pots? Look at them now! It seems as if
an army of breakfast services had suddenly come to life _a la_ Galatea,
and were pouring libations at Mrs. Bateson's feet."

"It does look rather like that, I admit. But here are Miss Herbert and
Tremaine returning from their walk; let's go and meet them."

And Elisabeth went to meet the lovers with no longer any little cobwebs
of jealousy hiding in the dark corners of her heart, Christopher's hand
having swept them all away; he had a wonderful power of exterminating
the little foxes which would otherwise have spoiled Elisabeth's vines;
and again she said to herself how much better a thing was friendship
than love, since Alan had always expected her to be interested in his
concerns, while Christopher, on the contrary, was always interested in
hers.

It was not long after this that Elisabeth was told by Felicia of the
latter's engagement to Alan Tremaine; and Elisabeth was amazed at the
rapidity with which Felicia had assimilated her lover's views on all
subjects. Elisabeth had expected that her friend would finally sacrifice
her opinions on the altar of her feelings; she was already old enough to
be prepared for that; but she had anticipated a fierce warfare in the
soul of Felicia between the directly opposing principles of this young
lady's mother and lover. To Elisabeth's surprise, this civil war never
took place. Felicia accepted Alan's doubts as unquestioningly as she had
formerly accepted Mrs. Herbert's beliefs; and as she loved the former
more devotedly than she had ever loved the latter, she was more devout
and fervid in her agnosticism than she had ever been in her faith. She
had believed, because her mother ordered her to believe; she doubted,
because Alan desired her to doubt; her belief and unbelief being equally
the outcome of her affections rather than of her convictions.

Mrs. Herbert likewise looked leniently upon Alan's want of orthodoxy,
and at this Elisabeth was not surprised. Possibly there are not many of
us who do not--in the private and confidential depths of our evil
hearts--regard earth in the hand as worth more than heaven in the bush,
so to speak; at any rate, Felicia's mother was not one of the bright
exceptions; and--from a purely commercial point of view--a saving faith
does not go so far as a spending income, and it is no use pretending
that it does. So Mrs. Herbert smiled upon her daughter's engagement; but
compromised with that accommodating consc