160 THERE IS NO HURRY

possibility of attending to it then. When Mrs.
Adams returned, she complained that the childrén
were too much for her nerves and strength, and
her husband’s tenderness induced him to yield
his favourite plan of bringing uff his girls under
his own roof. In process of time two little ones
were added to the four, and still his means kept
pace with his expenses; in short, for ten years
he was a favourite with the class of persons who
render favouritism fortune. It is impossible,
within the compass of a tale, to trace the minu-
tize of the brothers’ history ; the children of both
were handsome, intelligent, and in the world’s
opinion, well educated ; John’s eldest daughter
was one amongst a thousand for beauty of mind
and person; hers was no glaring display of
figure or information. She was gentle, tender,
and affectionate; of a disposition sensitive and
attuned to all those rare virtues in her sphere,
which form at once the treasures of domestic
life and the ornaments of society. She it was
who soothed the nervous irritability of her mo-
ther’s sick chamber and perpetual peevishness,
and graced her father’s drawing-room by a pre-
sence that was attractive to both old and young,
from its sweetness and unpretending modesty ;
hertwo younger sisters called forth all her tender-
ness, from the extreme delicacy of their health ;
but her brothers were even greater objects of
solicitude—handsome spirited lads—the eldest
waiting for a situation, promised, but not given ;