ll be considered a sensible man in committees, and a necessary feature
in debate; at the end of those years he will be an under-secretary; in
five years more he will be a Cabinet Minister, and the representative of
an important section of opinions; he will be an irreproachable private
character, and his wife will be seen wearing the family diamonds at all
the great parties. She will take an interest in politics and theology;
and if she die before him, her husband will show his sense of wedded
happiness by choosing another lady, equally fitted to wear the family
diamonds and to maintain the family consequences."

In spite of her laughter, Cecilia felt a certain awe at the solemnity of
voice and manner with which Kenelm delivered these oracular sentences,
and the whole prediction seemed strangely in unison with her own
impressions of the character whose fate was thus shadowed out.

"Are you a fortune-teller, Mr. Chillingly?" she asked, falteringly, and
after a pause.

"As good a one as any whose hand you could cross with a shilling."

"Will you tell me my fortune?"

"No; I never tell the fortunes of ladies, because your sex is credulous,
and a lady might believe what I tell her. And when we believe such and
such is to be our fate, we are too apt to work out our life into the
verification of the belief. If Lady Macbeth had disbelieved in the
witches, she would never have persuaded her lord to murder Duncan."

"But can you not predict me a more cheerful fortune than that tragical
illustration of yours seems to threaten?"

"The future is never cheerful to those who look on the dark side of
the question. Mr. Gray is too good a poet for people to read nowadays,
otherwise I should refer you to his lines in the 'Ode to Eton
College,'--

"'See how all around us wait
The ministers of human fate,
And black Misfortune's baleful train.'

"Meanwhile it is something to enjoy the present. We are young; we
are listening to music; there is no cloud over the summer stars; our
conscience is clear; our hearts untroubled: why look forward in search
of happiness? shall we ever be happier than we are at this moment?"

Here Mr. Travers came up. "We are going to supper in a few minutes,"
said he; "and before we lose sight of each other, Mr. Chillingly, I wish
to impress on you the moral fact that one good turn deserves another. I
have yielded to your wish, and now you must yield to mine. Come and stay
a few days with