Brit's Wine lets wineries engage with consumers in a new way

Brit's Wine

Why is everyone suddenly talking about side hustles? Because for many they deliver the purpose and profit that isn’t fully being provided by their day job. A side hustle is a passion-driven product or service that you create and sell without leaving your day job. The benefits are multiple. It gives you the opportunity to grow through experience in an area of passion. You add to your income. And — most importantly — it tends to boost happiness because you spend a little bit of time everyday creating something you love. Sound like a side hustle might deliver what’s missing in your current day job? Here are 5 steps to help you get there: 1. Pick a side hustle that aligns with your passion — especially if your day job doesn’t. The passion component is what makes a “side hustle” different from traditional moonlighting. It’s for everyone who ever said something like, “I work as an accountant, but I’m really a jewelry designer.” Whether you love dogs and decide to an evening dog walking business, are an artist and sell digital greeting cards, or you make the world’s most delicious pot pies and become the , the commercial aspect to the side hustle forces us to get better at what we do in a way that a hobby never will. We have to figure things out because people are paying for it. launch Pot Pie Lady If the side hustle isn’t passion-driven, then we quickly run out of the energy and enthusiasm needed to build our skill enough to make it successful. 2. Don’t spend too much time (or money) on the plan. Create something and get it out there. Side hustles are particularly vulnerable to “paralysis by analysis.” Because side hustles are so uniquely personal, there are few templates. You will be building the bridge as you walk on it. The best way to launch a side hustle is to put your product or service out there and begin testing . You are looking to launch what Eric Reis defines in the Lean Start Up as a “minimum viable product.” Do the least amount of work necessary to get your offering in front of people so you can start testing what sells. ideas In our dog walking example, this is the difference between waiting to launch until you have a perfectly designed website, matching leashes, and promotional dog biscuits, or just ordering business cards from and distributing them in your neighborhood. Start the work, then let the trappings catch up with you. Moo.com 3. Set boundaries around your side hustle from the beginning (aka. don’t get fired from your day job.) It probably goes without saying that working on your side hustle at your day job will get you fired. But what you may not realize is that you need to set those boundaries ahead of time. Pursuing a passion can easily win your affections and make it hard to keep it out of your normal work life. Define when you will work on your side hustle and carve that time out. You might get up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later. You might devote every Saturday morning or every Sunday afternoon to the side hustle. Make the decision of how it fits in your life at the beginning, then defend those timeslots as essential. 4. Refine your side hustle in real time as you receive feedback. One of the best parts of launching a side hustle is that the scale makes it easy to test ideas and respond to market feedback in real time. You then, pivot your strategy until you find what works. For example, if you launch a line of personalized leather bracelets on Etsy but find more men buy them than women (or that women are simply buying them for their husbands) you might shift your designs toward more masculine styles. Or if you are a copy writer selling resume services, you might find you have more clients interested in recrafting their LinkedIn page than formal resumes and can tailor your website feature that service more effectively. 5. After you make 1k, get your bookkeeping in order. The thing about side hustles is that they usually evolve. In the beginning, you probably won’t think much about tracking expenses or keeping the income separate from your personal funds, but there will come a time when that becomes advantageous. Once you break $1,000, set up a separate bank account for deposits from your side hustle and begin to track expenses. Whether you use a spreadsheet or a service like Freshbooks which delivers real profit/loss statements and makes it easy to invoice clients, separating your business funds as a real business allows you to make intentional decisions about the extra income and can save you money in dealing with taxes. What should your side hustle be? Here are 40 ideas to inspire you: MAKE SOMETHING Launch an Etsy shop to sell handcrafts. Deconstruct old motorcycles and sell the parts on Ebay. Upcycle fashion by turning old clothes into something new and sell online. Make homemade pet food and deliver. Get a table at your local farmers market and sell something in a Mason jar (jam, salsa, homemade beauty products, ready to bake cakes, etc). Craft and sell cosplay costumes. Create a graphic design around your hobby, upload and sell at CafePress.com. Make personalized gifts and signs with vinyl letters. Start your own mail-by-the month subscription and craft boxes that people receive each month. Make and sell holiday gifts for expatriates (ie. Christmas crackers for Brits, colorful Holi powders for Indian expats, etc.). TEACH OR COACH Launch a “Mid-Life Crisis Music Class” (Everyone has an instrument they wished they’d learned when younger.) Become a professional mentor. (Certifications are available through ICF) Teach fitness classes or become a personal trainer. Teach classes on essential oils, herbs, teas or DIY beauty and household products. Sell your fashion sense and help people craft an image. Launch a YouTube channel with explainer videos in your area of expertise. Become a makeup artist. (You can work part-time at a store that offers training like Sephora, Mac or others to increase your skills and take advantage of employee product discounts.) Use Kindle Direct Publishing to sell your eBook. Become a podcaster and sell coaching as your product. Launch a business as a professional organizer and teach people to better use their personal space. CRAFT EXPERIENCES Serve as a tour guide in your own city and organize day tours around your personal passions of sightseeing, restaurants, wine, hiking, etc. Create a space in your home to rent out via Airbnb. Design a show for children’s birthday parties, 50th wedding anniversaries, etc. (Once friends of mine designed a 1940’s radio show that was hired by nursing homes.) Create cooking experiences in your home where people taste and learn about different foods. Host mini spa experiences where people learn to make their own bath products. Write encouraging letters that people receive in the mail via paid subscription. Organize an experience that lets people come in contact with animals. You could bring your pet to someone’s lunch break. Offer ideas to parents for experiences they can do with their kids across summer vacation. Organize a retreat around your personal passion: yoga, fitness, writing, meditation, scrapbooking, etc. You take on the details of arranging lodging, food and activities. Participants pay a flat rate — which you set to cover costs and a profit for you! Become a sports explainer. Accompany people to a sporting event and explain what is happening. (They pay a fee and buy your ticket.) OFFER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Write resumes. Walk or groom dogs. Offer party planning services (it helps to specialize in engagement, children’s birthday parties, showers, etc.) Become a voice over artist for professionally read audio books. Check out . acx.com Offer graphic design or virtual assistant services on Upwork.com. Become a notary. Provide in-home IT services. Serve as a weekend nanny. Identify a task that people typically don’t enjoy — but you do — and sell it as a service. Consult professionally in any area in which you have expertise to offer. The beautiful thing about side hustles is that they don’t require a big investment to get started. So, decide what you want to offer and start experimenting. You might discover that not only do you reconnect to purpose, but you also fund a nice vacation!

