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    408 A VILLAGE SKETCH.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    It Is Most Provable That The Reader Has ...

    she had happened to meet with in her reading , "was skipped , just as a maiden skips the everlasting queries"Do you double up your

    , perambulators when ? you " " Wh unfold y give a newspaper more ?'' or any excep of t those perhaps which , t infallibl 6 Do you y .

    pose you , , want luxuriant hair ? " etc . Few paid their respects to the new comer ; but among the few was Mr . Crichton , the curate , and his

    sister , who superintended his domestic affairs , for—he was unmarried . The circle select which Miss Rayner formed , was composed of three

    or four ( if either of those numbers can be formed into a circle ) respectable individuals ; but respectable was a term , which she

    hesitated almost to apply to a young man whose long habit it had been to spend his evenings with Mr . Cheever , or a part of them at least ,

    when disengaged . She hesitated because , although Mr . Harneis was decidedlgood-looking and agreeableand was said to have

    come of a good y family , a branch of which , had been disinherited owing to some question of legitimacy , yet he ploughed Ms own

    fields , stabled his own horse , and carried his mother ' s pattens on Sundays . It was onlbecause this young" man had a -well cultivated

    mind , and because every y body else admitted him to terms of friendshiif not of perfect equalitythat Miss Rayner condescended to

    p , , Mm at all . Strange to tell , this young man took a fancy to Miss R . But Miss R . had taken a fancy to the curate , who also had taken a

    fancy to somebody else . Still , Mr . Hameis helped to pas _» a dull evening .

    "When Miss Rayner had been a few weeks at Benniworth , her uncle discovered that the resemblance to his late sister extended only

    to the features , in all other respects she was utterly dissimilar ; besides _^ she had at length assumed the reins of government , not of his domestic

    affairs only , but of himself , and he had been unaccustomed to contra * diction and interference . He puffed thoughtfully afc his pipe—r-Was

    he to be controlled in his own house ? No . Mr . Cheever said no , and the matter was settled . Regardless of expostulation and

    reproach and tears , the silver , which had been called forth from green baize at her command , had orders to return to its rest , and fine

    linen , spun by Mr . Cheever's own mother , was laid once more under the lid of the old oaken chest .

    About this time his heart was gladdened by news from Ms son , who was in portand would be home immediately . Miss Rayner

    come might exceeding or might l not , y irritable rejoice . at Perhaps these tidings one . reason Certainl mig y ht she be had the un be-

    _impressionable heart of the curate , whose intentions even vanity eould only deem polite : she would subdue him yet , of course

    she would . It was a fine day in January , and Mr . Harneis had the assurance

    to join Miss Rayner in her walk , and , what was more , the la , dyjelt that he was actually about to propose ; she would reject him ,

    certainly , about that there arose not a second thought . To her extreme

    mortification she observed _tlie curate approaching "! Mr . _CatichtoH

    408 A Village Sketch.

    408 A VILLAGE SKETCH .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1860, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021860/page/48/