolutely necessary to the well-being of the normal feminine mind — namely , one romantic attachment and one comfortable friendship .  Elisabeth was perfectly normal and extremely feminine ; and consequently she provided herself early with these two aids to happiness .  In those days the object of her romantic attachment was her cousin Anne .  Anne Farringdon was one of those graceful , elegant women who appear so much deeper than they really are .  All her life she had been inspiring devotion which she was utterly unable to fathom ; and this was still the case with regard to herself and her adoring little worshipper .  People always wondered why Anne Farringdon had never married ; and explained the mystery to their own satisfaction by conjecturing that she had had a disappointment in her youth , and had been incapable of loving twice .  It never struck them — which was actually the case — that she had been incapable of loving once ; and that her single-blessedness was due to no unforgotten love-story , but to the unromantic fact that among her score of lovers she had never found a man for whom she seriously cared .  In a delicate and ladylike fashion she had flirted outrageously in her time ; but she had always broken hearts so gently , and put away the pieces so daintily , that the owners of these hearts had never dreamed of resenting the damage she had wrought .  She had refused them with such a world of pathos in her beautiful eyes — the Farringdon gray-blue eyes , with thick black brows and long black lashes — that the poor souls had never doubted her sympathy and comprehension ; nor had they the slightest idea that she was totally ignorant of the depth of the love which she had inspired , or the bitterness of the pain which she had caused .  All the romance of Elisabeth 'snature — and there was a great deal of it — was lavished upon Anne Farringdon .  If Anne smiled , Elisabeth 'ssky was cloudless ; if Anne sighed , Elisabeth 'ssky grew gray .  The mere sound of Anne 'svoice vibrated through the child 'swhole being ; and every little trifle connected with her cousin became a sacred relic in Elisabeth 'seyes .  Like every Methodist child , Elisabeth was well versed in her Bible ; but , unlike most Methodist children , she regarded it more as a poetical than an ethical work .  When she was only twelve , the sixty-eighth Psalm thrilled her as with the sound of a trumpet ; and she was completely carried away by the glorious imagery of the Book of Isaiah , even when she did not in the least understand its meaning .  But her favourite book was the Book of Ruth ; for was not Ruth 'sdevotion to Naomi the exact counterpart of hers to Cousin Anne ?  And she used to make up long stories in her own mind about how Cousin Anne should , by some means , lose all her friends and all her money , and be driven out of Sedgehill and away from the Osierfield Works ; and then how Elisabeth would say , " Entreat me not to leave thee , " and would follow Cousin Anne to the ends of the earth .  People sometimes smile at the adoration of a young girl for a woman , and there is no doubt but that the feeling savours slightly of school-days and bread-and-butter ; but there is also no doubt that a girl who has once felt it has learned what real love is , and that is no small item in the lesson-book of life .  But Elisabeth had her comfortable friendship as well as her romantic attachment ; and the partner in that friendship was Christopher Thornley , the nephew of Richard Smallwood .  In the days of his youth , when his father was still manager of the Osierfield Works , Richard had a very pretty sister ; but as Emily Smallwood was pretty , so was she also vain , and the strict atmosphere of her home life did not recommend itself to her taste .  After many quarrels with her stern old father ( her mother having died when she was a baby ) , Emily left home , and took a situation in London as governess , in the house of some wealthy people with no pretensions to religion .  For this her father never forgave her ; he called it " consorting with children of Belial .  " In time she wrote to tell Richard that she was going to be married , and that she wished to cut off entirely all communication with her old home .  After that , Richard lost sight of her for many years ; but some time after his father 'sdeath he received a letter from Emily , begging him to come to her at once , as she was dying .  He complied with her request , and found his once beautiful sister in great poverty in a London lodging-house .  She told him that she had endured great sorrow , having lost her husband and her five eldest children .  Her husband had never been unkind to her , she said , but he was one of the men who lack the power either to make or to keep money ; and when he found he was foredoomed to failure in everything to which he turned his hand , he had not the spirit to continue the fight against Fate , but turned his face to the wall and died .  She had still one child left , a fair-haired boy of about two years old , called Christopher ; to her brother 'scare she confided this boy , and then she also turned her face to the wall and died .  This happened a year or so before the Miss Farringdons adopted Elisabeth ; so that when that young lady appeared upon the scene , and subsequently grew up sufficiently to require a playfellow , she found Christopher Thornley ready to hand .  He lived with his bachelor uncle in a square red house on the east side of Sedgehill High Street , exactly opposite to the Farringdons 'lodge .  It was one of those big , bald houses with unblinking windows , that stare at you as if they had not any eyebrows or eyelashes ; and there was not even a strip of greenery between it and the High Street .  So to prevent the passers-by from looking in and the occupants from looking out , the lower parts of the front windows were covered with a sort of black crape mask , which put even the sunbeams into half-mourning .  Unlike Elisabeth , Christopher had a passion for righteousness and for honour , but no power of artistic perception .  His standard was whether things were right or wrong , honourable or dishonourable ; hers was whether they were beautiful or ugly , pleasant or unpleasant .  Consequently the two moved along parallel lines ; and she moved a great deal more quickly than he did .  Christopher had deep convictions , but was very shy of expressing them ; Elisabeth 'sconvictions were not particularly deep , but such as they were , all the world was welcome to them as far as she was concerned .  As the children grew older , one thing used much to puzzle and perplex Christopher .  Elisabeth did not seem to care about being good nearly as much as he cared : he was always trying to do right , and she only tried when she thought about it ; nevertheless , when she did give her attention to the matter , she had much more comforting and beautiful thoughts than he had , which appeared rather hard .  He was not yet old enough to know that this difference between them arose from no unequal division of divine favour , but was simply and solely a question of temperament .  But though he did not understand , he did not complain ; for he had been brought up under the shadow of the Osierfield Works , and in the fear and love of the Farringdons ; and Elisabeth , whatever her shortcomings , was a princess of the blood .  Christopher was a day-boy at the Grammar School at Silverhampton , a fine old town some three miles to the north of Sedgehill ; and there and back he walked every day , wet or fine , and there he learned to be a scholar and a gentleman , and sundry other important things .  " Do you hear that noise ?  " said Elisabeth , one afternoon in the holidays , when she was twelve and Christopher fifteen ; " that 'sMrs. Bateson 'spig being killed .  "  " Hear it ?  — rather , " replied Christopher , standing still in the wood to listen .   " Let 'sgo and see it , " Elisabeth suggested .  Christopher looked shocked .  " Well , you are a horrid girl !  Nothing would induce me to go , or to let you go either ; but I 'msurprised at your being so horrid as to wish for such a thing .  "  " It is n't really horridness , " Elisabeth explained meekly ; " it is interest .  I 'mso frightfully interested in things ; and I want to see everything , just to know what it looks like .  "  " Well , I call it horrid .  And , what 'smore , if you saw it , it would make you feel ill. "  " No ; it would n't .  "  " Then it ought to , " said Christopher , who , with true masculine dulness of perception , confounded weakness of nerve with tenderness of heart .  Elisabeth sighed .  " Nothing makes me feel ill , " she replied apologetically ; " not even an accident or an after-meeting .  "  Christopher could not help indulging in a certain amount of envious admiration for an organism that could pass unmoved through such physical and spiritual crises as these ; but he was not going to let Elisabeth see that he admired her .  He considered it " unmanly " to admire girls .  " Well , you are a rum little cove !  " he said .  " Of course , I do n't want to go if you think it would be horrid of me ; but I thought we might pretend it was the execution of Mary Queen of Scots , and find it most awfully exciting .  "  " How you do go on about Mary Queen of Scots !  Not long ago you were always bothering about heathen goddesses , and now you have no thought for anything but Mary .  "  " Oh !  but I 'mstill immensely interested in goddesses , Chris ; and I do wish , when you are doing Latin and Greek at school , you 'dfind out what colour Pallas Athene 'shair was .  Could n't you ?  "  " No ; I could n't .  "  " But you might ask one of the masters .  They 'dbe sure to know .  "  Christopher laughed the laugh of the scornful .  " I say , you are a duffer to suppose that clever men like schoolmasters bother their heads about such rot as the colour of a woman 'shair .  "  " Of course , I know they would n't about a woman 's, " Elisabeth hastened to justify herself ; " but I thought perhaps they might about a goddess 's.  "  " It is the same thing .  You 'veno idea what tremendously clever chaps schoolmasters are — much too clever to take any interest in girls 'and women 'sconcerns .  Besides , they are too old for that , too — they are generally quite thirty .  "  Elisabeth was silent for a moment ; and Christopher whistled as he looked across the green valley to the sunset , without in the least knowing how beautiful it was .  But Elisabeth knew , for she possessed an innate knowledge of many things which he would have to learn by experience .  But even she did not yet understand that because the sunset was beautiful she felt a sudden hunger and thirst after righteousness .  " Chris , do you think it is wicked of people to fall in love ?  " she asked suddenly .  " Not exactly wicked ; more silly , I should say , " replied Chris generously .  " Because if it is wicked , I shall give up reading tales about it .  " This was a tremendous and unnatural sacrifice to principle on the part of Elisabeth .  Christopher turned upon her sharply .  " You do n't read tales that Miss Farringdon has n't said you may read , do you ?  "  " Yes ; lots .  But I never read tales that she has said I must n't read .  "  " You ought n't to read any tale till you have asked her first if you may .  "  Elisabeth 'sface fell .  " I never thought of doing such a thing as asking her first .  Oh !  Chris , you do n't really think I ought to , do you ?  Because she 'dbe sure to say no. "  " That is exactly why you ought to ask .  " Christopher 'ssense of honour was one of his strong points .  Then Elisabeth lost her temper .  " That is you all over !  You are the most tiresome boy to have anything to do with !  You are always bothering about things being wrong , till you make them wrong .  Now I hardly ever think of it ; but I ca n't go on doing things after you 'vesaid they are wrong , because that would be wrong of me , do n't you see ?  And yet it was n't a bit wrong of me before I knew .  I hate you !  "  " I say , Betty , I 'mawfully sorry lo have riled you ; but you asked me .  "  " I did n't ask you whether I need ask Cousin Maria , stupid !  You know I did n't .  I asked you whether it was wrong to fall in love , and then you went and dragged Cousin Maria in .  I wish I 'dnever asked you anything ; I wish I 'dnever spoken to you ; I wish I 'dgot somebody else to play with , and then I 'dnever speak to you again as long as I live .  "  Of course it was unwise of Christopher to condemn a weakness to which Elisabeth was prone , and to condone one to which she was not ; but no man has learned wisdom at fifteen , and but few at fifty .   " You are the most disagreeable boy I have ever met , and I wish I could think of something to do to annoy you .  I know what I 'lldo ; I 'llgo by myself and see Mrs. Bateson 'spig , just to show you how I hate you .  "  And Elisabeth flew off in the direction of Mrs. Bateson 'scottage , with the truly feminine intention of punishing the male being who had dared to disapprove of her , by making him disapprove of her still more .  Her programme , however , was frustrated ; for Mrs. Bateson herself intervened between Elisabeth and her unholy desires , and entertained the latter with a plate of delicious bread-and-dripping instead .  Finally , that young lady returned to her home in a more magnanimous frame of mind ; and fell asleep that night wondering if the whole male sex were as stupid as the particular specimen with which she had to do — a problem which has puzzled older female brains than hers .  But poor Christopher was very unhappy .  It was agony to him when his conscience pulled him one way and Elisabeth pulled him the other ; and yet this form of torture was constantly occurring to him .  He could not bear to do what he knew was wrong , and he could not bear to vex Elisabeth ; yet Elisabeth 'swishes and his own ideas of right were by no means always synonymous .  His only comfort was the knowledge that his sovereign 'sanger was , as a rule , short-lived , and that he himself was indispensable to that sovereign 'shappiness .  This was true ; but he did not then realize that it was in his office as admiring and sympathizing audience , and not in his person as Christopher Thornley , that he was necessary to Elisabeth .  A fuller revelation was vouchsafed to him later .   The next morning Elisabeth was herself again , and was quite ready to enjoy Christopher 'ssociety and to excuse his scruples .  She knew that self of hers when she said that she wished she had somebody else to play with , in order that she might withdraw the light of her presence from her offending henchman .  To thus punish Christopher , until she had found some one to take his place , was a course of action which would not have occurred to her .  Elisabeth 'spride could never stand in the way of her pleasure ; Christopher 's, on the contrary , might .  It was a remarkable fact that after Christopher had reproved Elisabeth for some fault — which happened neither infrequently nor unnecessarily — he was always repentant and she forgiving ; yet nine times out of ten he had been in the right and she in the wrong .  But Elisabeth 'swas one of those exceptionally generous natures which can pardon the reproofs and condone the virtues of their friends ; and she bore no malice , even when Christopher had been more obviously right than usual .  But she was already enough of a woman to adapt to her own requirements his penitence for right-doing ; and on this occasion she took advantage of his chastened demeanour to induce him to assist her in erecting a new shrine to Athene in the wood — which meant that she gave all the directions and he did all the work .  " You are doing it beautifully , Chris — you really are !  " she exclaimed with delight .  " We shall be able to have a splendid sacrifice this afternoon .  I 'vegot some feathers to offer up from the fowl cook is plucking ; and they make a much better sacrifice than waste paper .  "  " Why ?  "  Christopher was too shy in those days to put the fact into words ; nevertheless , the fact remained that Elisabeth interested him profoundly .  She was so original , so unexpected , that she was continually providing him with fresh food for thought .  Although he was cleverer at lessons than she was , she was by far the cleverer at play ; and though he had the finer character , hers was the stronger personality .  It was because Elisabeth was so much to him that he now and then worried her easy-going conscience with his strictures ; for , to do him justice , the boy was no prig , and would never have dreamed of preaching to anybody except her .  But it must be remembered that Christopher had never heard of such things as spiritual evolutions and streams of tendency : to him right or wrong meant heaven or hell — neither more nor less ; and he was overpowered by a burning anxiety that Elisabeth should eventually go to heaven , partly for her own sake , and partly ( since human love is stronger than dogmas and doctrines ) because a heaven , uncheered by the presence of Elisabeth , seemed a somewhat dreary place wherein to spend one 'seternity .  " Why do feathers make a better sacrifice than paper ?  " repeated Christopher , Elisabeth being so much absorbed in his work that she had not answered his question .  " Oh !  because they smell ; and it seems so much more like a real sacrifice , somehow , if it smells .  "  " I see .  What ideas you do get into your head !  "  But Elisabeth 'svolatile thoughts had flown off in another direction .  " You really have got awfully nice-coloured hair , " she remarked , Chris having taken his cap off for the sake of coolness , as he was heated with his toil .  " I do wish I had light hair like yours .  Angels , and goddesses , and princesses , and people of that kind always have golden hair ; but only bad fairies and cruel stepmothers have nasty dark hair like me .  I think it is horrid to have dark hair .  "  " I do n't : I like dark hair best ; and I do n't think yours is half bad .  " Christopher never overstated a case ; but then one had the comfort of knowing that he always meant what he said , and frequently a good deal more .  " Do n't you really , Chris ?  I think it is hideous , " replied Elisabeth , taking one of her elf-locks between her fingers and examining it as if it were a sample of material ; " it is like that ugly brown seaweed which shows which way the wind blows — no , I mean that shows whether it is going to rain or not .  "  " Never mind ; I 'veseen lots of people with uglier hair than yours .  " Chris really could be of great consolation when he tried .  " Are n't the trees lovely when they have got all their leaves off ?  " said Elisabeth , her thoughts wandering again .  " I believe I like them better now than I do in summer .  Now they are like the things you wish for , and in the summer they are like the things you get ; and the things you get are never half as nice as the things you wish for .  "  This was too subtle for Christopher .  " I like them best with the leaves on ; but anyhow they are nicer to look at than the chimneys that we see from our house .  You ca n't think how gloomy it is for your rooms to look out on nothing but smoke and chimneys and furnaces .  When you go to bed at night it 'sall red , and when you get up in the morning it 'sall black .  "  " I should like to live in a house like that .  I love the smoke and the chimneys and the furnaces — they are all so big and strong and full of life ; and they make you think .  "  " What on earth do they make you think about ?  "  Elisabeth 'sgray eyes grew dreamy .  " They make me think that the Black Country is a wilderness that we are all travelling through ; and over it there is always the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night , to tell us which way to go .  I make up tales to myself about the people in the wilderness ; and how they watch the pillar , and how it keeps them from idling in their work , or selling bad iron , or doing anything that is horrid or mean , because it is a sign to them that God is with them , just as it used to be to the Children of Israel .  "  Christopher looked up from his work .  Here was the old problem : Elisabeth did not think about religion half as much as he did , and yet the helpful and beautiful thoughts came to her and not to him .  Still , it was comforting to know that the smoke and the glare , which he had hated , could convey such a message ; and he made up his mind not to hate them any more .  " And then I pretend that the people come out of the wilderness and go to live in the country over there , " Elisabeth continued , pointing to the distant hills ; " and I make up lovely tales about that country , and all the beautiful things there .  That is what is so nice about hills : you always think there are such wonderful places on the other side of them .  "  For some minutes Christopher worked silently , and Elisabeth watched him .  Then the latter said suddenly :  " Is n't it funny that you never hate people in a morning , however much you may have hated them the night before ?  "  " Do n't you ?  " Rapid changes of sentiment were beyond Christopher 'scomprehension .  He was by no means a variable person .  " Oh !  no. Last night I hated you , and made up a story in my own mind that another really nice boy came to play with me instead of you .  And I said nice things to him , and horrid things to you ; he and I played in the wood , and you had to do lessons all by yourself at school , and had nobody to play with .  But when I woke up this morning I did n't care about the pretending boy any more , and I wanted you .  "  Christopher looked pleased ; but it was not his way to express his pleasure in words .  " And so , I suppose , you came to look for me , " he said .  " Not the first thing .  Somehow it always makes you like a person better when you have hated them for a bit , so I liked you awfully when I woke this morning and remembered you .  When you really are fond of a person , you always want to do something to please them ; so I went and told Cousin Maria that I 'dread a lot of books in the library without thinking whether I ought to or not ; but that now I wanted her to say what I might read and what I might n't .  "  This was a course of action that Christopher could thoroughly understand and appreciate .  " Was she angry ?  " he asked .  " Not a bit .  That is the best of Cousin Maria — she never scolds you unless you really deserve it ; and she is very sharp at finding out whether you deserve it or not .  She said that there were a lot of books in the library that were n't suitable for a little girl to read ; but that it was n't naughty of me to have read what I chose , since nobody had told me not to .  And then she said it was good of me to have told her , for she should never have found it out if I had n't .  "  " And so it was , " remarked Christopher approvingly .  " No ; it was n't — and I told her it was n't .  I told her that the goodness was yours , because it was you that made me tell .  I should never have thought of it by myself .  "  " I say , you are a regular brick !  "  Elisabeth looked puzzled .  " I do n't see anything brickish in saying that ; it was the truth .  It was you that made me tell , you know ; and it was n't fair for me to be praised for your goodness .  "  " You really are awfully straight , for a girl , " said Christopher , with admiration ; " you could n't be straighter if you were a boy .  "  This was high praise , and Elisabeth 'spale little face glowed with delight .  She loved to be commended .  " It was really very good of you to speak to Miss Farringdon about the books , " continued Christopher ; " for I know you 'llhate having to ask permission before you read a tale .  "  " I did n't do it out of goodness , " said Elisabeth thoughtfully — " I did it to please you ; and pleasing a person you are fond of is n't goodness .  I wonder if grown-up people get to be as fond of religion as they are of one another .  I expect they do ; and then they do good things just for the sake of doing good .  "  " Of course they do , " replied Christopher , who was always at sea when Elisabeth became metaphysical .   " I suppose , " she continued seriously , " that if I were really good , religion ought to be the same to me as Cousin Anne .  "  " The same as Cousin Anne !  What do you mean ?  "  " I mean that if I were really good , religion would give me the same sort of feelings as Cousin Anne does .  "  " What sort of feelings ?  "  " Oh !  they are lovely feelings , " Elisabeth answered — " too lovely to explain .  Everything is a treat if Cousin Anne is there .  When she speaks , it 'sjust like music trickling down your back ; and when you do something that you do n't like to please her , you feel that you do like it .  "  " Well , you are a rum little thing !  I should think nobody ever thought of all the queer things that you think of .  "  " Oh !  I expect everybody does , " retorted Elisabeth , who was far too healthy minded to consider herself peculiar .  After another pause , she inquired : " Do you like me , Chris ?  "  " Rather !  What a foolish question to ask !  " Christopher replied , with a blush , for he was always shy of talking about his feelings ; and the more he felt the shyer he became .  But Elisabeth was not shy , and had no sympathy with anybody who was .  " How much do you like me ?  " she continued .  " A lot .  "  " But I want to know exactly how much .  "  " Then you ca n't .  Nobody can tell how much they like anybody .  You do ask silly questions !  "  " Yes ; they can .  I can tell how much I like everybody , " Elisabeth persisted .   " How ?  "  " I have a sort of thermometer in my mind , just like the big thermometer in the hall ; and I measure how much I like people by that .  "  " How much do you like your Cousin Anne ?  " he asked .  " Ninety-six degrees , " replied Elisabeth promptly .  " And your Cousin Maria ?  "  " Sixty .  "  " And Mrs. Bateson ?  "  " Fifty-four .  " Elisabeth always knew her own mind .  " I say , how — how — how much do you like me ?  " asked Christopher , with some hesitation .  " Sixty-two , " answered Elisabeth , with no hesitation at all .  And Christopher felt a funny , cold feeling round his loyal heart .  He grew to know the feeling well in after years , and to wonder how Elisabeth could understand so much and yet understand so little ; but at present he was too young to understand himself .   MRS. BATESON 'STEA-PARTY  The best of piggie when he dies Is not " interred with his bones , " But , in the form of porcine pies , Blesses a world that heard his cries , Yet heeded not those dying groans .  " Cousin Maria , please may I go to tea at Mrs. Bateson 'swith Christopher ?  " said Elisabeth one day , opening the library door a little , and endeavouring to squeeze her small person through as narrow an aperture as possible , as is the custom with children .  She never called her playmate " Chris " in speaking to Miss Farringdon ; for this latter regarded it as actually sinful to address people by any abbreviation of their baptismal names , just as she considered it positively immoral to partake of any nourishment between meals .  " Mrs. Bateson has killed her pig , and there will be pork-pies for tea .  "  Miss Farringdon looked over her spectacles at the restless little figure .  " Yes , my child ; I see no reason why you should not .  Kezia Bateson is a God-fearing woman , and her husband has worked at the Osierfield for forty years .  I have the greatest respect for Caleb Bateson ; he is a worthy man and a good Methodist , as his father was before him .  "  " He is a very ignorant man : he says Penny-lope .  "  " Says what , Elisabeth ?  "  " Penny-lope .  I was showing him a book the other day about Penelope — the woman with the web , you know — and he called her Penny-lope .  I did n't like to correct him , but I said Penelope afterward as often and as loud as I could .  "  " That was very ill-bred of you .  Come here , Elisabeth .  "  The child came and stood by the old lady 'schair , and began playing with a bunch of seals that were suspended by a gold chain from Miss Farringdon 'swaist .  It was one of Elisabeth 'slittle tricks that her fingers were never idle when she was talking .  " What have I taught you are the two chief ends at which every woman should aim , my child ?  "  " To be first a Christian and then a gentlewoman , " quoted Elisabeth glibly .  " And how does a true gentlewoman show her good breeding ?  "  " By never doing or saying anything that could make any one else feel uncomfortable , " Elisabeth quoted again .  " Then do you think that to display your own knowledge by showing up another person 'signorance would make that person feel comfortable , Elisabeth ?  "  " No , Cousin Maria .  "  " Knowledge is not good breeding , remember ; it is a far less important matter .  A true gentlewoman may be ignorant ; but a true gentlewoman will never be inconsiderate .  "  Elisabeth hung her head .  " I see .  "  " If you keep your thoughts fixed upon the people to whom you are talking , and never upon yourself , you will always have good manners , my child .  Endeavour to interest and not to impress them .  "  " You mean I must talk about their things and not about mine ?  "  " More than that .  Make the most of any common ground between yourself and them ; make the least of any difference between yourself and them ; and , above all , keep strenuously out of sight any real or fancied superiority you may possess over them .  I always think that Saint Paul 'ssaying , ' To the weak became I as weak , ' was the perfection of good manners .  "  " I do n't think I quite understand .  "  Miss Farringdon spoke in parables .  " Then listen to this story .  There was once a common soldier who raised himself from the ranks and earned a commission .  He was naturally very nervous the first night he dined at the officers 'mess , as he had never dined with gentlemen before , and he was afraid of making some mistake .  