"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.