"He never practiced; he was well off, but not rich, and then some months ago he came into a great windfall. A little boy, the heir of the head of the family, Mr. Temple of Woodlea Hall, was accidentally killed at football, and Mr. John Temple became the heir of the property, and when he called the last time he was in town he told us that some day, if he lived, he would be a very rich man; but his good fortune did not seem to elate him, did it, Eliza?" "No, indeed," replied Aunt Eliza, "Mr. Temple is quite above anything of that kind." "I wonder where he picked up the country cousin?" said Ralph Webster, thoughtfully. "Most probably at his uncle's, the squire of Woodlea. Where do you think we could take her to-morrow, Ralph?" "Wait until we see what to-morrow brings forth in the way of weather," answered Ralph Webster, and they settled it thus, and shortly afterward the two sisters retired to rest, and their nephew was left to his reflections. The next morning was fine, and when Ralph Webster saw May Churchill by daylight he decided she was prettier than ever. She had rested well; she was fresh and fair, and she carried on an animated conversation with Ralph Webster during the whole of the breakfast time. "I suppose you row, play tennis, and hunt, and have all sorts of country occupations?" asked Ralph. "I play tennis, but I neither row nor hunt," answered May, smiling. "What! you are not one of those manly young ladies who intend to annihilate us poor male creatures off the face of the earth, or at least our occupations and professions?" "Not quite; but I think it a very good thing that women nowadays can find occupations and professions for themselves." "It's not fair to men, it's really not," answered Webster, smiling also. "Just take my profession, for instance, which I fully expect will be invaded by the female element in no time. Now I ask you what chance has a judge to be just, to say nothing of the susceptible bosoms of the twelve good men in the jury box, when confronted with a lovely creature in silk pleading the cause of some ruffian? She'd talk them all over. She'd paint the blackest crimes white, and it would certainly come to this, that the handsomest female barristers would get all the briefs, because it would be only too well known that no man could resist them." "But I thought," said May, who was very much amused, "that before barristers wear silk that they are not quite so young as they once were? Suppose, then, an elderly female barrister, with her brow wrinkled with thought, and her sallow cheeks lined with study, were to confront the jury, do you think that she would have any more effect than a man?" Webster laughed. "You draw an appalling picture," he said; "for my part I can only answer I don't think she would." "Yet you see she would be earning her living; and what can poor women do?" "They should marry, and men should work for them."