alse principle by which it is not safe to be
guided any longer. Pushed as far as it will go, the result is Gifford."

"And myself," added Mr. Chiverton in a quieter voice as he rose from his
chair. Mr. Forbes looked at him. The old man made no sign of being
affronted, and they went together into the drawing-room, where he
introduced the clergyman to his wife, saying, "Here, Ada, is a
gentleman who will back you in teaching me my duty to my neighbor;" and
then he went over to Lady Angleby.

"You are on the side of the poor man, then, Mrs. Chiverton?" said Mr.
Forbes pleasantly. "It is certainly a legitimate sphere of female
influence in country neighborhoods."

The stately bride drew her splendid dress aside to make room for him on
the ottoman, and replied in a measured voice, "I am. I tell Mr.
Chiverton that he does not satisfy the reasonable expectations of his
people. I hope to persuade him to a more liberal policy of management on
his immense estates; his revenue from them is very large. It distresses
me to be surrounded by a discontented tenantry, as it would do to be
waited on by discontented servants. A bad cottage is an eyesore on a
rich man's land, and I shall not rest until I get all Chiver-Chase
cleared of bad cottages and picturesquely inconvenient old farmsteads.
The people appeal to me already."

Bessie Fairfax had come up while her old school-fellow was gratifying
Mr. Forbes's ears with her admirable sentiments. She could not forbear a
smile at the candid assertion of power they implied, and as Mr. Forbes
smiled too with a twinkle of amused surprise, Bessie said sportively,
"And if Mr. Chiverton is rebellious and won't take them away, then what
shall you do?"

Mrs. Chiverton was dumb; perhaps this probability had not occurred to
her ruling mind. Mr. Forbes begged to know what Miss Fairfax herself
would do under such circumstances. Bessie considered a minute with her
pretty chin in the air, and then said, "I would not wear my diamonds.
Oh, I would find out a way to bring him to reason!"

A delicate color suffused Mrs. Chiverton's face, and she looked proudly
at Bessie, standing in her bright freedom before her. Bessie caught her
breath; she saw that she had given pain, and was sorry: "You don't care
for my nonsense--you remember me at school," she whispered, and laid her
hand impulsively on the slim folded hands of the young married lady.

"I remember that you found something to laugh at in almost
e