So she hung back from the frequent Church ordinances of St.
Cradocke's, being allowed to do as she pleased about everything
extra; she made fun of the peculiarities of the varieties of the
genus Petronella who naturally hung about it, and adopted the popular
tone about the curates, till Jock told her "not to be so
commonplace." Indeed both he and Armine had made friends with them,
as he did with every one; and Armine's enjoyment of the society of a
new, young, bright deacon, who came at Christmas, perhaps accounted
for a little of her soreness, and made Armine himself less observant
that the two were growing apart.
Her mother saw it though, and being seconded by Jock, found it easier
than of old to keep the tables free from sceptical and semi-sceptical
literature; but this involved the loss of much that was clever, and
there was no avoiding those envenomed shafts that people love to
strew about, and which, for their seeming wit and sense, Babie always
relished. She did not think-—that was the chief charge; and she was
still a joyous creature, even though chafing at the dulness of St.
Cradocke's.
"Gould and another versus Brownlow and another, to be heard on the
l8th," Mr. Wakefield writes. "So we must leave our peaceful harbour
to face the world again!"
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Barbara.
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