mother, there's any fear of the dear lass going
into a waste, like?" asked Farmer Lavender anxiously.

"No, Joe, I don't; I'll let you know when I do. At this present I think
she's only coming to her senses a bit."

The old preacher appeared no more in the pulpit at Darlaston; but so far
as Jenny Lavender was concerned, he had done the work for which he was
sent there. Jenny had not a single Christian friend except old Persis
Fenton; and she kept away from Tom's aunt, just because she was his
aunt. She was therefore shut up to her Bible, which she read
diligently; and perhaps she grew all the faster because she was watered
direct from the Fountain-Head. Old Mrs Lavender was wise in a moral
sense, but not in a spiritual one, beyond having a general respect for
religion, and a dislike to any thing irreverent or profane. Farmer
Lavender shared this with her; but he looked on piety as a Sunday thing,
too good to use every day. So Jenny stood alone in her own family.

While all this was passing at the farm, Colonel Lane and Mrs Jane were
speeding, post-haste, to France. The Colonel explained to Featherstone,
whom alone of his servants he took with him, that he and his sister
having had the honour of performing an important service to the King,
their lives were in danger from the resentment of the Parliamentary
party.

The King himself was now safe at Paris, where they hoped to join him;
and on arriving there, if Featherstone wished to return home, he thought
there was no doubt that he could get a passage for him in the suite of
some person journeying to England. If, on the contrary, he preferred to
remain in France, the Colonel would willingly retain his services.

"I have entered into arrangements," he concluded, "whereby my rents will
be secure, and will be remitted to me from time to time while we remain
in France. I trust it may not be long ere the King shall be restored,
and we can go back with him."

Featherstone requested a little time to think the matter over. He
certainly had no desire to leave the Colonel before reaching Paris, a
city which he wished to see beyond all others.

"Ay, take your time," answered the Colonel. "My sister will provide
herself with a woman when we arrive thither. In truth, it was not for
her own sake, but for Jenny's, that she left her at home."

This conversation confirmed Featherstone in two opinions which he
already entertained. First, he was satisfied that an unders