who preferred an empty church and a week-day. The little one had
waited till she was nearly six weeks old for "a Christening Sunday,"
and since that had been missed, she could not be kept unbaptized for
another month; so, late in the day, she was carried to church.

Richard had extremely gratified old nurse, by asking her to represent
poor Margaret; Mrs. Hoxton stood for the other godmother, and Alan
Ernescliffe was desired to consider himself absolutely her sponsor,
not merely a proxy. The younger children alone were to go with them:
it was too far off, and the way lay too much through the town for it
to be thought proper for the others to go. Ethel wished it very
much, and thought it nonsense to care whether people looked at her;
and in spite of Miss Winter's seeming shocked at her proposing it,
had a great mind to persist. She would even have appealed to her
papa, if Flora had not stopped her, exclaiming, "Really, Ethel, I
think there never was a person so entirely without consideration as
you are."

Much abashed, Ethel humbly promised that if she might go into papa's
room, she would not say one word about the christening, unless he
should begin, and, to her great satisfaction, he presently asked her
to read the service to him. Flora came to the doorway of Margaret's
room, and listened; when she had finished, all were silent.

"How shall we, how can we virtuously bring up our motherless little
sister?" was the thought with each of the girls. The answers were,
in one mind, "I trust we shall do well by her, dear little thing. I
see, on an emergency, that I know how to act. I never thought I was
capable of being of so much use, thanks to dear, dear mamma's
training. I shall manage, I am sure, and so they will all depend on