had finished his course there, and he had
returned to his old home just in time to see his father die of the ague,
which haunted the neighbourhood of the fens before any attempt at proper
drainage had been thought of, much less made.

Mrs. Travers was urged to shut up the Grange--which answered very well
to the description of a moated Grange of a later time--and resort to
Bath, for the healing waters might take their effect on her son's
health. Mrs. Travers had now been resident in Bath for a whole year, and
her figure in widow's-weeds was familiar in the bath-room waiting for
her son's appearance after his morning douche.

But not only was her figure familiar in the bath-room, there was another
place where she constantly took up her position, and where she could not
persuade her son to follow her, and that place was the chapel which had
been built by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.

Mrs. Travers was at this time greatly exercised in mind about her son.
Since his health had improved, he had entered more into the gaieties of
the city of Bath, and made friends of whom she could not approve. The
Pump Room was a place where many idlers and votaries of fashion found a
convenient resort after the morning bath; and here many introductions
were exchanged between the new-comers and those who had been frequenters
of Bath for many previous seasons. The present master of the ceremonies
did not hold the sway of his famous predecessor; but outward decorum was
preserved; and it was in the master's power to refuse or grant an
introduction if it was objected to by any parent or guardian.

Mrs. Travers was one of those sweet and gentle women, who are themselves
a standing rebuke to the harsh and iron creed which they profess to hold
by. Mrs. Travers had lived in an atmosphere all her life of utter
indifference and neglect of even the outward observances of religion.

The clergyman of the Lincolnshire parish where the Grange stood was a
fair type of the country parsons of the time. He hunted with the squire,
drank freely of his wine, and was "Hail fellow! well met!" with those
of his parishioners who had like tastes with himself. A service in the
church when it suited him, baptisms when the parents pressed it,
funerals, a necessity no one can put aside, and administration of the
Holy Communion on the three prescribed festivals of the year, were the
limit of his parochial labours.

Who can wonder that a sympathetic and emotional woman