"And what work interests you so much?" said Randal, pausing by the table.
"One you have read, of course," replied Mrs Dale, putting a bookmark embroidered by herself into the page, and handing the volume to Randal. "It has made a great sensation, I believe."
Randal glanced at the title of the work. "True," said he, "I have heard much of it in London, but I have not yet had time to read it."
Mrs Dale.—"I can lend it to you, if you like to look over it to-night, and you can leave it for me with Mrs Hazeldean."
Parson, (approaching.)—"Oh! that book!—yes, you must read it. I do not know a work more instructive."
Randal.—"Instructive! Certainly I will read it then. But I thought it was a mere work of amusement—of fancy. It seems so, as I look over it."
Parson.—"So is the Vicar of Wakefield; yet what book more instructive?"
Randal.—"I should not have said that of the Vicar of Wakefield. A pretty book enough, though the story is most improbable. But how is it instructive?"
Parson.—"By its results: it leaves us happier and better. What can any instruction do more? Some works instruct through the head, some through the heart; the last reach the widest circle, and often produce the most genial influence on the character. This book belongs to the last. You will grant my proposition when you have read it."
Randal smiled and took the volume.