It happened that the wine was served while the soup was yet on the table , and with the wine the ice .  The poor man did not know what the ice was for , so took a lump and put it in his soup .  "  Elisabeth laughed .  " The younger officers began to giggle , as you are doing , " Miss Farringdon continued ; " but the colonel , to whom the ice was handed next , took a lump and put it in his soup also ; and then the young officers did not want to laugh any more .  The colonel was a perfect gentleman .  "  " It seems to me , " said Elisabeth thoughtfully , " that you 'vegot to be good before you can be polite .  "  " Politeness appears to be what goodness really is , " replied Miss Farringdon , " and is an attitude rather than an action .  Fine breeding is not the mere learning of any code of manners , any more than gracefulness is the mere learning of any kind of physical exercise .  The gentleman apparently , as the Christian really , looks not on his own things , but on the things of others ; and the selfish person is always both unchristian and ill-bred .  "  Elisabeth gazed wistfully up into Miss Farringdon 'sface .  " I should like to be a real gentlewoman , Cousin Maria ; do you think I ever shall be ?  "  " I think it quite possible , if you bear all these maxims in mind , and if you carry yourself properly and never stoop .  I can not approve of the careless manners of the young people of to-day , who loll upon easy-chairs in the presence of their elders , and who slouch into a room with constrained familiarity and awkward ease , " replied Miss Farringdon , who had never sat in an easy-chair in her life , and whose back was still as straight as an arrow .  So in the afternoon of that day Christopher and Elisabeth attended Mrs. Bateson 'stea-party .  The Batesons lived in a clean little cottage on the west side of High Street , and enjoyed a large garden to the rearward .  It was a singular fact that whereas all their windows looked upon nothing more interesting than the smokier side of the bleak and narrow street , their pigsties commanded a view such as can rarely be surpassed for beauty and extent in England .  But Mrs. Bateson called her front view " lively " and her back view " dull , " and congratulated herself daily upon the aspect and the prospect of her dwelling-place .  The good lady 'sideas as to what constitutes beauty in furniture were by no means behind her opinions as to what is effective in scenery .  Her kitchen was paved with bright red tiles , which made one feel as if one were walking across a coral reef , and was flanked on one side with a black oak dresser of unnumbered years , covered with a brave array of blue-and-white pottery .  An artist would have revelled in this kitchen , with its delicious effects in red and blue ; but Mrs. Bateson accounted it as nothing .  Her pride was centred in her parlour and its mural decorations , which consisted principally of a large and varied assortment of funeral-cards , neatly framed and glazed .  In addition to these there was a collection of family portraits in daguerreotype , including an interesting representation of Mrs. Bateson 'sparents sitting side by side in two straight-backed chairs , with their whole family twining round them — a sort of Swiss Family Laocoon ; and a picture of Mr. Bateson — in the attitude of Juliet and the attire of a local preacher — leaning over a balcony , which was overgrown with a semi-tropical luxuriance of artificial ivy , and which was obviously too frail to support him .  But the masterpiece in Mrs. Bateson 'sart-gallery was a soul-stirring illustration of the death of the revered John Wesley .  This picture was divided into two compartments : the first represented the room at Wesley 'shouse in City Road , with the assembled survivors of the great man 'sfamily weeping round his bed ; and the second depicted the departing saint flying across Bunhill Fields burying-ground in his wig and gown and bands , supported on either side by a stalwart angel .  As Elisabeth had surmised , the entertainment on this occasion was pork-pie ; and Mrs. Hankey , a near neighbour , had also been bidden to share the feast .  So the tea-party was a party of four , the respective husbands of the two ladies not yet having returned from their duties at the Osierfield .  " I hope that you 'llall make yourselves welcome , " said the hostess , after they had sat down at the festive board .  " Master Christopher , my dear , will you kindly ask a blessing ?  "  Christopher asked a blessing as kindly as he could , and Mrs. Bateson continued :  " Well , to be sure , it is a pleasure to see you looking so tall and strong , Master Christopher , after all your schooling .  I 'mnot in favour of much schooling myself , as I think it hinders young folks from growing , and puts them off their vittles ; but you give the contradiction to that notion — does n't he , Mrs. Hankey ?  "  Mrs. Hankey shook her head .  It was her rule in life never to look on the bright side of things ; she considered that to do so was what she called " tempting Providence .  " Her theory appeared to be that as long as Providence saw you were miserable , that Power was comfortable about you and let you alone ; but if Providence discovered you could bear more sorrow than you were then bearing , you were at once supplied with that little more .  Naturally , therefore , her object was to convince Providence that her cup of misery was full .  But Mrs. Hankey had her innocent enjoyments , in spite of the sternness of her creed .  If she took light things seriously , she took serious things lightly ; so she was not without her compensations .  For instance , a Sunday evening 'sdiscourse on future punishment and the like , with illustrations , was an unfailing source of pure and healthful pleasure to her ; while a funeral sermon — when the chapel was hung with black , and the bereaved family sat in state in their new mourning , and the choir sang Vital Spark as an anthem — filled her soul with joy .  So when Mrs. Bateson commented with such unseemly cheerfulness upon Christopher 'sencouraging appearance , it was but consistent of Mrs. Hankey to shake her head .  " You can never tell , " she replied — " never ; often them that looks the best feels the worst ; and many 'sthe time I 'veseen folks look the very picture of health just before they was took with a mortal illness .  "  " Ay , that 'sso , " agreed the hostess ; " but I think Master Christopher 'slooks are the right sort ; such a nice colour as he 'sgot , too !  "  " That comes from him being so fair complexioned — it 'sno sign of health , " persisted Mrs. Hankey ; " in fact , I mistrust those fair complexions , especially in lads of his age .  Why , he ought to be as brown as a berry , instead of pink and white like a girl .  "  " It would look hideous to have a brown face with such yellow hair as mine , " said Christopher , who naturally resented being compared to a girl .  " Master Christopher , do n't call anything that the Lord has made hideous .  We must all be as He has formed us , however that may be , " replied Mrs. Hankey reprovingly ; " and it is not our place to pass remarks upon what He has done for the best .  "  " But the Lord did n't make him with a brown face and yellow hair ; that 'sjust the point , " interrupted Elisabeth , who regarded the bullying of Christopher as her own prerogative , and allowed no one else to indulge in that sport unpunished .  " No , my love ; that 'strue enough , " Mrs. Bateson said soothingly : " a truer word than that never was spoken .  But I wish you could borrow some of Master Christopher 'sroses — I do , indeed .  For my part , I like to see little girls with a bit of colour in their cheeks ; it looks more cheerful-like , as you might say ; and looks go a long way with some folks , though a meek and quiet spirit is better , taking it all round .  "  " Now Miss Elisabeth does look delicate , and no mistake , " assented Mrs. Hankey ; " she grows too fast for her strength , I 'llbe bound ; and her poor mother died young , you know , so it is in the family .  "  Christopher looked at Elisabeth with the quick sympathy of a sensitive nature .  He thought it would frighten her to hear Mrs. Hankey talk in that way , and he felt that he hated Mrs. Hankey for frightening Elisabeth .  But Elisabeth was made after a different pattern , and was not in the least upset by Mrs. Hankey 'sgloomy forebodings .  She was essentially dramatic ; and , unconsciously , her first object was to attract notice .  She would have preferred to do this by means of unsurpassed beauty or unequalled talent ; but , failing these aids to distinction , an early death-bed was an advertisement not to be despised .  In her mind 'seye she saw a touching account of her short life in Early Days , winding up with a heart-rending description of its premature close ; and her mind 'seye gloated over the sight .  The hostess gazed at her critically .  " She is pale , Mrs. Hankey , there 'sno doubt of that ; but pale folks are often the healthiest , though they may n't be the handsomest .  And she is wiry , is Miss Elisabeth , though she may be thin .  But is your tea to your taste , or will you take a little more cream in it ?  "  " It is quite right , thank you , Mrs. Bateson ; and the pork-pie is just beautiful .  What a light hand for pastry you always have !  I 'msure I 'vesaid over and over again that I do n't know your equal either for making pastry or for engaging in prayer .  "  Mrs. Bateson , as was natural , looked pleased .  " I doubt if I ever made a better batch of pies than this .  When they were all ready for baking , Bateson says to me , ' Kezia , ' he says , ' them pies is a regular picture — all so smooth and even-like , you ca n't tell which from t'other .  ' ' Bateson , ' said I , ' I 'vedone my best with them ; and if only the Lord will be with them in the oven , they 'llbe the best batch of pies this side Jordan .  ' "  " And so they are , " said Elisabeth ; " they are perfectly lovely .  "  " I 'mglad you fancy them , my love ; take some more , deary , it 'lldo you good .  "  " No , thanks ; I 'drather have a wig now .  " And Elisabeth helped herself to one of the three-cornered cakes , called " wigs , " which are peculiar to Mershire .  " You always are fortunate in your pigs , " Mrs. Hankey remarked ; " such fine hams and such beautiful roaded bacon I never see anywhere equal to yours .  It 'llbe a sad day for you , Mrs. Bateson , when swine fever comes into the district .  I know no one as 'llfeel it more .  "  " Now you must tell us all about your niece 'swedding , Mrs. Hankey , " Mrs. Bateson said — " her that was married last week .  My word alive , but your sister is wonderful fortunate in settling her daughters !  That 'swhat I call a well-brought-up family , and no mistake .  Five daughters , and each one found peace and a pious husband before she was five-and-twenty .  "  " The one before last married a Churchman , " said Mrs. Hankey apologetically , as if the union thus referred to were somewhat morganatic in its character , and therefore no subject for pride or congratulation .  " Well , to be sure !  Still , he may make her a good husband .  "  " He may or he may not ; you never can tell .  It seems to me that husbands are like new boots — you ca n't tell where they 'regoing to pinch you till it 'stoo late to change ' em .  And as for creaking , why , the boots that are quietest in the shop are just the ones that fairly disgrace you when you come into chapel late on a Sunday morning , and think to slip in quietly during the first prayer ; and it is pretty much the same with husbands — those that are the meekest in the wooing are the most masterful to live with .  "  " What was the name of the Churchman your niece married ?  " asked Mrs. Bateson .  " I forget .  "  " Wilkins — Tom Wilkins .  He is n't a bad fellow in some respects — he is steady and sober , and never keeps back a farthing of his wages for himself ; but his views are something dreadful .  I can not stand them at any price , and so I 'mforever telling his wife .  "  " Dear me !  That 'ssad news , Mrs. Hankey .  "  " Would you believe it , he do n't hold with the good old Methodist habit of telling out loud what the Lord has done for your soul ?  He says religion should be acted up to and not talked about ; but , for my part , I ca n't abide such closeness .  "  " Nor I , " agreed Mrs. Bateson warmly ; " I do n't approve of treating the Lord like a poor relation , as some folks seem to do .  They 'llgo to His house and they 'llgive Him their money ; but they 'refairly ashamed of mentioning His Name in decent company .  "  " Just so ; and that 'sTom Wilkins to the life .  He 'sa good husband and a regular church-goer ; but as for the word that edifieth , you might as well look for it from a naked savage as from him .  Many a time have I said to his wife , ' Tom may be a kind husband in the time of prosperity , as I make no doubt he is — there 'splenty of that sort in the world ; but you wait till the days of adversity come , and I doubt that then you 'llbe wishing you 'dnot been in such a hurry to get married , but had waited till you had got a good Methodist !  ' And so she will , I 'llbe bound ; and the sooner she knows it the better .  "  Mrs. Bateson sighed at the gloomy prospect opening out before young Mrs. Wilkins ; then she asked :  " How did the last daughter 'swedding go off ?  She married a Methodist , surely ?  "  " She did , Mrs. Bateson ; and a better match no mother could wish for her daughter , not even a duchess born ; he 'sa chapel-steward and a master-painter , and has six men under him .  There he is , driving to work and carrying his own ladders in his own cart , like a lord , as you may say , by day ; and there he is on a Thursday evening , letting and reletting the pews and sittings after service , like a real gentleman .  As I said to my sister , I only hope he may be spared to make Susan a good husband ; but when a man is a chapel-steward at thirty-four , and drives his own cart , you begin to think that he is too good for this world , and that he is almost ripe for a better one .  "  " You do indeed ; there 'sno denying that .  "  " But the wedding was beautiful : I never saw its equal — never ; and as for the prayer that the minister offered up at the end of the service , I only wish you 'dbeen there to hear it , Mrs. Bateson , it was so interesting and instructive .  Such a lot of information in it about love and marriage and the like as I 'dnever heard before ; and when he referred to the bridegroom 'sfirst wife , and drew a picture of how she 'dbe waiting to welcome them both , when the time came , on the further shore — upon my word , there was n't a dry eye in the chapel !  " And Mrs. Hankey wiped hers at the mere remembrance of the scene .  " But what did Susan say ?  " asked Elisabeth , with great interest .  " I expect she did n't want another wife to welcome them on the further shore .  "  " Oh !  Miss Elisabeth , what a naughty , selfish little girl you are !  " exclaimed Susan 'saunt , much shocked .  " What would Miss Farringdon think if she heard you ?  Why , you do n't suppose , surely , that when folks get to heaven they 'llbe so greedy and grasping that they 'llwant to keep everything to themselves , do you ?  My niece is a good girl and a member of society , and she was as pleased as anybody at the minister 'sbeautiful prayer .  "  Elisabeth was silent , but unconvinced .  " How is your sister herself ?  " inquired Mrs. Bateson .  " I expect she 'sa bit upset now that the fuss is all over , and she has n't a daughter left to bless herself with .  "  Mrs. Hankey sighed cheerfully .  " Well , she did seem rather low-spirited when all the mess was cleared up , and Susan had gone off to her own home ; but I says to her , ' Never mind , Sarah , and do n't you worry yourself ; now that the weddings are over , the funerals will soon begin .  ' You see , you must cheer folks up a bit , Mrs. Bateson , when they 'refeeling out of sorts .  "  " You must indeed , " agreed the lady of the house , feeling that her guest had hit upon a happy vein of consolation ; " it is dull without daughters when you 'veonce got accustomed to ' em , daughters being a sight more comfortable and convenient than sons , to my mind .  "  " Well , you see , daughters you can teach to know theirselves , and sons ; you ca n't .  Though even daughters can never rest till they 'vegot married , more 'sthe pity .  If they knowed as much about men as I do , they 'dbe thanking the Lord that He 'dcreated them single , instead of forever fidgeting to change the state to which they were born .  "  " Well , I holds with folks getting married , " argued Mrs. Bateson ; " it gives ' em something to think about between Sunday 'ssermon and Thursday 'sbaking ; and if folks have nothing to think about , they think about mischief .  "  " That 'strue , especially if they happen to be men .  "  " Why do men think about mischief more than women do ?  " asked Elisabeth , who always felt hankerings after the why and wherefore of things .  " Because , my dear , the Lord made ' em so , and it is not for us to complain , " replied Mrs. Hankey , in a tone which implied that , had the rôle of Creator been allotted to her , the idiosyncrasies of the male sex would have been much less marked than they are at present .  " They 'veno sense , men have n't ; that 'swhat is the matter with them .  "  " You never spoke a truer word , Mrs. Hankey , " agreed her hostess ; " the very best of them do n't properly know the difference between their souls and their stomachs ; and they fancy that they are a-wrestling with their doubts , when really it is their dinners that are a-wrestling with them .  Now take Bateson hisself , and a kinder husband or a better Methodist never drew breath ; yet so sure as he touches a bit of pork , he begins to worn hisself about the doctrine of Election till there 'sno living with him .  "  " That 'sa man all over , to the very life , " said Mrs. Hankey sympathetically ; " and he never has the sense to see what 'swrong with him , I 'llbe bound .  "  " Not he — he would n't be a man if he had .  And then he 'llsit in the front parlour and engage in prayer for hours at a time , till I says to him , ' Bateson , ' says I , ' I 'dbe ashamed to go troubling the Lord with a prayer when a pinch o 'carbonate o 'soda would set things straight again .  ' "  " And quite right , Mrs. Bateson ; it 'soften a wonder to me that the Lord has patience with men , seeing that their own wives have n't .  "  " And to me , too .  Now Bateson has been going on like this for thirty years or more ; yet if there 'sroast pork on the table , and I say a word to put him off it , he 'sthat hurt as never was .  Why , I 'monly too glad to see him enjoying his food if no harm comes of it ; but it 'sdreary work seeing your husband in the Slough of Despond , especially when it 'syour business to drag him out again , and most especially when you particularly warned him against going in .  "  Mrs. Hankey groaned .  " The Bible says true when it tells us that men are born to give trouble as the sparks fly upward ; and it is a funny Providence , to my mind , as ordains for women to be so bothered with ' em .  At my niece 'swedding , as we were just speaking about , ' Susan , ' I says , ' I wish you happiness ; and I only hope you wo n't live to regret your marriage as I have done mine .  ' For my part , I ca n't see what girls want with husbands at all ; they are far better without them .  "  " Not they , Mrs. Hankey , " replied Mrs. Bateson warmly ; " any sort of a husband is better than none , to my mind .  Life is made up of naughts and crosses ; and the folks that get the crosses are better off than those that get the naughts , though that husbands are crosses I ca n't pretend to deny ; but I have n't patience with single women , I have n't — they have nothing to occupy their minds , and so they get to talking about their health and such-like fal-lals .  "  " Saint Paul did n't hold with you , " said Mrs. Hankey , with reproach in her tone ; " he thought that the unmarried women minded the things of the Lord better than the married ones .  "  " Saint Paul did n't know much about the subject , and how could he be expected to , being only a bachelor himself , poor soul ?  But if he 'dhad a wife , she 'dsoon have told him what the unmarried women were thinking about ; and it would n't have been about the Lord , I 'llbe bound .  Now take Jemima Stubbs ; does she mind the things of the Lord more than you and I do , Mrs. Hankey , I should like to know ?  "  " I ca n't say ; it is not for us to judge .  "  " Not she !  Why , she 'salways worrying about that poor little brother of hers , what 'slame .  I often wish that the Lord would think on him and take him , for he 'sa sore burden on Jemima , he is .  If you 'rea woman you are bound to work for some man or another , and to see to his food and to bear with his tantrums ; and , for my part , I 'drather do it for a husband than for a father or a brother .  There 'smore credit in it , as you might say .  "  " There 'ssomething in that , maybe .  "  " And after all , in spite of the botheration he gives , there 'ssomething very cheerful in having a man about the house .  They keep you alive , do men .  The last time I saw Jemima Stubbs she was as low as low could be .  ' Jemima , ' I says , ' you are out of spirits .  ' ' Mrs .  Bateson , ' says she , ' I am that .  I wish I was either in love or in the cemetery , and I do n't much mind which .  ' "  " Did she cry ?  " asked Elisabeth , who was always absorbingly interested in any one who was in trouble .  With her , to pity was to love ; and it was difficult for her ever to love where she did not pity .  Christopher did not understand this , and was careful not to appeal to Elisabeth 'ssympathy for fear of depressing her .  Herein , both as boy and man , he made a great mistake .  It was not as easy to depress Elisabeth as it was to depress him ; and , moreover , it was sometimes good for her to be depressed .  But he did unto her as he would she should do unto him ; and , when all is said and done , it is difficult to find a more satisfactory rule of conduct than this .  " Cry , lovey ?  " said Mrs. Bateson ; " I should just think she did — fit to break her heart .  "  Thereupon Jemima Stubbs became a heroine of romance in Elisabeth 'seyes , and a new interest in her life .  " I shall go and see her to-morrow , " she said , " and take her something nice for her little brother .  What do you think he would like , Mrs. Bateson ?  "  " Bless the child , she is one of the Good Shepherd 'sown lambs !  " exclaimed Mrs. Bateson , with tears in her eyes .  Mrs. Hankey sighed .  " It is the sweetest flowers that are the readiest for transplanting to the Better Land , " she said ; and once again Christopher hated her .  But Elisabeth was engrossed in the matter in hand .  " What would he like ?  " she persisted — " a new toy , or a book , or jam and cake ?  "  " I should think a book , lovey ; he 'sfair set on books , is Johnnie Stubbs ; and if you 'dread a bit to him yourself , it would be a fine treat for the lad .  "  Elisabeth 'seyes danced with joy .  " I 'llgo the first thing to-morrow morning , and read him my favourite chapter out of The Fairchild Family ; and then I 'llteach him some nice games to play all by himself .  "  " That 'sa dear young lady !  " exclaimed Mrs. Bateson , in an ecstasy of admiration .  " Do you think Jemima will cry when I go ?  "  " No , lovey ; she would n't so far forget herself as to bother the gentry with her troubles , surely .  "  " But I should n't be bothered ; I should be too sorry for her .  I always am frightfully interested in people who are unhappy — much more interested than in people who are happy ; and I always love everybody when I 'veseen them cry .  It is so easy to be happy , and so dull .  But why does n't Jemima fall in love if she wants to ?  "  " There now !  " cried Mrs. Bateson , in a sort of stage aside to an imaginary audience .  " What a clever child she is !  I 'msure I do n't know , dearie .  "  " It is a pity that she has n't got a Cousin Anne , " said Elisabeth , her voice trembling with sympathy .  " When you 'vegot a Cousin Anne , it makes everything so lovely .  "  " And so it does , dearie — so it does , " agreed Mrs. Bateson , who did not in the least understand what Elisabeth meant .  On the way home , after the tea-party was over , Christopher remarked :  " Old Mother Bateson is n't a bad sort ; but I ca n't stand Mother Hankey .  "  " Why not ?  "  " She says such horrid things .  " He had not yet forgiven Mrs. Hankey for her gloomy prophecies respecting Elisabeth .  " Not horrid , Chris .  She is rather stupid sometimes , and does n't know when things are funny ; but she never means to be really horrid , I am sure .  "  " Well , I think she is an old cat , " persisted Christopher .  " The only thing I do n't like about her is her gloves , " added Elisabeth thoughtfully ; " they are so old they smell of biscuit .  Is n't it funny that old gloves always smell of biscuit .  I wonder why ?  "  " I think they do , " agreed Christopher ; " but nobody except you would ever have thought of saying it .  You have a knack of saying what everybody else is thinking ; and that is what makes you so amusing .  "  " I 'mglad you think I 'mamusing ; but I ca n't see much funniness in just saying what is true .  "  " Well , I ca n't explain why it is funny ; but you really are simply killing sometimes , " said Christopher graciously .  The next day , and on many succeeding ones , Elisabeth duly visited Jemima Stubbs and the invalid boy , although Christopher entreated her not to worry herself about them , and offered to go in her place .  But he failed to understand that Elisabeth was goaded by no depressing sense of duty , as he would have been in similar circumstances ; she went because pity was a passion with her , and therefore she was always absorbingly interested in any one whom she pitied .  Strength and success and such-like attributes never appealed to Elisabeth , possibly because she herself was strong , and possessed all the qualities of the successful person ; but weakness and failure were all-powerful in enlisting her sympathy and interest and , through these , her love .  As Christopher grew older he dreamed dreams of how in the future he should raise himself from being only the nephew of Miss Farringdon 'smanager to a position of wealth and importance ; and how he should finally bring all his glories and honours and lay them at Elisabeth 'sfeet .  His eyes were not opened to see that Elisabeth would probably turn with careless laughter from all such honours thus manufactured into her pavement ; but if he came to her bent and bruised and brokenhearted , crushed with failure instead of crowned with success , her heart would never send him empty away , but would go out to him with a passionate longing to make up to him for all that he had missed in life .  A few days after Mrs. Bateson 'stea-party he said to Elisabeth , for about the twentieth time :  " I say , I wish you would n't tire yourself with going to read to that Stubbs brat .  "  " Tire myself ?  What rubbish !  nothing can tire me .  I never felt tired in my life ; but I should n't mind it just once , to see what it feels like .  "  " It feels distinctly unpleasant , I can tell you .  But I really do wish you 'dtake more care of yourself , or else you 'llget ill , or have headaches or something — you will indeed .  "  " No , I sha n't ; I never had a headache .  That 'sanother of the things that I do n't know what they feel like ; and yet I want to know what everything feels like — even disagreeable things .  "  " You 'llknow fast enough , I 'mafraid , " replied Christopher ; " but even if it does n't tire you , you would enjoy playing in the garden more than reading to Johnnie Stubbs — you know you would ; and I can go and read to the little chap , if you are set on his being read to .  "  " But you would much rather play in the garden than read to him ; and especially as it is your holidays , and your own reading-time will soon begin .  "  " Oh !  I do n't matter .  Never bother your head about me ; remember I 'mall right as long as you are ; and that as long as you 'rejolly , I 'mbound to have a good time .  But it riles me to see you worrying and overdoing yourself .  "  " You do n't understand , Chris ; you really are awfully stupid about understanding things .  I do n't go to see Jemima and Johnnie because I hate going , and yet think I ought ; I go because I am so sorry for them both that my sorriness makes me like to go .  "  But Christopher did not understand , and Elisabeth could not make him do so .  The iron of duty had entered into his childish soul ; and , unconsciously , he was always trying to come between it and Elisabeth , and to save her from the burden of obligation which lay so heavily upon his spirit .  He was a religious boy , but his religion was of too stern a cast to bring much joy to him ; and he was passionately anxious that Elisabeth should not be distressed in like manner .  His desire was that she should have sufficient religion to insure heaven , but not enough to spoil earth — a not uncommon desire on behalf of their dear ones among poor , ignorant human beings , whose love for their neighbour will surely atone in some measure for their injustice toward God .  " You see , " Elisabeth continued , " there is nothing that makes you so fond of people as being sorry for them .  The people that are strong and happy do n't want your fondness , so it is no use giving it to them .  It is the weak , unhappy people that want you to love them , and so it is the weak , unhappy people that you love .  "  " But I do n't , " replied Christopher , who was always inclined to argue a point ; " when I like people , I should like them just the same as if they went about yelling Te Deums at the top of their voices ; and when I do n't like them , it would n't make me like them to see them dressed from head to foot in sackcloth and ashes .  "  " Oh !  that 'sa stupid way of liking , I think .  "  " It may be stupid , but it 'smy way .  "  " Do n't you like me better when I cry than when I laugh ?  " asked Elisabeth , who never could resist a personal application .  " Good gracious , no !  I always like you the same ; but I 'dmuch rather you laughed than cried — it is so much jollier for you ; in fact , it makes me positively wretched to see you cry .  "  " It always vexes me , " Elisabeth said thoughtfully , " to read about tournaments , because I think it was so horrid of the Queen of Beauty to give the prize to the knight who won .  "  Christopher laughed with masculine scorn .  " What nonsense !  Who else could she have given it to ?  "  " Why , to the knight who lost , of course .  I often make up a tale to myself that I am the Queen of Beauty at a tournament ; and when the victorious knight rides up to me with his visor raised , I just laugh at him , and say , ' You can have the fame and the glory and the cheers of the crowd ; that 'squite enough for you !  ' And then I go down from my daïs , right into the arena where the unhorsed knight is lying wounded , and take off his helmet , and lay his head on my lap , and say , ' You shall have the prize , because you have got nothing else !  ' So then that knight becomes my knight , and always wears my colours ; and that makes up to him for having been beaten at the tournament , do n't you see ?  "  " It would have been a rotten sort of tournament that was carried on in that fashion ; and your prize would have been no better than a booby-prize , " persisted Christopher .  " How silly you are !  I 'mglad I 'mnot a boy ; I would n't have been as stupid as a boy for anything !  "  " Do n't be so cross !  You must see that the knight who wins is the best knight ; chaps that are beaten are not up to much .  "  " Well , they are the sort I like best ; and if you had any sense you 'dlike them best , too .  " Whereupon Elisabeth removed the light of her offended countenance from Christopher , and dashed off in a royal rage .  As for him , he sighed over the unreasonableness of the weaker sex , but accepted it philosophically as one of the rules of the game ; and Chris played games far too well to have anything but contempt for any one who rebelled against the rules of any game whatsoever .  It was a man 'sbusiness , he held , not to argue about the rules , but to play the game according to them , and to win ; or , if that was out of his power , to lose pluckily and never complain .   SCHOOL-DAYS  Up to eighteen we fight with fears , And deal with problems grave and weighty , And smile our smiles and weep our tears , Just as we do in after years From eighteen up to eighty .  When Elisabeth was sixteen her noonday was turned into night by the death of her beloved Cousin Anne .  For some time the younger Miss Farringdon had been in failing health ; but it was her rôle to be delicate , and so nobody felt anxious about her until it was too late for anxiety to be of any use .  She glided out of life as gracefully as she had glided through it , trusting that the sternness of her principles would expiate the leniency of her practice ; and was probably surprised at the discovery that it was the leniency of her practice which finally expiated the sternness of her principles .  She left a blank , which was never quite filled up , in the lives of her sister Maria and her small cousin Elisabeth .  The former bore her sorrow better , on the whole , than did the latter , because she had acquired the habit of bearing sorrow ; but Elisabeth mourned with all the hopeless misery of youth .  " It is no use trying to make me interested in things , " she sobbed in response to Christopher 'sclumsy though well-meant attempts to divert her .  " I shall never be interested in anything again — never .  Everything is different now that Cousin Anne is gone away .  "  " Not quite everything , " said Christopher gently .  " Yes ; everything .  Why , the very trees do n't look the same as they used to look , and the view is n't a bit what it used to be when she was here .  All the ordinary things seem queer and altered , just as they do when you see them in a dream .  "  " Poor little girl !  "  " And now it does n't seem worth while for anything to look pretty .  I used to love the sunsets , but now I hate them .  What is the good of their being so beautiful and filling the sky with red and gold , if she is n't here to see them ?  And what is the good of trying to be good and clever if she is n't here to be pleased with me ?  Oh dear !  oh dear !  Nothing will ever be any good any more .  "  Christopher laid an awkward hand upon Elisabeth 'sdark hair , and began stroking it the wrong way .  " I say , I wish you would n't fret so ; it 'smore than I can stand to see you so wretched .  Is n't there anything that I can do to make it up to you , somehow ?  "  " No ; nothing .  Nothing will ever comfort me any more ; and how could a great , stupid boy like you make up to me for having lost her ?  " moaned poor little Elisabeth , with the selfishness of absorbing grief .  " Well , anyway , I am as fond of you as she was , for nobody could be fonder of anybody than I am of you .  "  " That does n't help .  I do n't miss her so because she loved me , but because I loved her ; and I shall never , never love any one else as much as long as I live .  "  " Oh yes , you will , I expect , " replied Christopher , who even then knew Elisabeth better than she knew herself .  " No — I sha n't ; and I should hate myself if I did .  "  Elisabeth fretted so terribly after her Cousin Anne that she grew paler and thinner than ever ; and Miss Farringdon was afraid that the girl would make herself really ill , in spite of her wiry constitution .  After much consultation with many friends , she decided to send Elisabeth to school , for it was plain that she was losing her vitality through lack of an interest in life ; and school — whatever it may or may not supply — invariably affords an unfailing amount of new interests .  So Elisabeth went to Fox How — a well-known girls 'school not a hundred miles from London — so called in memory of Dr. Arnold , according to whose principles the school was founded and carried on .  It would be futile to attempt to relate the history of Elisabeth Farringdon without telling in some measure what her school-days did for her ; and it would be equally futile to endeavour to convey to the uninitiated any idea of what that particular school meant — and still means — to all its daughters .  When Elisabeth had left her girlhood far behind her , the mere mention of the name , Fox How , never failed to send thrills all through her , as God save the Queen , and Home , sweet Home have a knack of doing ; and for any one to have ever been a pupil at Fox How , was always a sure and certain passport to Elisabeth 'sinterest and friendliness .  The school was an old , square , white house , standing in a walled garden ; and those walls enclosed all the multifarious interests and pleasures and loves and rivalries and heart-searchings and soul-awakenings which go to make up the feminine life from twelve to eighteen , and which are very much the same in their essence , if not in their form , as those which go to make up the feminine life from eighteen to eighty .  In addition to these , the walls enclosed two lawns and an archery-ground , a field and a pond overgrown with water-lilies , a high mound covered with grass and trees , and a kitchen-garden filled with all manner of herbs and pleasant fruits — in short , it was a wonderful and extensive garden , such as one sees now and then in some old-fashioned suburb , but which people have neither the time nor the space to lay out nowadays .  It also contained a long , straight walk , running its whole length and shaded by impenetrable greenery , where Elisabeth used to walk up and down , pretending that she was a nun ; and some delightful swings and see-saws , much patronized by the said Elisabeth , which gave her a similar physical thrill to that produced in later years by the mention of her old school .  The gracious personality which ruled over Fox How in the days of Elisabeth had mastered the rarely acquired fact that the word educate is derived from educo , to draw out , and not ( as is generally supposed ) from addo , to give to ; so the pupils there were trained to train themselves , and learned how to learn — a far better equipment for life and its lessons than any ready-made cloak of superficial knowledge , which covers all individualities and fits none .  There was no cramming or forcing at Fox How ; the object of the school was not to teach girls how to be scholars , but rather how to be themselves — that is to say , the best selves which they were capable of becoming .  High character rather than high scholarship was the end of education there ; and good breeding counted for more than correct knowledge .  Not that learning was neglected , for Elisabeth and her schoolfellows worked at their books for eight good hours every day ; but it did not form the first item on the programme of life .  And who can deny that the system of Fox How was the correct system of education , at any rate , as far as girls are concerned ?  Unless a woman has to earn her living by teaching , what does it matter to her how much hydrogen there is in a drop of rain-water , or in what year Hannibal crossed the Alps ?  But it will matter to her infinitely , for the remainder of her mortal existence , whether she is one of those graceful , sympathetic beings , whose pathway is paved by the love of Man and the friendship of Woman ; or one of that much-to-be-blamed , if somewhat-to-be-pitied , sisterhood , who are unloved because they are unlovely , and unlovely because they are unloved .  It is not good for man , woman , or child to be alone ; and the companionship of girls of her own age did much toward deepening and broadening Elisabeth 'scharacter .  