er taking his degree, his
mother had had a short conversation with him about his becoming a
clergyman, set on thereto by Theobald, who shrank from the subject
himself. This time it was during a turn taken in the garden, and not on
the sofa--which was reserved for supreme occasions.

"You know, my dearest boy," she said to him, "that papa" (she always
called Theobald "papa" when talking to Ernest) "is so anxious you should
not go into the Church blindly, and without fully realising the
difficulties of a clergyman's position. He has considered all of them
himself, and has been shown how small they are, when they are faced
boldly, but he wishes you, too, to feel them as strongly and completely
as possible before committing yourself to irrevocable vows, so that you
may never, never have to regret the step you will have taken."

This was the first time Ernest had heard that there were any
difficulties, and he not unnaturally enquired in a vague way after their
nature.

"That, my dear boy," rejoined Christina, "is a question which I am not
fitted to enter upon either by nature or education. I might easily
unsettle your mind without being able to settle it again. Oh, no! Such
questions are far better avoided by women, and, I should have thought, by
men, but papa wished me to speak to you upon the subject, so that there
might be no mistake hereafter, and I have done so. Now, therefore, you
know all."

The conversation ended here, so far as this subject was concerned, and
Ernest thought he did know all. His mother would not have told him he
knew all--not about a matter of that sort--unless he actually did know
it; well, it did not come to very much; he supposed there were some
difficulties, but his father, who at any rate was an excellent scholar
and a learned man, was probably quite right here, and he need not trouble
himself more about them. So little impression did the conversation make
on him, that it was not till long afterwards that, happening to remember
it, he saw what a piece of sleight of hand had been practised upon him.
Theobald and Christina, however, were satisfied that they had done their
duty by opening their son's eyes to the difficulties of assenting to all
a clergyman must assent to. This was enough; it was a matter for
rejoicing that, though they had been put so fully and candidly before
him, he did not find them serious. It was not in vain that they had
prayed for so many years to be made "_tru