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ETHEL CHURCHILL.
203

and mark the different employ of the principal individuals. Lord Norbourne was seated by a blazing fire, while the whole dressing-room was fragrant with the coffee which had just been brought to him. Mechanically, he was turning over paper, and opening letters; but his thoughts were not with his employ. He looked more anxious than he often allowed himself to look; but then, to be sure, there was no one near to observe it. Suddenly, his glance fell on a casket near; he opened it, and the fire's light shone reflected from its glittering contents.

"Ay," said he, aloud, "these toys make the destiny of woman; and I doubt whether, after all, our own be not equally worthless. Is there any thing worth the exertion of procuring it? Thank God, we grow accustomed to our daily yoke: and it is habit, and habit only, that enables us to get through life. Would that I could put my head, for a few hours, on Norbourne's shoulders. 'If young people would but consider,' says a moral essay that I have somewhere read: it would be