THE YOUNGER SISTER.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
The Reverend John Watson, who, for the space of twenty years, was theincumbent of the village of Winston, had not always been such anindolent invalid as he appeared to those who only knew him during thelast ten years of that time. When he was inducted into the living, hewas a husband and the father of five children; a sixth was very shortlyadded to their nursery; and, for several years after her birth, Mrs.Watson's activity, good judgment, and influence with her husband,preserved, for him, the esteem and respect of his parishioners, and thecharacter amongst his acquaintance, of a very kind and attentiveneighbour, and a most highly respectable parish priest. But, with herlife, his energy seemed to depart; he became indolent from sorrow;shunning society—shrinking from exertion—and confining himself to whatwas absolutely unavoidable of his duties. This line of conduct, begunfrom grief, which seemed to prostrate his mental strength, was continuedfrom self-indulgence, long after the p