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    "I think it was not a matter worth contending about . I think Jane would have been wiser to put on the bow cheerfully at once . But I would not have pressed the matter . " " Well , I shall not press such a thing again , for I see it is of no use . But , as I have been telling her , she cannot expect to have the same allowance as her sisters if she will not make herself look nice with it , as they do . Her father has taken off a quarter of her allowance . " " But , oh ! ma ' , that is religious persecution V * "My dear , you don't understand . " And she explained it over again , adding , " you know she cannot want the money if she will not spend it for what it is given for . Don't you see ?"

    • ' I think that is for her to judge of . Is not this fining her for her religious opinions ? and is not that religious persecution ?" " Oh ! dear , no , that is quite a mistake . I am sure I would not burn Jane under any circumstances . It is much more likely—among- those priests and all—that they should burn us . It is the Catholics that burn people , you know . Or , rather , as you are a Dissenter , you may not know . But I can show you in the History of England . Lucy , my dear ... " And she pointed to the bookshelves , but was assured that Dissenters read about Bloody Mary as much as Church people .

    It would have been unnatural for this state of things to go on much longer . It came to an end by some accident discovering at once to Mr . Warren and Jane that it was the desire of both that she should go and live somewhere else . The other members of the family started when they heard of it ; but soon they , too , saw that it was best . Jane proposed to keep a school in a distant city . She would not be burdensome to her father . The proposal made him more angry than anything yet . It would be the ruin of his family , he said . How should his three other daughters marry if he was known to be the father of a poor schoolmistress ? If she had any feeling for her family she would change her name and go abroad . She should consider her three sisters , if she did not care for her father and mother .

    Lucy here tried to speak . Her voice failed her at first ; but she gained Strength as she went on . If her papa pleased , she wished to go with Jane , and help her to keep school . She did not wish to be burdensome , either . " You have turned Catholic , too , I suppose , " said he , in a sort of despair . But this was disclaimed by all the three sisters . Miss Warren had seen the letters which had opened the new prospect to Jane ; and among the inducements held out was one which made Mr . Warren laugh , in spite of himself ,

    whole town was soon acquainted with this ; and strangers who came to th town were entertained with curious stories of Mr . Warren ' s two outcas daughters , who were nuns and went barefoot , flogged themselves all night , and other things equally probable . When Miss Warren married , which was the next year , the parents' hop e rested on the little Harriet , who was brought from school to be the solace of home . A governess was selected for her with extreme care ; and her quietness and docility were such that she would no doubt turn out exactly what it was intended she should .

    " We wish her to be an Englishwoman , in every sense of the word , " the governess was told . " A Protestant Englishwoman , with the ideas and manners of her station , is what we desire to see her . " So the governess set to work to make little Harriet a Protestant Englishwoman , carefully guarded from all ideas not already held by her father and mother . Meantime , Jane and Lucy were more happy than they had ever been in their lives before , though they had many a sorrowful talk about home and friends . They had objects in life , freedom and independence , and the blessing of an animating faith . Before the glow of recent conversion bad subsided , Lucy , who , of course , became a Catholic , married , and settled at some

    distance from her sister . She sometimes wished that it was not at a distance ; for she did not quite like the growth of Jane ' s enthusiasm , and the turn that it took . She was too much employed on secret services for her church During the half year , of course she could not leave home ; but with the first day of the holidays she more than once disappeared , and returned at the end of a month or six weeks , a good deal sunburned , and with a bonnet of decidedly foreign make ; and it once slipped out , in conversation , that she had been in a town , in an odd unfrequented corner of France ; and again , that she had been met in Rome . Tliere was something wild about this ; but when Lucy told her so she laughed , and said she was in the hands of people who could take better care of her than her own dear sister .

    If she surprised others , she once met with a surprise herself in one of these foreign journeys . In a travelling carriage she saw , handsomely dressed , a blooming young woman , the very image of little Harriet , —only grown up and by her side was a gentleman of foreign appearance . It was odd that the lady put her head out of the window eagerly , as if to see Jane again . No , — it was not really odd ; for it was Harriet . Lucy had seen , in a late newspaper , a paragraph which she pointed out to her husband with mingled

    astonishment and amusement . The paragraph told how Count Somebody with a long German name , and a list of titles , ancestral and military , had led to the altar Harriet , the youngest child of Ambrose Warren , Esq ., of ; the service being performed first in the Catholic chapel , and then in the parish church . It was even so . She , the safe and petted daughter , who was to be the Protestant Englishwoman of the family , with no ideas beyond her station ( above or below ) , was married , with her parents' joyful consent ,

    to a Catholic nobleman in the Austrian service . The daughters now wrote home , supposing that their conversion would be forgiven . But no notice was taken of their letters . Their conversion might , perhaps , have been forgiven ; but not their having kept a school and "disgraced their family . " Their mother died , and they were not summoned . When the time drew near for their father to follow , they learned his state by constant enquiry ; and at length Jane ventured to go .

