h mine, though; for I'll
leave it all to build union work-houses and encourage the slave-trade,
by way of revenging myself on society at large. Wonder why I said that,
when I don't think it! just like me--umph!"

"I am not at all sure but that this may prove a mere vision of our own
too lively imaginations, after all," replied I, "or that Lawless looks
upon Fanny in any other light than as the sister of his old friend,
and an agreeable girl to talk and laugh with; but if it should turn out
otherwise, I should be sorry to think that it is a match which will not
meet with your approval, sir."

"Oh! I shall approve--I always approve of everything--I dare say he'll
make a capital husband--he's very kind to his dogs and horses. Umph!
silly boy, silly girl--when she could easily do better, too. Umph 1
just like me, bothering myself about other people, when I might leave it
alone--silly girl though, very!"

So saying, Mr. Frampton walked away, grunting like a whole drove of
pigs, as was his wont when annoyed.

The next morning I was aroused from an uneasy sleep by the sun shining
brightly through my shutters, and, springing out of bed, and throwing
open the window, I perceived that it was one of those lovely winter days
~353~~ which appear sent to assure us that fogs, frost, and snow will
not last for ever, but that Nature has brighter things in store for us,
if we will bide her time patiently. To think of lying in bed on such
a morning was out of the question, so, dressing hastily, I threw on
a shooting jacket, and sallied forth for a stroll. As I wandered
listlessly through the park, admiring the hoar-frost which glittered
like diamonds in the early sunshine, clothing the brave old limbs of the
time-honoured fathers of the forest with a fabric of silver tissue,
the conversation I had held with Mr. Frampton about Fanny and Lawless
recurred to my mind. Strange that Harry Oaklands and Mr. Frampton--men
so different, yet alike in generous feeling and honourable
principle--should both evidently disapprove of such a union: was I
myself, then, so blinded by ideas of the worldly advantages it held
forth, that I was unable to perceive its unfitness? Would Lawless really
prize her, as Tennyson has so well expressed it in his finest poem, as

"Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse"?

and was I about to sacrifice my sister's happiness for rank and fortune,
those world-idols which, stripped of the suppo