don, but they
are essentially country people, and it would be much better for them if
he could have some agency. I suppose the situation you offered him
before, sir, is filled up?'

'Not really,' cried Nuttie. 'We have only a very common sort of
uneducated bailiff, who would be much better with some one over him.
You said so, papa.'

'Did he request you to apply to me?' said Mr. Egremont sharply, looking
at Mr. Dutton.

'Neither he nor she has the least idea of my intention; I only thought,
sir, you might be willing to consider how best to assist a nephew, who
has certainly not been wanting either in industry or economy, and who
bears your name.'

'Well, I will think it over,' said Mr. Egremont, rising to take leave.

The carriage had been bidden to await them at the door for their daily
drive, and as Mr. Egremont leant back with the furs disposed over him
he observed: 'That's a man who knows how to take care of himself. I
wonder where he gets his coffee, I've not drunk any like it since I was
at Nice.' And Nuttie, though well knowing that Mr. Dutton's love of
perfection was not self-indulgence, was content to accept this as high
approbation, and a good augury for Mark and Annaple. Indeed, with Mr.
Dutton settled near, and with the prospect of a daily walk from church
with him, she felt such a complete content and trust as she had not
known since she had been uprooted from Micklethwayte.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A BRAVE HEART.

'One furnace many times the good and bad may hold,
Yet what consumes the chaff will only cleanse the gold.'
Archbishop TRENCH.

Never was there a truer verse than that which tells us that in seeking
duty we find pleasure by the way, and in seeking pleasure we meet pain.
It might be varied to apply to our anticipations of enjoyment or the
reverse. Ursula had embraced her lot as a necessity, and found it
enlivened by a good many sunshiny hours; and when she looked upon Mr.
Dutton's neighbourhood as a continual source of delight and
satisfaction, she found that it gave rise to a continual course of
small disappointments.

In the first place, he did not walk home from church with her every
morning. She looked for him in vain, even when she knew he was in
town. He only appeared there on Sundays, and at intervals when he had
some especial reason for speaking to her. At first she thought he must
have grown lazy or out of health to have thu