"I would sell the Ings to save your life,
Wilfred, but for nothing less!"

There was at this time, living on a
neighbouring farm, an old man of the name of
Price, who had a grand-daughter to keep his
house. She was called Nelly; and, besides
being a small heiress, was a beauty, and
something of a coquette. Nelly had a short,
plump little figure; a complexion as soft and
clear as a blush-rose, and auburn hair.
Wilfred fell in love. He was a tall, hardy,
self-willed, and proud young fellow; but in
Nelly's hands he was plastic as wax, and
weak as water. She encouraged him, teased
him, caressed him, mocked him, set him
beside himself. She played off all her
little witcheries and fascinations upon him;
looked sweetly unconscious of their
mischievous influence; and , when Wilfred stormed
and raved, she laughed in his face. He
wanted to marry her immediately; she had
played with him long enough, he thought;
and one evening when she had been soft and
coy, rather than teasing, he put his fortune
to the proof. She told him flatly she did not
like him—wherein Nelly told anything but
the truth, as perhaps better women have
done under like circumstance.

Wilfred took her reply in earnest, and
went away in a rage—mad, jealous, and burning
with passionate disappointment. Hester
hated Nelly, and gave her not a few hard
words; for in her camp life, the mother had
culled some epithets, more expressive than
polite, which she used with vigorous truth
when her wrath was excited. She kept her
son's wound raw and sore by frequent scornful
allusions to his " Nelly Graceless," and
did her best to widen the breach between
them with ample success.

Wilfred stayed away from the Prices for
ten whole days.

This desertion did not suit the golden-
headed but tinsel-hearted little coquette.
She contrived to meet him in a shady wood-
walk, where they had often loitered together.
He was out with his dog and gun; very ill
at ease in mind, for his handsome face looked
sullen and dangerous, and he would not see
her as she passed by. Mortified and angry,
Nelly went home and cried herself ill.
Wilfred heard she had caught a fever, and must
needs go to ask. She met him at the garden
gate, with a smile and a blush; whereat
Wilfred was so glad, that he forgot to
reproach her. There was, in consequence, a
complete reconciliation, ratified by kisses and
promises—light coin with beauty Nell, but
real heart-gold with poor, infatuated Wilfred.
Hester almost despised her son when she
heard of it.

"She is only fooling thee, lad! " said she,
indignantly. " Come a richer suitor to the
door, she'll throw thee over. She is only a
light, false-hearted lass, not worth a whistle
of thine."

Therein Hester spake truth.

Nelly played with her lover as a cat plays
with a mouse. Wilfred urged their marriage.
She would one day, and the next day she
would not. Then arose other difficulties.
Hester did not want an interloper by her
fire-side, and would not give up the farm to
her son; in fact, she was so jealous of his
affection, that the thought of his marriage
was hateful to her. Old Price said the
young folks might settle with him, if they
would; but Nelly liked the house at the Ings
better, and thought Wilfred ought to take
her there. When he explained that the
property was his mother's for her life, she
immediately accused him of not loving her,
and assumed a decided coldness and repulsiveness
of manner. Wilfred, both hurt and
angry, tried to give her up, but his bonds
were not so easily escaped. If he stayed
away from her two days, on the third he was
sure to be at her side, either winning her
with tender words, or reproaching her with
bitter ones. Nelly must have found the
game a pleasant one, for she kept it up a long
time, undergoing herself as many changes of
hue and form as a bubble blown up into the
sunshine.

Frequently, during his lengthy visits at the
Glebe Farm, Wilfred had encountered a man,
Joseph Rigby by name, a dales-yeoman, and
one of considerable wealth, but no education.
This man was one of the last in the
world to excite jealousy; but presently
Wilfred was compelled to see that Nelly gave
the coarse-mannered, middle-aged Rigby,
more of her attentions than consorted with
her position as his promised wife. He
charged her with the fact. At first she
denied it with blushes, and tears, and loud
protestations; but at last confessed that
Rigby had proposed to her—she did not dare
to add that she had half-accepted him. They
parted in mutual displeasure; and old Price
said, as they agreed so badly, they had better
break off the match, and Nelly should marry
Joseph Rigby, who was well-to-do, and would
know how to keep his wife in order. Wilfred
went near her no more.

Presently, it was rumoured in the country-
side that Nelly Price and Mr. Rigby were to
be married after the October fairs. Hester
sneered, prophesied that the rich yeoman
would repent his bargain before Saint Mark's,
and rejoiced greatly at her son's escape.

Meanwhile, Wilfred went about the farm
and the house, silent, moody, and spiritless.
He was quite changed, and, as his mother
thought, for the better. Instead of associating
with his former companions, he stayed much
at home, and again renewed his entreaties
that his mother would sell the Ings, and
leave the dales altogether. He wanted to
migrate. He did not care where they went,
so that they got away from that hateful place.
Hester was as reluctant as ever to comply;
but she modified her refusal—they would try
a year longer: if he were still in the same