should like to give you
all the consolation I can."

"And you have been deserted by a lover, as well as impoverished; and
you ask me to take consolation from it."

"No, no; nothing so bad as that. I only explained matters to him, and
we parted. I am very glad of it. Be you the same," said Jane, looking
frankly and cheerfully in her cousin's face, and the cloud passed off
it.

"Your sister has no affair of this kind?"

"No; nothing," said Jane.

"And yet she seems to suffer more."

"Not now; she is busy writing a volume of poems that is to make our
fortune. Dear Elsie! I hope it may."

"Poems--well, she may succeed; but I have more hope of you than of her."

"Because you know me better; but yet my efforts have all been very
fruitless. I am not a judge of poetry, though I like what Elsie writes.
I wished her to consent to my taking your opinion as to her verses, but
she shrank from it with most unaccountable and, as I thought,
unreasonable fear. I wonder how she can bring her work before the
public if she dreads one critic."

"It is very natural, Jane. Among the public there may be some to
admire, and some to depreciate; but the one critic to whom the author
submits his work may be of the latter class, and there seems to be no
refuge from him. It is curious to see the revelations of the inner self
that some authors make to the world--revelations that they would often
shrink from making to their nearest friends. They appeal to the few in
the world who sympathise with them, and disregard the censure of all
the rest. And recollect that, though to you I am a friend, your sister
has seen very little of me, and her first impression was exceedingly
painful. If you have told her I am a good judge of poetry, she will be
all the more averse to submit her compositions to my criticism, for my
opinion might bias yours, and yours is her greatest comfort and
encouragement. No one can wish her success more earnestly than I do.
But for yourself, what are your present intentions?"

"If it were not for leaving Elsie, I might try for a situation as
housekeeper in a large establishment; I know I am fully competent for
that. I should prefer something by which I could rise, but the choice
may not be given to me. We go to Edinburgh tomorrow. I do not think the
small room we are going to will hold all the furniture we are entitled
to, so will you be good enough to let what we cannot accommodate remain
at Cross Hall till we can send f