he familiar thought returned to her of what a different woman she
would have been had she come to her first experiences of life with the
courage and confidence of twenty or even of five-and-twenty, which was
the age Mrs Morgan dwelt upon most kindly. And then she thought with a
thrill of vivid kindness and a touch of tender envy of Lucy Wodehouse,
who would now have no possible occasion to wait those ten years.

As for Mr Wentworth, he who was a priest, and knew more about
Carlingford than any other man in the place, could not help thinking,
as he turned back, of people there, to whom these six months had
produced alterations far more terrible than any that had befallen the
Rector's wife:--people from whom the light of life had died out, and
to whom all the world was changed. He knew of men who had been
cheerful enough when Mr Morgan came to Carlingford, who now did not
care what became of them; and of women who would be glad to lay down
their heads and hide them from the mocking light of day. He knew it,
and it touched his heart with the tenderest pity of life, the
compassion of happiness; and he knew too that the path upon which he
was about to set out led through the same glooms, and was no ideal
career. But perhaps because Mr Wentworth was young--perhaps because he
was possessed by that delicate sprite more dainty than any Ariel who
puts rosy girdles round the world while his time of triumph lasts--it
is certain that the new Rector of Carlingford turned back into Grange
Lane without the least shadow upon his mind or timidity in his
thoughts. He was now in his own domains, an independent monarch, as
little inclined to divide his power as any autocrat; and Mr Wentworth
came into his kingdom without any doubts of his success in it, or of
his capability for its government. He had first a little journey to
make to bring back Lucy from that temporary and reluctant separation
from the district which propriety had made needful; but, in the mean
time, Mr Wentworth trode with firm foot the streets of his parish,
secure that no parson nor priest should tithe or toll in his
dominions, and a great deal more sure than even Mr Morgan had been,
that henceforth no unauthorised evangelisation should take place in
any portion of his territory. This sentiment, perhaps, was the
principal difference perceptible by the community in general between
the new Rector of Carlingford and the late Perpetual Curate of St
Roque's.

FOOTNOTE