great strong man sometimes feels awkwardly, when thus led captive;
but the greatest, strongest, and most boastful, often go most
obediently under woman-rule; for which, see Shakspeare, concerning
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

But then all kingdoms, and all sway, and all authority must come to
an end. Nothing lasts, you see. The plain prose of life must have its
turn, after the poetry and honey-moons--stretch them out to their
utmost limit--have their terminus.

So, at the end of six weeks, John and Lillie, somewhat dusty and
travel-worn, were received by Grace into the old family-mansion at
Springdale.

Grace had read her Bible and Fenelon to such purpose, that she had
accepted her cross with open arms.

Dear reader, Grace was not a severe, angular, old-maid sister,
ready to snarl at the advent of a young beauty; but an elegant and
accomplished woman, with a wide culture, a trained and disciplined
mind, a charming taste, and polished manners; and, above all, a
thorough self-understanding and discipline. Though past thirty, she
still had admirers and lovers; yet, till now, her brother, insensibly
to herself, had blocked up the doorway of her heart; and the
perfectness of the fraternal friendship had prevented the wish and
the longing by which some fortunate man might have found and given
happiness.

Grace had resolved she would love her new sister; that she would look
upon all her past faults and errors with eyes of indulgence; that she
would put out of her head every story she ever had heard against her,
and unite with her brother to make her lot a happy one.

"John is so good a man," she said to Miss Letitia Ferguson, "that I am
sure Lillie cannot but become a good woman."

So Grace adorned the wedding with her presence, in an elegant Parisian
dress, ordered for the occasion, and presented the young bride with a
set of pearl and amethyst that were perfectly bewitching, and kisses
and notes of affection had been exchanged between them; and during
various intervals, and for weeks past, Grace had been pleasantly
employed in preparing the family-mansion to receive the new mistress.

John's bachelor apartments had been new furnished, and furbished, and
made into a perfect bower of roses.

The rest of the house, after the usual household process of
purification, had been rearranged, as John and his sister had always
kept it since their mother's death in the way that she loved to see
it. There was