n they are forced to abstain from eating, and so much more when
they do eat,--those grapes are very sour to me. I am sure that they
are indigestible, and that those who eat them undergo all the ills
which the Revallenta Arabica is prepared to cure. And so it was now
with the archdeacon. He thought of the strain which would have been
put on his conscience had he come up there to sit in London as Bishop
of Westminster; and in this frame of mind he walked home to his
wife. During the first few moments of his interview with her all his
regrets had come back upon him. Indeed, it would have hardly suited
for him then to have preached this new doctrine of rural contentment.
The wife of his bosom, whom he so fully trusted--had so fully
loved--wished for grapes that hung high upon the wall, and he knew
that it was past his power to teach her at the moment to drop her
ambition. Any teaching that he might effect in that way, must come
by degrees. But before many minutes were over he had told her of
her fate and of his own decision. "So we had better go back to
Plumstead," he said; and she had not dissented.

"I am sorry for poor Griselda's sake," Mrs. Grantly had remarked
later in the evening, when they were again together.

"But I thought she was to remain with Lady Lufton?"

"Well; so she will, for a little time. There is no one with whom I
would so soon trust her out of my own care as with Lady Lufton. She
is all that one can desire."

"Exactly; and as far as Griselda is concerned, I cannot say that I
think she is to be pitied."

"Not to be pitied, perhaps," said Mrs. Grantly. "But, you see,
archdeacon, Lady Lufton, of course, has her own views."

"Her own views?"

"It is hardly any secret that she is very anxious to make a match
between Lord Lufton and Griselda. And though that might be a very
proper arrangement if it were fixed--"

"Lord Lufton marry Griselda!" said the archdeacon, speaking quick and
raising his eyebrows. His mind had as yet been troubled by but few
thoughts respecting his child's future establishment. "I had never
dreamt of such a thing."

"But other people have done more than dream of it, archdeacon. As
regards the match itself, it would, I think, be unobjectionable. Lord
Lufton will not be a very rich man, but his property is respectable,
and as far as I can learn his character is on the whole good. If they
like each other, I should be contented with such a marriage. But, I
must own, I am not q