let me explain
myself. My dear, I have fought worldly battles too long and too
earnestly. I am rightly punished. I do but quote Herbert Duffian's own
words: he is no flatterer though you say he has such soft fingers. I am
now engaged in a spiritual contest. He is very wealthy! I have resolved
to rescue back to our Church what can benefit the flock of which we form
a portion, so exceedingly!'

At this revelation of the Countess's spiritual contest, Mrs. Andrew
shook a worldly head.

'You have no chance with men there, Louisa.'

'My Harriet complains of female weakness!'

'Yes. We are strong in our own element, Louisa. Don't be tempted out of
it.'

Sublime, the Countess rose:

'Element! am I to be confined to one? What but spiritual solaces could
assist me to live, after the degradations I have had heaped on me? I
renounce the world. I turn my sight to realms where caste is unknown. I
feel no shame there of being a tailor's daughter. You see, I can bring
my tongue to name the thing in its actuality. Once, that member would
have blistered. Confess to me that, in spite of your children, you are
tempted to howl at the idea of Lymport--'

The Countess paused, and like a lady about to fire off a gun, appeared
to tighten her nerves, crying out rapidly:

'Shop! Shears! Geese! Cabbage! Snip! Nine to a man!'

Even as the silence after explosions of cannon, that which reigned in
the room was deep and dreadful.

'See,' the Countess continued, 'you are horrified you shudder. I name
all our titles, and if I wish to be red in my cheeks, I must rouge. It
is, in verity, as if my senseless clay were pelted, as we heard of Evan
at his first Lymport boys' school. You remember when he told us the
story? He lisped a trifle then. "I'm the thon of a thnip." Oh! it was
hell-fire to us, then; but now, what do I feel? Why, I avowed it to
Herbert Duffian openly, and he said, that the misfortune of dear Papa's
birth did not the less enable him to proclaim himself in conduct a
nobleman's offspring--'

'Which he never was.' Harriet broke the rhapsody in a monotonous low
tone: the Countess was not compelled to hear:

'--and that a large outfitter--one of the very largest, was in reality
a merchant, whose daughters have often wedded nobles of the land, and
become ancestresses! Now, Harriet, do you see what a truly religious
mind can do for us in the way of comfort? Oh! I bow in gratitude to
Herbert Duffian. I will not rest till I have l