A CASE OF CONSCIENCE. 211 



another helpmate ; and being of a disposition 

 to take little trouble in such a research, or, pro- 

 bably, thinking that no labour could procure for 

 him any one so suitable as what, his own house 

 afforded, he proposed the matter to his lately la- 

 mented wife^s sister, who had lived in his house 

 for several years ; and who, as he told me himself, 

 was not only a very good sort of person, but one 

 well acquainted with all the details of his house- 

 hold, known and esteemed by his children, and 

 accustomed to his society. 



The church, however, looked exceedinglygrave 

 upon the occasion ; not, however, as I at first sup- 

 posed, from the nearness of the connection, or 

 the shortness of the interval since the first wife's 

 death, but because the intended lady had stood 

 godmother to four of Don N.*'s children. This, 

 the church said, was a serious bar to the new al- 

 liance, which nothing could surmount but pro- 

 tracted penances and extensive charity. 



Don N. was urgent, and a council was assem- 

 bled to deliberate on the matter. The learned 

 body declared, after some discussion, the case to 

 be a very knotty one ; and that, as the lady had 



