one _raving mad_ or had hysterics for
a week; but Mrs. Parsons merely said: 'The Lord has given, and the
Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' I cannot
help thinking it was rather profane, and _most_ unfeeling. _I_ was
dreadfully upset, and Mary had to sit up with me for several
nights. I don't believe Mary really loved him. I hate to say
anything against my own daughter, but I feel bound to tell the
truth, and my private opinion is that she loved _herself_ better.
She loved her constancy and the good opinion of Little Primpton;
the fuss the Parsons have made of her I'm sure is very bad for
anyone. It can't be good for a girl to be given way to so much; and
I never really liked the Parsons. They're very good people, of
course; but only infantry!

"I am happy to say that poor Jamie's death was almost
instantaneous. When they found him he said: 'It was an accident; I
didn't know the gun was loaded.' (_Most improbable_, I think. It's
wonderful how they've all been taken in; but then they didn't know
his secret!) A few minutes later, just before he died, he said:
'Tell Mary she's to marry the curate.'

"If my betrothed had died, _nothing_ would have induced me to marry
anybody else. I would have remained an _old maid_. But so few
people have any really _nice_ feeling! Mr. Dryland, the curate,
had already proposed to Mary, and she had refused him. He is a
pleasant-spoken young man, with a rather fine presence--not _my_
ideal at all; but that, of course, doesn't matter! Well, a month
after the funeral, Mary told me that he had asked her again, and
she had declined. I think it was very bad taste on his part, but
Mary said she thought it _most noble_.

"It appears that Colonel and Mrs. Parsons both pressed her very
much to accept the curate. They said it was Jamie's dying wish, and
that his last thought had been for her happiness. There is no doubt
that Mr. Dryland is an excellent young man, but if the Parsons had
_really_ loved their son, they would never have advised Mary to get
married. I think it was most _heartless_.

"Well, a few days ago, Mr. Dryland came and told us that he had
been appointed vicar of Stone Fairley, in Kent. I went to see Mrs.
Jackson, the wife of our Vicar, and she looked it out in the clergy
list. T