the next
morning.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

AN EMIGRATION SCHEME.

Several months passed away, bringing no visitor to Riversborough, except
Phebe, who came down two or three times to see Mr. Clifford, whose
favorite she was. But Phebe never spoke of the past to Jean Merle. Since
they had determined what to do, it seemed wiser to her not to look back
so as to embitter the present. Jean Merle was gradually gaining a
footing in the town as Mr. Clifford's representative, and was in many
ways filling a post very few could fill. Now and then, some of the elder
townsmen, who had been contemporary with Roland Sefton, remarked upon
the resemblance between Jean Merle and their old comrade; but this was
satisfactorily accounted for by his relationship to Madame Sefton: for
Roland, they said, had always had a good deal of the foreigner about
him, much more than this quiet, melancholy, self-effacing man, who never
pushed himself forward, or courted attention, yet was always ready with
a good sound shrewd opinion if he was asked for it. It had been a lucky
thing for old Clifford that such a man had been found to take care of
him and his affairs in his extreme old age.

Felix had gone back to his curacy, under Canon Pascal, in the parish
where he had spent his boyhood and where he was safe against any attack
upon his father's memory. But in spite of being able to see Alice every
day, and of enjoying Canon Pascal's constant companionship, he was ill
at ease, and Phebe was dissatisfied. This was exactly the life Felicita
had dreaded for him, an easy, half-occupied life in a small parish,
where there was little active employment for either mind or body. The
thought of it troubled and haunted Phebe. The magnificent physical
strength and active energy of Felix, and the strong bent to heroic
effort and Christian devotion given to him in his earliest years, were
thrown away in this tranquil English village, where there was clearly no
scope for heroism. How was it that Canon Pascal could not see it? His
curacy was a post to be occupied by some feebler man than Felix; a man
whose powers were only equal to the quiet work of carrying on the labors
begun by his rector. Besides, Felix would have recovered from the shock
of his mother's sudden death if his time and faculties had been more
fully occupied. She must give words to her discontent, and urge Canon
Pascal to banish him from a spot where he was leading too dull a life.

Canon Pascal h