serve Him.'

'Well, I never should have thought you would have fancied Miss Gwynne;
not but that she is handsome and clever and very agreeable and kind,
too, when she pleases; but so proud, so domineering, and then--'

'Neither should I have supposed Gladys to be your choice, Owen; and I am
sorry it should be so. What would my father say? so soon upon Netta,
too; and you must confess that her uncertain history, her present
condition, the way she came to us, would be utter barriers to anything
serious.'

'Bravo, Rowland; now I must put the application to your lecture. I
suppose everything is by comparison in this world--the squire and the
squire's daughter look down upon the farmer and the farmer's son, and
beg to decline the honour of an alliance. The farmer and the farmer's
son look down upon the corporal and corporal's daughter, and beg to do
the same, especially as she is their servant. Tom, the carpenter, thinks
his daughter too good for Joseph the labourer, and Matthew the shoeblack
wouldn't let his son marry Sal the crossing-sweeper for all the world.
Oh, Rowland!, is this what you have learnt from your profession, and
the book before you? Why, I've found a better philosophy on board ship,
with no teachers but the moon and stars.'

'Owen, I am ashamed of myself. My pride deserves to be thus pulled
down.'

'I don't want to seem unkind, Rowland, but my notion is, that an honest
gentleman, such as you, educated, and a clergyman is good enough for any
lady; and that a good, religious girl, who has saved my mother's life,
is a great deal too good for a ne'er-do-well fellow like me. But I won't
fall before I'm pushed, since I'm pretty sure she thinks so too. So,
now, cheer up, old boy! and show the heiress what a sermon you can
preach; and let her see you don't care a fig for her; and then, by
jingo, she'll be over head and ears in love with you, and propose
herself next leap-year.'

Rowland laughed, in spite of himself, at this notion.

'I will go and wish my mother good night,' he said, 'and then set to
work.'

The brothers went together to their mother, who was in bed, and together
received her 'God bless you, my children!' Then they separated for the
night, and Rowland returned to his room a wiser, if still a sadder, man,
than when Owen visited it. Owen's plain common sense had often got the
better of Rowland's romance; and although he could not approve his
roving and seemingly useless life, he always ack