The easy give-and-take of perfect equality was beneficial to her , as it is to everybody She did not forget her Cousin Anne — the art of forgetting was never properly acquired by Elisabeth ; but new friendships and new interests sprang up out of the grave of the old one , and changed its resting-place from a cemetery into a garden .  Elisabeth Farringdon could not be happy — could not exist , in fact — without some absorbing affection and interest in life .  There are certain women to whom " the trivial round " and " the common task " are all-sufficing who ask nothing more of life than that they shall always have a dinner to order or a drawing-room to dust , and to whom the delinquencies of the cook supply a drama of never-failing attraction and a subject of never-ending conversation ; but Elisabeth was made of other material ; vital interests and strong attachments were indispensable to her well-being .  The death of Anne Farringdon had left a cruel blank in the young life which was none too full of human interest to begin with ; but this blank was to a great measure filled up by Elisabeth 'sadoration for the beloved personage who ruled over Fox How , and by her devoted friendship for Felicia Herbert .  In after years she often smiled tenderly when she recalled the absolute worship which the girls at Fox How offered to their " Dear Lady , " as they called her , and of which the " Dear Lady " herself was supremely unconscious .  It was a feeling of loyalty stronger than any ever excited by crowned heads ( unless , perhaps , by the Pope himself ) , as she represented to their girlish minds the embodiment of all that was right , as well as of all that was mighty — and represented it so perfectly that through all their lives her pupils never dissociated herself from the righteousness which she taught and upheld and practised .  And this attitude was wholly good for girls born in a century when it was the fashion to sneer at hero-worship and to scoff at authority when the word obedience in the Marriage Service was accused of redundancy , and the custom of speaking evil of dignities was mistaken for self-respect .  As for Felicia Herbert , she became for a time the very mainspring of Elisabeth 'slife .  She was a beautiful girl , with fair hair and clear-cut features ; and Elisabeth adored her with the adoration that is freely given , as a rule , to the girl who has beauty by the girl who has not .  She was , moreover , gifted with a sweet and calm placidity , which was very restful to Elisabeth 'svolatile spirit ; and the latter consequently greeted her with that passionate and thrilling friendship which is so satisfying to the immature female soul , but which is never again experienced by the woman who has once been taught by a man the nature of real love .  Felicia was much more religious than Elisabeth , and much more prone to take serious views of life .  The training of Fox How made for seriousness , and in that respect Felicia entered into the spirit of the place more profoundly than Elisabeth was capable of doing ; for Elisabeth was always tender rather than serious , and broad rather than deep .  " I shall never go to balls when I leave school , " said Felicia to her friend one day of their last term at Fox How , as the two were sitting in the arbour at the end of the long walk .  " I do n't think it is right to go to balls .  "  " Why not ?  There can be no harm in enjoying oneself , and I do n't believe that God ever thinks there is .  "  " Not in enjoying oneself in a certain way ; but the line between religious people and worldly people ought to be clearly marked .  I think that dancing is a regular worldly amusement , and that good people should openly show their disapproval of it by not joining in it .  "  " But God wants us to enjoy ourselves , " Elisabeth persisted .  " And He would n't really love us if He did n't .  "  " God wants us to do what is right , and it does n't matter whether we enjoy ourselves or not .  "  " But it does ; it matters awfully .  We ca n't really be good unless we are happy .  "  Felicia shook her head .  " We ca n't really be happy unless we are good ; and if we are good we shall 'love not the world , ' but shall stand apart from it .  "  " But I must love the world ; I ca n't help loving the world , it is so grand and beautiful and funny .  I love the whole of it : all the trees and the fields , and the towns and the cities , and the prim old people and the dear little children .  I love the places — the old places because I have known them so long , and the new places because I have never seen them before ; and I love the people best of all .  I adore people , Felicia ; do n't you ?  "  " No ; I do n't think that I do .  Of course I like the people that I like ; but the others seem to me dreadfully uninteresting .  "  " But they are not ; they are all frightfully interesting when once you get to know them , and see what they really are made of inside .  Outsides may seem dull ; but insides are always engrossing .  That 'swhy I always love people when once I 'veseen them cry , because when they cry they are themselves , and not any make-ups .  "  " How queer to like people because you have seen them cry !  "  " Well , I do .  I 'ddo anything for a person that I had seen cry ; I would really .  "  Felicia opened her large hazel eyes still wider .  " What a strange idea !  It seems to me that you think too much about feelings and not enough about principles .  "  " But thinking about feelings makes you think about principles ; feelings are the only things that ever make me think about principles at all .  "  After a few minutes 'silence Elisabeth asked suddenly :  " What do you mean to do with your life when you leave here and take it up ?  "  " I do n't know .  I suppose I shall fall in love and get married .  Most girls do .  And I hope it will be with a clergyman , for I do so love parish work .  "  " I do n't think I want to get married , " said Elisabeth slowly , " not even to a clergyman .  "  " How queer of you !  Why not ?  "  " Because I want to paint pictures and to become a great artist .  I feel there is such a lot in me that I want to say , and that I must say ; and I can only say it by means of pictures .  It would be dreadful to die before you had delivered the message that you had been sent into the world to deliver , do n't you think ?  "  " It would be more dreadful to die before you had found one man to whom you would be everything , and who would be everything to you , " replied Felicia .  " Oh !  I mean to fall in love , because everybody does , and I hate to be behindhand with things ; but I shall do it just as an experience , to make me paint better pictures .  I read in a book the other day that you must fall in love before you can become a true artist ; so I mean to do so .  But it wo n't be as important to me as my art , " said Elisabeth , who was as yet young enough to be extremely wise .  " Still , it must be lovely to know there is one person in the world to whom you can tell all your thoughts , and who will understand them , and be interested in them .  "  " It must be far lovelier to know that you have the power to tell all your thoughts to the whole world , and that the world will understand them and be interested in them , " Elisabeth persisted .   " I do n't think so .  I should like to fall in love with a man who was so much better than I , that I could lean on him and learn from him in everything ; and I should like to feel that whatever goodness or cleverness there was in me was all owing to him , and that I was nothing by myself , but everything with him .  "  " I should n't .  I should like to feel that I was so good and clever that I was helping the man to be better and cleverer even than he was before .  "  " I should like all my happiness and all my interest to centre in that one particular man , " said Felicia ; " and to feel that he was a fairy prince , and that I was a poor beggar-maid , who possessed nothing but his love .  "  " Oh !  I should n't .  I would rather feel that I was a young princess , and that he was a warrior , worn-out and wounded in the battle of life ; but that my love would comfort and cheer him after all the tiresome wars that he 'dgone through .  And as for whether he 'dlost or won in the wars , I should n't care a rap , as long as I was sure that he could n't be happy without me .  "  " You and I never think alike about things , " said Felicia sadly .  " You old darling !  What does it matter , as long as we agree in being fond of each other ?  "  At eighteen Elisabeth said farewell to Fox How with many tears , and came back to live at the Willows with Miss Farringdon .  While she had been at school , Christopher had been first in Germany and then in America , learning how to make iron , so that they had never met during Elisabeth 'sholidays ; therefore , when he beheld her transformed from a little girl into a full-blown young lady , he straightway fell in love with her .  He was , however , sensible enough not to mention the circumstance , even to Elisabeth herself , as he realized , as well as anybody , that the nephew of Richard Smallwood would not be considered a fitting mate for a daughter of the house of Farringdon ; but the fact that he did not mention the circumstance in no way prevented him from dwelling upon it in his own mind , and deriving much pleasurable pain and much painful pleasure therefrom .  In short , he dwelt upon it so exclusively and so persistently that it went near to breaking his heart ; but that was not until his heart was older , and therefore more capable of being broken past mending again .  Miss Farringdon and the people of Sedgehill were alike delighted to have Elisabeth among them once more ; she was a girl with a strong personality ; and people with strong personalities have a knack of making themselves missed when they go away .  " It 'snice , and so it is , to have Miss Elisabeth back again , " remarked Mrs. Bateson to Mrs. Hankey ; " and it makes it so much cheerfuller for Miss Farringdon , too .