not give without speechifying, and her two younger brothers
declared it was humbug--Tom saying, he wished all blackamoors were out
of creation, and Harry, that he could not stand palaver about his friend
David. Dr. May threatened him with being displayed on the platform as a
living instance of the effects of missions, at which he took alarm, and
so seriously declared that he should join the Bucephalus at once, that
they pacified him by promising that he should do as he pleased.

The archdeacon promised a sermon, and the active Dr Spencer worked the
nine muses and all the rest of the town and neighbourhood into a state
of great enthusiasm and expectation. He went to the Grange, as he said,
to collect his artillery; primed Flora that she might prime the M. P.;
made the willing Meta promise to entrap the uncle, who was noted for
philanthropical speeches; and himself captured Sir Henry Walkinghame,
who looked somewhat rueful at what he found incumbent on him as a
country gentleman, though there might be some compensation in the
eagerness of Miss Rivers.

Norman had hardly set foot in Stoneborough before he was told what was
in store for him, and, to the general surprise, submitted as if it were
a very simple matter. As Dr. Spencer told him, it was only a foretaste
of the penalty which every missionary has to pay for coming to England.
Norman was altogether looking much better than when he had been last at
home, and his spirits were more even. He had turned his whole soul to
the career he had chosen, cast his disappointment behind him, or, more
truly, made it his offering, and gathered strength and calmness, with
which to set out on tasks of working for others, with thoughts too much
absorbed on them, to give way to the propensity of making himself the
primary object of study and contemplation. The praise of God, and love
of man, were the best cures for tendencies like his, and he had found it
out. His calm, though grave cheerfulness, came as a refreshment to those
who had been uneasy about him, and mournfully watching poor Flora.

"Yes," said Dr. Spencer, "you have taken the best course for your own
happiness."

Norman coloured, as if he understood more than met the ear. Mary and
Blanche were very busy preparing presents for Meta Rivers, and every one
was anxious to soften to her the thought of this first birthday without
her father. Each of the family contributed some pretty little trifle,
choice in workmanship or kind