replied, `I'll just give you an answer in the words of one whose opinion you'll respect, I think, and it's this--' "I dare do all that may become a man, Who dares do more is none." "So says Shakespeare, and so say I.--Then they took to abusing Amos again; so I just told them that I had found by experience that my brother's advice and opinion were worth taking, and that I had no wish to hear him cried down unless they could show that he was wrong. Well, you may suppose that we soon found out that our horses wanted to go different ways; so we raised our hats to one another and took leave, and thus ended the partnership of Huntingdon, Gregson, and Saunders." There was silence for a while, during which the hands of the two brothers were clasped tightly in each other. At last Miss Huntingdon said, "Now, dear Walter, you may make your laurel crown whenever you please, and I shall be only too happy to place it myself on your head-- yes, the crown fairly won by an act of true and lofty moral courage." CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. A FEW BACKWARD STEPS. A year slipped rapidly by after the return of Julia Vivian to her home. Her unhappy husband had not shown himself anywhere in the neighbourhood, nor had he sent her a single letter. She herself gradually recovered her once lively spirits, and scattered much brightness round her. Miss Huntingdon would have retired, and left her to take the management of her father's household, but she implored her not to do so; and as Mr Huntingdon himself evidently preferred that his sister should keep her usual position in the family, at any rate for the present, she consented, hoping that the united influence of Amos and herself might be the means, under God, of bringing Julia and Walter to take a decided stand on the Lord's side.