'My dear Rupert, you do not mean it!' said Anne, somewhat alarmed. 'I saw it with my eyes,' said Rupert. 'But where?' 'In the Abbeychurch Reporter, or whatever you call it.' 'Oh!' said Anne, looking relieved, 'we are probably all there, as having been at the Consecration.' 'The company there present, are, I believe, honoured with due mention of Sir Edward Merton and family,' said Rupert; 'but I am speaking of another part of the paper where Miss Merton is especially noted, alone in her glory.' 'In what paper did you say, Rupert?' said Lady Merton. 'The Abbeychurch Reporter,' said he. 'Mr. Higgins's paper!' said Anne. 'O Mamma, I see it all--that horrible Mechanics' Institute!' 'Why, Anne,' said her brother, 'I thought you would be charmed with your celebrity.' 'But where have you seen it, Rupert?' said Anne; 'poor Lizzie, has she heard it?' 'Mr. Walker came in just now in great dismay, to shew it to Mr. Woodbourne,' said Rupert; 'and they had a very long discussion on the best means of contradicting it, to which I listened with gravity, quite heroic, I assure you, considering all things. Then my uncle carried it off to shew it to his wife, and I came up to congratulate you.' 'I am sure it is no subject of congratulation,' said Anne; 'where was Papa all the time?' 'Gone to call on Mr. Somerville,' said Rupert. 'But I thought Lizzie had told her father,' said Lady Merton. 'She told Mrs. Woodbourne directly,' said Anne; 'but she could not get at my uncle, and I suppose Mrs. Woodbourne had not told him. What an annoyance for them all! I hope Mr. Woodbourne is not very much displeased.' 'He was more inclined to laugh than to be angry, said Rupert; 'and it is indeed a choice morceau, worthy of Augustus Mills, Esquire, himself. I hope Mr. Woodbourne will bring it down-stairs, that you may explain to me the rare part which describes the decrepid old Giant Chivalry, sitting in his den, unable to do any mischief, only biting his nails at the passers by, like the Giant Pope in the Pilgrim's Progress.' Anne could not help laughing. 'But, Rupert,' said she, 'pray do not say too much about it in the evening. I am not at all sure that Papa will not be very much displeased to see his name figuring in the paper as if he was a supporter of this horrid place. I wish, as Lizzie says, that I had cut my head off before I went, for it has really come to be something serious. Papa's name will seem to sanction their proceedings.' 'My dear,' said Lady Merton, 'you may comfort yourself by remembering that your Papa's character is too well known to be affected by such an assertion as this; most people will not believe it, and those who do, can only think that his daughter is turning radical, not himself.' 'Ay, this is the first public decisive act of Miss Merton's life,' said Rupert; 'no wonder so much is made of it.' 'But, Rupert,' said Anne, 'I only beg of you not to say anything about it to Lizzie.'