ly_ honest and conscientious."

"And now, my dear," resumed Christina, after having disposed of all the
difficulties that might stand in the way of Ernest's becoming a
clergyman, "there is another matter on which I should like to have a talk
with you. It is about your sister Charlotte. You know how clever she
is, and what a dear, kind sister she has been and always will be to
yourself and Joey. I wish, my dearest Ernest, that I saw more chance of
her finding a suitable husband than I do at Battersby, and I sometimes
think you might do more than you do to help her."

Ernest began to chafe at this, for he had heard it so often, but he said
nothing.

"You know, my dear, a brother can do so much for his sister if he lays
himself out to do it. A mother can do very little--indeed, it is hardly
a mother's place to seek out young men; it is a brother's place to find a
suitable partner for his sister; all that I can do is to try to make
Battersby as attractive as possible to any of your friends whom you may
invite. And in that," she added, with a little toss of her head, "I do
not think I have been deficient hitherto."

Ernest said he had already at different times asked several of his
friends.

"Yes, my dear, but you must admit that they were none of them exactly the
kind of young man whom Charlotte could be expected to take a fancy to.
Indeed, I must own to having been a little disappointed that you should
have yourself chosen any of these as your intimate friends."

Ernest winced again.

"You never brought down Figgins when you were at Roughborough; now I
should have thought Figgins would have been just the kind of boy whom you
might have asked to come and see us."

Figgins had been gone through times out of number already. Ernest had
hardly known him, and Figgins, being nearly three years older than
Ernest, had left long before he did. Besides he had not been a nice boy,
and had made himself unpleasant to Ernest in many ways.

"Now," continued his mother, "there's Towneley. I have heard you speak
of Towneley as having rowed with you in a boat at Cambridge. I wish, my
dear, you would cultivate your acquaintance with Towneley, and ask him to
pay us a visit. The name has an aristocratic sound, and I think I have
heard you say he is an eldest son."

Ernest flushed at the sound of Towneley's name.

What had really happened in respect of Ernest's friends was briefly this.
His mother liked to get hold of the