'Quite true; but observe, it is not the choice between you and such a clergyman as you would select, but between you and no one knows who—certainly a person who could not help in the complication of family and Church property, as only a brother could do.'
'That is all in the clouds,' said Clement. 'I have made up my mind to ten years' service here, and I intend to keep to it.'
'The Vicar says you have not strength for it.'
'Then I shall go on without it.'
'Till you kill yourself.'
'The best end one could come to.'
'No, not if there be a leading of Providence elsewhere.'
'I observe that Providence is generally said to lead in the direction of ease and £ s.d. No, Felix, I am much obliged, but even if this old man would appoint a vicar of decided opinions like mine, I cannot allow myself to be led aside into a path of wealth and luxury contrary to all I had marked out for myself.'
'Are people always meant to do all they have marked out for themselves?' said Felix, as he heard the frequent first person singular.
'When it is the line of self-abnegation.'