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Rh asked to spend her Christmas with the Staveleys at Noningsby—the family of Judge Staveley, who lives near Alston, at a very pretty country place so called. Mr. Furnival had been for many years acquainted with Judge Staveley—had known the judge when he was a leading counsel; and now that Mr. Furnival was a rising man, and now that he had a pretty daughter, it was natural that the young Staveleys and Sophia Furnival should know each other. But poor Mrs. Furnival was too ponderous for this mounting late in life, and she had not been asked to Noningsby. She was much too good a mother to repine at her daughter's promised gaiety. Sophia was welcome to go; but by all the laws of God and man it would behove her lord and husband to eat his mincepie at home.

'Mr. Furnival was to be back in town this evening,' the lady said, as though apologizing to young Mason for her husband's absence, when he entered the drawing-room, 'but he has not come, and I dare say will not come now.'

Mason did not care a straw for Mr. Furnival. 'Oh! won't he?' said he. 'I suppose business keeps him.'

'Papa is very busy about politics just at present,' said Sophia, wishing to make matters smooth in her mother's mind. 'He was obliged to be at Romford in the beginning of the week, and then he went down to Birmingham. There is some congress going on there, is there not?'

'All that must take a great deal of time,' said Lucius.

'Yes; and it is a terrible bore,' said Sophia. 'I know papa finds it so.'

'Your papa likes it, I believe,' said Mrs. Furnival, who would not hide even her grievances under a bushel.

'I don't think he likes being so much from home, mamma. Of course he likes excitement, and success. All men do. Do they not, Mr. Mason?'

'They all ought to do so, and women also.'

'Ah! but women have no sphere, Mr. Mason.'

'They have minds equal to those of men,' said Lucius, gallantly, 'and ought to be able to make for themselves careers as brilliant.'

'Women ought not to have any spheres,' said Mrs. Furnival.

'I don't know that I quite agree with you there, mamma.'

'The world is becoming a great deal too fond of what you call excitement and success. Of course it is a good thing for a man to make money by his profession, and a very hard thing when he can't do it,' added Mrs. Furnival, thinking of the olden days. 'But if success in life means rampaging about, and never knowing what it is to sit quiet over his own fireside, I for one would as soon manage to do without it.'

'But, mamma, I don't see why success should always be rampageous.'