his profession has made him
insensible to such things, and he fancies every one else is the same!
Now, Margaret, am I unreasonable?"

"I am sure I don't know, dear Norman," said Margaret, hesitating,
and feeling it her duty to say something; "I dare say it was very
disagreeable."

"And you think, too, that I made a disturbance for nothing?"

"No, indeed I don't, nor does dear papa. I have no doubt he will see
whether it is proper for Ethel. All I think he meant is, that perhaps
your not being well last winter has made you a little more sensitive in
such things."

Norman paused, and coloured. He remembered the pain it had given him to
find himself incapable of being of use to his father, and that he had
resolved to conquer the weakness of nerve of which he was ashamed;
but he did not like to connect this with his fastidious feelings of
refinement. He would not own to himself that they were over nice, and,
at the bottom of all this justification, rankled Richard's saying, that
he who cared for such things was unfit for a clergyman. Norman's secret
thought was, it was all very well for those who could only aspire
to parish work in wretched cottages--people who could distinguish
themselves were more useful at the university, forming minds, and
opening new discoveries in learning.

Was Norman quite proof against the consciousness of daily excelling
all his competitors? His superiority had become even more manifest
this Easter, when Cheviot and Forder, the two elder boys whom he had
outstripped, left the school, avowedly, because it was not worth
while for them to stay, since they had so little chance of the Randall
scholarship. Norman had now only to walk over the course, no one even
approaching him but Harvey Anderson.

Meta Rivers always said that fine weather came at her call, and so it
did--glowing sunshine streaming over the shaven turf, and penetrating
even the solid masses of the great cedar.

The carriage was sent for the Misses May, and at two o'clock they
arrived. Flora, extremely anxious that Ethel should comport herself
discreetly; and Ethel full of curiosity and eagerness, the only drawback
her fears that her papa was doing what he disliked. She was not in the
least shy, and did not think about her manner enough to be troubled by
the consciousness that it had a good deal of abruptness and eagerness,
and that her short sight made her awkward. Meta met them with
outstretched hands and a face beaming with