they were often cured—­and if they relapsed—­a great part of the time; and when Miss Rennie asked her how she liked the sermon, Jane could not tell whether she liked it or not.  Mr. and Mrs. Rennie confessed that Mr. M——­ was nothing of a preacher, but he was a very good man and a private friend.  They liked to go to their own regular parish church, and did not run after celebrated preachers; though Eliza was a great admirer of eloquence, and was very often straying from her own place of worship to go with friends and acquaintances to hear some star or another, quite indifferent as to whether he were of the Establishment or of the Free Kirk, or of some other dissenting persuasion.

The conversation at Mr. Rennie’s all Sunday afternoon was much more on churches, sermons, and ministers, than any Jane had ever heard before.  She had never seen anything of the religious world, as it is called, and felt herself very much behind the company in information.  Her cousin Francis was much better acquainted with the subject; he seemed to have heard every preacher in Edinburgh, and to know every one of note in the kingdom.

Mrs. Rennie, apparently in a casual manner, asked Jane to make her house her home while she remained in Edinburgh; and the invitation was accepted with the same indifferent tone of voice, which concealed great anxiety at heart.

“I should like my cousin to accompany me to my unfashionable chapel,” said Francis.  “Will you either join us or excuse us for the evening, as it is the only opportunity I may have for a long time to take Miss Melville there?  Miss Rennie, you are the only one likely to have curiosity enough to try a new church.”

“I am sorry I cannot go this evening, for I have promised to go to St. George’s, to hear Mr. C——­, with Eleanor Watson and her brother.  You had better come with me; it is the last Sunday he is to preach in Edinburgh,” said Miss Rennie.

“You must excuse me this once,” said Mr. Hogarth; “I have a great wish that Miss Melville should hear my minister.  At any other time I will be at your command.”

Miss Rennie could not disappoint either Eleanor or Herbert Watson, or herself; so Francis and Jane went alone to the little chapel.

“It will do you good to hear a good sermon, and I expect that you will hear one.”

The idea of getting any good at church was rather new to Jane; but on this occasion, for the first time in her life, she felt real meaning in religious worship.  Never before had she felt the sentiment of dependence, which is the primary sentiment of religion.  She had been busy, and prosperous, and self-reliant; all she said and did had been considered good and wise; her position was good, her temper even, and her pleasures many.  Now she was baffled and defeated on every side—­disappointed in the present, and fearful of the future.