and Phoebe were essentially of the new
generation, that of Kingsley, Tennyson, Ruskin, and the _Saturday
Review_. Chivalry had given way to common sense, romance to realism,
respect for antiquity to pitying patronage, the past to the future.
Perhaps the present has lost in reverence and refinement as much as it
has gained in clearness and confidence! Lucilla represented reaction,
therefore her attitude was antagonistic; Phoebe was the child of the
newer system, therefore she loved the elder one, and sought out the
likenesses to, rather than the differences from, her own tone of thought.
And well was it that she had never let slip her hold on that broad,
unchanging thread of truth, the same through all changes, making faith
and principle one, though the developments in practice and shades of
thought shake off the essential wisdom on which it grew, only to adopt
some more fatal aberration of their own!

Thus standing between the two, Phoebe was a great help to both in
understanding each other, and they were far more at ease when she was
with them. In October, all three went to Woolstone-lane for a brief
stay. Honor wished that the physician should see Lucilla before the
winter, and Phoebe was glad to avail herself of the opportunity of
choosing furniture and hiring servants for her new establishment, free
from the interference of Lady Bannerman, who was of course at Brighton.

She had been obliged to let her sisters go to Sutton without her, as the
little parsonage had not room for three guests besides Lieschen, who was
more indispensable to Maria than even herself, and both the others were
earnestly set upon accepting the invitation. Cecily silenced her
scruples by begging, as a proof of acceptance as a sister, that she might
be intrusted with them, and promising that in her own quiet home, whence
most of the family had been launched into life, they should meet with
none of the excitements of merry Moorcroft; and Phoebe was obliged to
resign her charge for these few weeks, and trust from Bertha's lively
letters that all was well.

Another cause which made Honor and Lucy anxious to be in London was the
possibility of Owen's arrival. He had last been heard of on the shores
of Lake Superior, when he spoke of returning as soon as the survey for a
new line of railway should have been completed, and it was not unlikely
that he might come even before his letter. News would await him that he
would regret as much as did