t, and even begins to whistle, very low, a popular air. His
sister looks at him, first with astonished reproach, then in dread.

_Satis superque_. Again and again Miriam revived these images of the
past. And the more she thought of herself as a child, the less was she
pleased with what her memory presented. How many instances came back to
her of hypocrisy before her father or mother, hypocrisy which,
strangely enough, she at the time believed a merit, though perfectly
aware of her own insincerity! How many a time had she suffered from the
restraints imposed upon her, and then secretly allowed herself
indulgences, and then again persuaded herself that by severe attention
to formalities she blotted out her sin!

But the worst was when Cecily Doran came to live in the house. Cecily
was careless in religion, had been subjected to no proper severity, had
not been taught to probe her con science. At once Miriam assumed an
attitude of spiritual pride--the beginning of an evil which was to
strengthen its hold upon her through years. She would be an example to
the poor little heathen; she talked with her unctuously; she excited
herself, began to find a pleasure in asceticism, and drew the
susceptible girl into the same way. They would privately appoint
periods of fasting, and at several successive meals irritate their
hunger by taking only one or two morsels; when faintness came upon
them, they gloried in the misery.

And from that stage of youth survived memories far more painful than
those of childhood. Miriam shut her mind against them.

Her marriage came about in the simplest way; nothing easier to
understand, granted these circumstances. The friends of the family were
few, and all people of the same religious sect, of the same commercial
sphere. Miriam had never spoken with a young man whom she did not in
her heart despise; the one or two who might possibly have been tempted
to think of her as a desirable wife were repelled by her austerity. She
had now a character to support; she had made herself known for severe
devotion to the things of the spirit. In her poor little world she
could not submit to be less than pre-eminent, and only by the way of
religion was pre-eminence to be assured. When the wealthy and pious
manufacturer sought her hand, she doubted for a while, but was in the
end induced to consent by the reflection that not only would she be
freer, but at the same time enjoy a greatly extended credit and
influen