Lady Juliana only stared. She was as little accustomed to be advised as she was to hear Thomson's "Seasons" quoted. At "I declare that's all quite true," said the more temporising Grizzy; "and certainly our girls are not in the least taken up about their dress, poor things! which is a great comfort. At the same time, I'm sure it's no wonder your Ladyship should be taken up about yours, for certainly that pelisse is most beautiful. Nobody can deny that; and I daresay it's the very newest fashion. the same time, I'm just afraid that it's rather too delicate, and that it might perhaps get a little dirty on our roads; for although, in general, our roads are quite remarkable for being always dry, which is a great comfort in the country, yet, you know, very best roads of course must be wet sometimes. And there's a very bad step just at the door almost, which Glenfern has been always speaking about getting mended. But, to be sure, he has so many things to think about, that it's no wonder he forgets sometimes; but I daresay he will get it done very soon now.' the The prospect of the road being mended, produced no better effect than the quotation from Thomson's "Seasons." It was now Miss Nicky's turn. "I'm afraid your Ladyship will frighten our stirks1 and stots 2 with your finery. I assure you they are not accustomed to see such fine figures; and putting her hand out at the window, "I think it's spitting already." 3 1 [Stirk: =a young heifer. 2 [Stot a young bull. 3 A.S. styre.] [A common expression in Scotland to signify slight rain.] All three now joined in the chorus, beseeching Lady Juliana to put on something warmer and more wise-like. "I positively have nothing," cried she, wearied with their importunities, " and I shan't get any winter things now till I return to town. My roquelaire does very well for the carriage." The acknowledgment at the beginning of this speech was enough. All three instantly disappeared, like the genii of Aladdin's lamp, and, like that same person, presently returned, loaded with what, in their eyes, were precious as the gold of Arabia. One displayed a hard worsted shawl, with a flower-pot at each corner; another held up a tartan cloak, with a hood; and a third thrust forward a dark cloth Joseph, lined with flannel; while one and all showered down a variety of old bonnets, fur tippets, hair soles, clogs, pattens, and endless et ceteras. Lady Juliana shrank with disgust from these "delightful haps," and resisted all attempts to have them forced upon her, declaring, in a manner which showed her determined to have her own way, that she would either go out as she was, or not go out at all. The aunts were therefore obliged to submit, and the party proceeded to what was termed the high-road, though a stranger would have sought in vain for its pretensions to that title. Far as the eye could reach, and that was far enough, not a single vehicle could be descried on it, thongh its deep ruts showed that it was well frequented by carts. The scenery might have had charms for Ossian, but it had none for Lady Juliana; who would rather have been entangled in a string of Bond Street equipages, than traversing "the lonely heath, with the stream murmuring hoarsely; the old trees groaning in the wind; the troubled lake; and the still more troubled sisters. As may be supposed, she very soon grew weary of the walk. The bleak wind steers. pierced her to the soul; her silk slippers and lace flounces became undistinguishable masses of mud; her dogs chased the sheep, and were, in their turn, pursued by the "nowts,' as the ladies termed the Óne sister expatiated on the great blessing of having a peat-moss1 at their door; another was at pains to point out the purposed site of a set of new offices; and the third lamented that her Ladyship had not on thicker shoes, that she might have gone and seen the garden. More than ever disgusted and wretched, the hapless Lady Juliana returned to the house, to fret away the time till her husband's return. [Peat-moss, a marsh where peats may be dug. Cf. moss-troopers, defined by Sir Walter Scott as "Banditti, who inhabited the marshy country of Liddesdale, and subsisted chiefly by rapine."] CHAPTER VIII "On se rend insupportable dans la société par des défauts légers, mais qui se font sentir à tout moment."-VOLTAIRE. THE HE family of Glenfern have already said so much for themselves, that it seems as if little remained to be told by their biographer. Mrs. Douglas was the only member of the community, who was at all conscious of the unfortunate association of characters and habits that had just taken place. She was a stranger to Lady Juliana; but she was interested by her youth, beauty, and elegance, and felt for the sacrifice she had made; a sacrifice so much greater than it was possible she ever could have conceived or anticipated. She could in some degree enter into the nature of her feelings towards the old ladies; for she, too, had felt how disagreeable people might contrive to render themselves, without being guilty of any particular fault; and how much more difficult it is to bear with the weaknesses than the vices of our neighbours. Had these ladies' failings been greater in a moral point of view, it might not have been so arduous a task to put up with them. But to love such a set of little, trifling, tormenting foibles, all dignified with the name of virtues, required, from her elegant mind, an exertion of its highest principles; a continual remembrance of that difficult Christian precept, "to bear with one another." A person of less sense than Mrs. Douglas would have endeavoured to open the eyes of their understandings, on what appeared to be the folly and narrow-mindedness of their ways; but she refrained from the attempt, not from want of benevolent exertion, but from an innate conviction, that their foibles all originated in what was now incurable; viz., the natural weakness of their minds, together with their ignorance of the world, and the illiberality and prejudices of a vulgar education. "These poor women," reasoned the charitable Mrs. Douglas, are, perhaps, after all, better characters in the sight of God than I am. He who has endowed us all, as his wisdom has seen fit, and has placed me amongst them; oh! may he teach me to remember, that we are all his children, and enable me to bear with their faults, while I study to correct my own.' Thus did this amiable woman contrive, not only to live in peace, but, without sacrificing her own liberal ideas, to be actually beloved by those amongst whom her lot had been cast, however dissimilar to herself. But for that Christian spirit, (in which must ever be included a liberal mind and gentle temper,) she must have felt towards her connexions a still stronger repugnance than was even manifested by Lady Juliana; for Lady Juliana's superiority over them was merely that of refined habits and elegant manners; whereas Mrs. Douglas' was the superiority of a noble and highlygifted mind, which could hold no intercourse with theirs, except by stooping to the level of their low capacities. But, that the merit of her conduct may be duly appreciated, I shall endeavour to give |