principle within her that will conquer them."

"If--" mournfully sighed Ethel; but her brother pointed on further.

"My great hope is her entire indifference to praise--not approval,
but praise. If she has not come up to her own standard, she works
on, not always with good temper, but perseveringly, and entirely,
unheeding of commendation till she has satisfied herself, only
thinking it stupid not to see the faults. It is this independence of
praise that I want to see in her brother and sister. They justly
earn it, and are rightly pleased with it; but I cannot feel sure
whether they do not depend on it too much. Norman lives, like all
school-boys, a life of emulation, and has never met with anything but
success. I do believe Dr. Hoxton and Mr. Wilmot are as proud of him
as we are; and he has never shown any tendency to conceit, but I am
afraid he has the love of being foremost, and pride in his
superiority, caring for what he is, compared with others, rather than
what he is himself."


"I know," said Norman; "I have done so, but that's over. I see what
it is worth. I'd give all the quam optimes I ever got in my life to
be the help Richard is to papa."

"You would if you were his age."

"Not I, I'm not the sort. I'm not like her. But are we to go on
about the elders?"

"Oh! yes, don't let us miss a word. There can't be anything but