    He was sinking , but quite sensible . His eldest daughter , —an excellent nurse , —had fully done her duty by him , aided by her husband . Towards Jane he seemed to have no strong feeling of any kind : certainly no remorse or shame . When she waited en him , he thanked her : he found no fault , and said to the physician that everybody was very kind . On the last night , when it was evident that the end was very near , Jane called the servants into his room , and lighted some wax candles in one corner , and made everybody kneel , and kneeled herself , repeating prayers aloud . Her sister remonstrated , but Jane was positive . What she was doing could do her father no harm ,

    and she . must neglect no chance for his soul . Hour after hour she went on . It seemed , indeed , as if the dying man was too far gone to be disturbed , but , at last , it was clear that he wished to speak . His eldest daughter bent down her ear . Jane sprang to the bed . What he said was" Mind , now—do you hear me ? Mind , —take notice , —I die a Protestant . I have not been as good a one as I might have been , perhaps , though I have always endeavoured to do my duty ; but I die a member of the Church of England . " " We hear you , dear father . You die a Protestant , —a member of the Church of England . "

    This settled , he closed his eyes and died ;—died almost before Jane could resume her efforts for his safety . She vowed that while she lived she would pray for his soul . She had henceforth one object of her own ; and only one—to save money enough to secure her reception in a convent , where , free from worldly cares , she might devote her energies , before they began to fail , to the service of her Church , without stint or drawback .

    As Harriet soon embraced her husband ' s religion , the eldest of the family could not visit any of her sisters . She would have liked to stay with them all ; and especially with Harriet , in her Austrian castle ; but she was afraid of the priests she must meet , and the " mummeries" she must see . She observed to her husband that people had much to answer for who changed their opinions , —it was so inconvenient to their families , and in society ; and . her husband , as usual , placidly agreed to what she said ,

    though Miss Warren was quite serious in telling , it . Jane ' s friends were sorry , of course , that Miss Lucy had not the happiness of belonging to their communion ; but they hoped the residence in a cathedral town might attract her , as she would be surrounded with pious clergymen of her own church . The idea of his Lucy surrounded by pious clergymen tickled the fancy of Mr . Warren ; but he carried it off by saying that she would follow her sister , he had no doubt , and soon be a Catholic , in spite of all the

    clergymen . " What a testimony that is to the power of the truth ! " observed Jane . "Ah ! that is the way you catch me up , " replied her father ; " next you will go on to call the clergy the gates of hell , I suppose , that shall not prevail against you . " A saucy little smile of Jane ' s seemed to show that he had met her thought . Mr . Warren asked Lucy what could make her want to leave such a home as she had and go into a lower rank in society . With much trembling , and doing little justice to her thought by her faltering speech , Lucy explained that a frivolous life did not satisfy her ; that she wished to be useful , and to have freedom to be as religious as Jane , if not in the same way . She saw that Jane was much happier than she used to be , and , she thought better ...

    " Happier ! " cried her father . " I know better than that . I have marked her ; and I know when she is going to confession as well as she knows it herself . Look at her red face on those mornings , and see her bite her lips ; and ... " "Ah ! but papa , when she comes home how happy she is !" " Yes ; like a person who has had a tooth out . " " And , " Lucy went on , " I think she has cured herself of so many faults in a short time . She used to be so satirical and censorious : and now she never

    says an illword of anybody . And if you saw her among the poor people , how they love her , I am sure it would please you . And when we are dancing at a ball at two in the morning , she is sitting in a shawl by some sick person s bedside , without any fire , and with only a dim candle . Indeed , papa , you don ' t know how good she is grown . " " When she shows any of her goodness to me , who have the best right to it , I may begin to believe in it ; but Jane ' s charity seems to begin anywhere but at home . "

    Even Miss Warren was sure her father did not quite mean this . She thought that , though Jane unhappily differed from them , she was truly helpful and kind in the family . Mr . Warren rose and left the room . At dinner he did not appear , lie had gone into the country , as often happened , on business . Instead of returning , he sent a packet to each of his two " rebellious " daughters , as he called them , lie enclosed £ 500 to each ; notified that this was all they would ever have from him ; and desired that the house might be cleared of them , and of all traces of them , before his return , that day week . He was obeyed in this ; and also in his command that the names of Jane and Lucy should never be spoken in his hearing , nor in his house . The

    Untitled Article

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 28, 1850, page 956, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1863/page/20/