ut any softening of the matter--down
right, positively refused.

"The ungrateful varlet did not even thank me for the honour. He briefly
told me, 'That I was a very amusing girl, but the last woman on earth
he should wish to make his wife; that as to money, it was certainly a
great inducement, but not enough to compensate for the sacrifice of his
principles. He had a good profession, and hoped to earn by it wealth and
independence.'

"Ah! how I hated him while he told me all this. How I have hated all his
sex from that hour, for his sake!

"However, my dear, it had this good effect,--it cured me of all such
ridiculous weakness then and for ever. I shook off the love fit, and
Wilhelmina was herself again.

"My step-mother died shortly after this, and I became the mistress of my
father's house. He was old and very infirm, and completely wrapped up in
his scientific studies. I only saw him occasionally, and then my
nonsense amused him. He pined after my step-mother; and very shortly
followed her to the grave. I had just attained my majority when he died,
and I came into a fine property, and found myself at my own disposal.

"Nobody cared for me, and I cared for nobody. I wished to take a peep at
the world, and determined to travel over as much of its surface as I
possibly could; and please myself as to the method I employed to effect
my object.

"I have been in a great many foreign countries, and seen a great many
strange people; and been an actor in many extraordinary scenes; and I
have come to the conclusion, that the world after all is not such a
terrible bad world to live in, and that the very worst of its
inhabitants are not entirely without some good."

As she finished this sentence, the church clock proclaimed to the whole
town the hour of one. Miss Wilhelmina sprang from her chair, exclaiming,
"Holloa! that's my dinner-hour. It will take me ten minutes to get home,
and the fish will be quite spoilt. Excuse me, Mrs. Lyndsay, and come and
take tea with me, like a good soul, to-morrow evening. I never take tea
later than six."

Miss Wilhelmina vanished. Flora laughed over the interview until her
husband came home, and then they had a good laugh together.

CHAPTER IX.

FLORA GOES TO TEA WITH MISS CARR.

The following evening, at the primitive hour of half-past five, Flora
took her work, and went across the green to take tea with Miss Carr.

She found that eccentric lady seated by the window, look