ll not relax in my efforts to
make known the simple Gospel, and to exhibit the sacerdotal system of
Rome, and of the so-called ritualism of England, in its true light."

CHAPTER SIX.

On reaching Cheltenham, the general took Clara to the house of his
sister-in-law, a Scotch lady, who received her with the most motherly
kindness.

"I very well know the sort of glamour which has been thrown around you,
my dear," she said, "so that I can heartily sympathise with you; and I
praise God that it has been removed. You can now therefore look with
confidence for grace and strength from Him who is the giver of all good,
to walk forward in the enjoyment of that true happiness which God in His
mercy affords to His creatures. There is abundance of work for our sex,
which can be carried out in a straightforward, Protestant, English
fashion."

"I shall be thankful to find it," said Clara.

"You will not have long to wait, my dear," answered Mrs Caulfield; "but
at present you require being nursed yourself: you must let me take you
in hand."

As soon as the general had deposited Clara with his sister-in-law, he
set off and paid his promised visit to Mary Lennard. On reaching Mrs
Barnett's establishment, he was shown into a handsome drawing-room,
where that lady soon presented herself, under the belief that he had
come to place a daughter with her. She bowed gracefully as she glided
into a seat, and smilingly enquired the object of his visit.

"I have come to see Miss Mary Lennard, daughter of my particular friend,
the Reverend John Lennard," answered he.

"She is too ill, I regret to say, to see visitors," answered the
schoolmistress. "Had her father come, I of course should not have
objected."

"I am acting in the place of her father," said the general, "and I must
insist on seeing the young lady, who has, I understand, been made ill by
a system of fasting and penances which all right-minded people must
consider objectionable."

"Sir, you astonish me," exclaimed Mrs Barnett. "I should suppose that
every clergyman would wish his daughter to fast on Fridays and other
days ordered by the Church; and with regard to penances, such have been
imposed by the priest to whom she has duly gone to confession."

"Why, I thought this was a Protestant school," exclaimed the general,
astonished.

"That term I repudiate," answered the lady. "I am a daughter of the
Anglican Church, and as such I wish to bring up all my pupils."