ved a sort of warning from his master, but by no means
intending to take it, and therefore abstaining from any kind of offence
that could furnish a fresh handle against him; and thus for the
present, Dr. Hammond's regimen was well observed, and Mr. Egremont was
his better self in consequence, for, under his wife's guardianship, the
perilous habit had sufficiently lost strength to prevent temper and
spirits from manifestly suffering from abstinence.

The first time Nuttie found herself obliged to make any very real
sacrifice to her father's will was on the occasion of Mark's marriage
at Easter. Things had arranged themselves very conveniently for him at
Micklethwayte, though it seemed to Nuttie that she only heard of
affairs there in a sort of distant dream, while such events were taking
place as once would have been to her the greatest possible revolutions.

Aunt Ursel reached home safely, but her expectations of illness were
realised. She took to her bed on arriving, and though she rose from
it, there was reason to think she had had a slight stroke, for her
activity of mind and body were greatly decayed, and she was wholly
dependent on Mary Nugent for care and comfort. Mary, remembering the
consequences of the former alarm, made the best of the old lady's
condition; and Nuttie, ashamed of having once cried 'wolf,' did not
realise the true state of the case, nor indeed could she or would she
have been spared to go to Micklethwayte.

The next news told that Gerard Godfrey, at the end of the year required
by Mr. Dutton, had resigned his situation, and at the close of his
quarter's notice was going to prepare for Holy Orders under the
training of a clergyman who would employ him in his parish, and assist
him in reading up to the requirements for admission to a theological
college. Poor dear old Gerard! It gave Nuttie a sort of pang of
self-reproach to own how good and devoted he was, and yet so narrow and
stupid that she could never have been happy with him. Was he too good,
or was he too dull for her? Had she forsaken him for the world's sake,
or was it a sound instinct that had extinguished her fancy for him? No
one could tell, least of all the parties concerned. He might be far
above her in spiritual matters, but he was below her in intellectual
ones, and though they would always feel for one another that peculiar
tenderness left by the possibilities of a first love, no doubt the
quarrel over the blue ribbon