THE GOOD MISS KENDRICKs. 9

old gentleman dead, than all said, that for a certainty
Miss Kendrick would marry, more especially as
Leonard, who was now ordained, had the offer of a
curacy in Derbyshire, and nothing seemed more
natural than that the lively Dorothy should keep his
house. Thus the world laid out things for them ;
and thus also, in the quiet of their little back parlour,
they laid out things for themselves, The great-uncle,
as we said before, was a small shopkeeper. He sold
stamps and stationery, and small cutlery ware, and
tea in sealed-up packets, as it came from the India
House: he had, altogether, a nice little read y-money-
business, which amply supplied every passing week
with cash for its current expenses, and some little
besides; and it was no wonder, therefore, that after
his death, several tradesmen of the place wished to
purchase the business at a good premium.

It is an old and true saying, that “ man proposes,
and God disposes;” and it was so in this case.
Leonard went to his curacy, whence he wrote the
most affectionate and charming letters, full of the
most fervent desires to do good in his parish, and to
promote the happiness of his sisters. Joanna thought
of, and made preparations for her marriage, which
was to take place as soon as the time of ful] mourning
for the old gentleman had expired ; and in the mean-
time she kept on the business, prudently anxious to
spare all, and save all, against the breaking up of the
family. The weeks and months went on, and Doro-
thy, in the summer, paid a visit to her brother—a
golden time to her, and an earnest, as she believed it,
of the life which lay before her. It was a quiet,
out-of-the-world, Peak village, where her brother
lived ; beautiful in its locality, and inhabited by people