he sat there nearly an hour, talking of many matters, especially the
Cocksmoor scheme, on which she was glad to hear his opinion at first
hand.

"I am very glad you think well of it," she said. "It is most desirable
that something should be done for those poor people, and Richard would
never act rashly; but I have longed for advice whether it was right to
promote Ethel's undertaking. I suppose Richard told you how bent on it
she was, long before papa was told of it."

"He said it was her great wish, and had been so for a long time past."

Margaret, in words more adequate to express the possession the project
had gained of Ethel's ardent mind, explained the whole history of it.
"I do believe she looks on it as a sort of call," said she, "and I have
felt as if I ought not to hinder her, and yet I did not know whether it
was right, at her age, to let her undertake so much."

"I understand," said Mr. Wilmot, "but, from what I have seen of Ethel,
I should think you had decided rightly. There seems to me to be such
a spirit of energy in her, that if she does not act, she will either
speculate and theorise, or pine and prey on herself. I do believe that
hard homely work, such as this school-keeping, is the best outlet for
what might otherwise run to extravagance--more especially as you say the
hope of it has already been an incentive to improvement in home duties."

"That I am sure it has," said Margaret.

"Moreover," said Mr. Wilmot, "I think you were quite right in thinking
that to interfere with such a design was unsafe. I do believe that a
great deal of harm is done by prudent friends, who dread to let young
people do anything out of the common way, and so force their aspirations
to ferment and turn sour, for want of being put to use."

"Still girls are told they ought to wait patiently, and not to be eager
for self-imposed duties."

"I am not saying that it is not the appointed discipline for the girls
themselves," said Mr. Wilmot. "If they would submit, and do their best,
it would doubtless prove the most beneficial thing for them; but it is a
trial in which they often fail, and I had rather not be in the place of
such friends."

"It is a great puzzle!" said Margaret, sighing.

"Ah! I dare say you are often perplexed," said her friend kindly.

"Indeed I am. There are so many little details that I cannot be always
teasing papa with, and yet which I do believe form the character more
than the great events, an