in the scientific study of botany and beetles, she
said to Elizabeth when they were alone, "What a pity! what a grievous
pity! There is no position brains and energy can win that Mr. Harry
Musgrave might not raise himself to if his health were equal to his
mental capacity. And with what dignity and fortitude he bears his
condemnation to a desultory, obscure existence! I had no idea there
could be so much sweet patience in a man. Do you anticipate that it will
be always so?"

"Harry is very happy now, and I do not look forward much or far,"
Elizabeth said quietly. "People say men are so different from women, but
after all they must be more like women than like anything else. So I try
sometimes to put myself in Harry's place, and I know there will be
fluctuations--perhaps, even a sense of waste and blankness now and then,
and a waking up of regret. But he has no envious littleness of mind and
no irritability of temper: when he is feeling ill he will feel low. But
our life need not be dull or restricted, and he has naturally a most
enjoying humor."

"And he will have you--I think, after all, Elizabeth, you have found
your vocation--to love and to serve; a blessed vocation for those called
to it, but full of sorrows to those who take it up when the world and
pride have disappointed them."

Elizabeth knew that my lady was reflecting on herself. They were both
silent for a few minutes, and then Elizabeth went on: "Harry and I have
been thinking that a yacht would be an excellent establishment for us to
begin with--a yacht that would be fit to coast along France, and could
be laid up at Bordeaux while we rest for the winter at Arcachon--or, if
we are of a mind to go farther, that would carry us to the
Mediterranean. Harry loves a city, and Bologna attracts his present
curiosity: I tell him because it was once a famous school of law."

"Bologna is a most interesting city. He would be well amused there,"
said my lady. "It has a learned society, and is full of antiquities and
pictures. It is in the midst of a magnificent country too. I spent a
month there once with Lord Latimer, and we found the drives in the
vicinity unparalleled. You cannot do better than go to Bologna. Take
your yacht round to one of the Adriatic ports--to Venice. I can supply
you with guide-books. I perceive that Mr. Harry Musgrave must be well
entertained. A Ryde wherry with you in the morning is the perfection of
entertainment, but he has an evident rel