ng about
pickled pork and greens--a vision of his slumbers which was no doubt
referable to the circumstance of Mrs Varden's having frequently
pronounced the word 'Grace' with much emphasis; which word, entering
the portals of Mr Willet's brain as they stood ajar, and coupling itself
with the words 'before meat,' which were there ranging about, did in
time suggest a particular kind of meat together with that description of
vegetable which is usually its companion.

The search was wholly unsuccessful. Joe had groped along the path a
dozen times, and among the grass, and in the dry ditch, and in the
hedge, but all in vain. Dolly, who was quite inconsolable for her loss,
wrote a note to Miss Haredale giving her the same account of it that she
had given at the Maypole, which Joe undertook to deliver as soon as the
family were stirring next day. That done, they sat down to tea in the
bar, where there was an uncommon display of buttered toast, and--in
order that they might not grow faint for want of sustenance, and
might have a decent halting-place or halfway house between dinner and
supper--a few savoury trifles in the shape of great rashers of broiled
ham, which being well cured, done to a turn, and smoking hot, sent forth
a tempting and delicious fragrance.

Mrs Varden was seldom very Protestant at meals, unless it happened that
they were underdone, or overdone, or indeed that anything occurred to
put her out of humour. Her spirits rose considerably on beholding these
goodly preparations, and from the nothingness of good works, she passed
to the somethingness of ham and toast with great cheerfulness. Nay,
under the influence of these wholesome stimulants, she sharply reproved
her daughter for being low and despondent (which she considered an
unacceptable frame of mind), and remarked, as she held her own plate for
a fresh supply, that it would be well for Dolly, who pined over the loss
of a toy and a sheet of paper, if she would reflect upon the voluntary
sacrifices of the missionaries in foreign parts who lived chiefly on
salads.

The proceedings of such a day occasion various fluctuations in the human
thermometer, and especially in instruments so sensitively and delicately
constructed as Mrs Varden. Thus, at dinner Mrs V. stood at summer heat;
genial, smiling, and delightful. After dinner, in the sunshine of the
wine, she went up at least half-a-dozen degrees, and was perfectly
enchanting. As its effect subsided, she fe