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INGATH'S VOOER. 



CHAPTEE I. 



" Auntie has yielded at last, and Orgert is sold ! " 

 " I am both glad and sorry to hear it." 

 " Poor Auntie ! I think I can sympathise with her." 

 Speaker number one was the minister's wife ; 

 number two was his daughter ; number three his son. 

 The auntie to whom reference was made was the sister 

 of Mrs. Nicolson, and a little part of the history of 

 these two ladies must be told before you can under- 

 stand the above remarks. 



The sisters were early left orphans. Their father, 

 an extravagant, somewhat " fast " man, wasted his 

 substance after the manner of elderly prodigals. Con- 

 sequently his daughters found themselves without any 

 means of support beyond what they derived from a 

 small bit of land attached to the old family mansion. 

 The house and that strip of earth was all that remained 

 of a goodly heritage ; and bitterly did the sisters feel 

 the difference in their position from that which the 

 former ladies of Orgert had held in the Isle. Only the 

 shadow of former prosperity, and the noUesse oblige of 



