tiative and ask why--but the poor man looked so perplexed and
ignorant, and so clearly unaware what the solution was, that the old
lady burst into shrill, gay laughter as she looked at him.

"I don't believe you know anything about it," she said. "Are they old or
young? are they pretty or ugly? Tell me all about them, Morley."

Now Mr Proctor had not the excuse of having forgotten the appearance of
the two Miss Wodehouses: on the contrary, though not an imaginative man,
he could have fancied he saw them both before him--Lucy lost in noiseless
laughter, and her good elder sister deprecating and gentle as usual. We
will not even undertake to say that a gleam of something blue did not
flash across the mind of the good man, who did not know what ribbons
were. He was so much bewildered that Mrs Proctor repeated her question,
and, as she did so, tapped him pretty smartly on the arm to recall his
wandering thoughts.

"One's one thing," at last shouted the confused man, "and t'other's
another!" An oracular deliverance which surely must have been entirely
unintelligible in the kitchen, where we will not deny that an utterance
so incomprehensible awoke a laudable curiosity.

"My dear, you're lucid!" cried the old lady, "I hope you don't preach
like that. T'other's another!--is she so? and I suppose that's the one
you're wanted to marry--eh? For shame, Morley, not to tell your
mother!"

The Rector jumped to his feet, thunderstruck. Wanted to marry!--the
idea was too overwhelming and dreadful--his mind could not receive it.
The air of alarm which immediately diffused itself all over him--his
unfeigned horror at the suggestion--captivated his mother. She was
amused, but she was pleased at the same time. Just making her cheery
outset on this second lifetime, you can't suppose she would have been
glad to hear that her son was going to jilt her, and appoint another
queen in her stead.

"Sit down and tell me about them," said Mrs Proctor; "my dear, you're
wonderfully afraid of the servants hearing. They don't know who we're
speaking of. Aha! and so you didn't know what they meant--didn't you? I
don't say you shouldn't marry, my dear--quite the reverse. A man _ought_
to marry, one time or another. Only it's rather soon to lay their plans.
I don't doubt there's a great many unmarried ladies in your church,
Morley. There always is in a country place."

To this the alarmed Rector answered only by a groan--a groan so
expressive that