5 steps to launch a side hustle with 40 ideas to inspire you

Feeling trapped in a rut can make you want to make a drastic change, like starting a new profession, going on a dream vacation, or adopting a drastically healthier lifestyle. Major shifts, however, are typically unsettling. Quite pricey, too. As well as challenging. Therefore, you do nothing but wallow in your miserable rut, daydreaming of a radical change but failing to bring about any such transformation. In what ways can you end this pattern? The solution is quite obvious to experts. At least in the beginning, put your lofty goals on hold and focus on making little adjustments. Start your new life off right by doing a plethora of tiny things that will broaden your horizons, boost your energy, inspire your creativity, and teach you what works and what doesn't. Get some exercise—even ten minutes will do Endorphins are the hormones your body releases when you exercise; they reduce pain and tension. You've probably heard of them. However, exercise has far-reaching effects on your body beyond just releasing feel-good chemicals. Increased levels of the feel-good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine are another benefit of physical activity. Plus, your heart rate gets higher during activity, which means more oxygen gets to your brain. The benefits of a well-oxygenated brain are numerous and well-documented, and they include the alleviation of anxiety and sadness. Shawn Achor references an intriguing study on this in his book, The Happiness Advantage. I will be citing this book extensively in this piece; it is, by the way, an excellent read. Participants in the study were divided into three groups, each of which received treatment for depression by medication, exercise, or a hybrid approach. I was astonished by the findings of this study. Despite initial improvements in happiness levels being comparable across all three groups, the results of the follow-up assessments showed significant differences: What should I do today? Relocate to a more convenient location for employment (or engage in remote work) How we feel on the way to work each day might have a significant effect on our mood. Given that this is something we do on a daily, five-day rotation, it seems to reason that its cumulative effect would diminish our happiness over time. There is a negative correlation between commute time and happiness, according to multiple research. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health stated that people's happiness with their jobs and lives tends to decline as their commute times increase. Additionally, long commutes have negative effects on people's physical health and lead to a lack of physical exercise. So, it's not surprising that having a short commute (the distance between your home and your desk) has a significant impact on your happiness and well-being. Remote workers report 20% higher levels of happiness compared to their in-office colleagues, according to a survey conducted by Tracking Happiness in 2023. Nearly 9 in 10 people who participated in our most recent survey about the state of remote work reported favourable experiences with remote work, and nearly all of those people (98 percent) expressed a desire to continue working remotely at least occasionally during their careers. "The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate," explains Achor. A third of people who had taken antidepressants on their own had relapsed. With a recurrence rate of 31%, the combination group was just marginally better off. However, the exercise group's shockingly low recurrence rate of 9% was the most shocking. Relaxation, enhanced cognitive function, and a more positive self-image are all benefits of regular physical activity. Even in the absence of observable changes, regular exercise improved participants' self-esteem, according to research published in the Journal of Health Psychology. Optimal aspect? The Journal of Happiness Studies found that even 10 minutes of movement each day significantly increased participants' levels of happiness, so there's no need to swear off long runs or intense HIIT classes altogether if you want to live your best life. You'll feel like a million bucks if you get more sleep. The American Psychological Association reports that not getting enough sleep has a host of negative health effects, including impaired focus and memory, metabolic disruption, and elevated stress hormone levels. It goes without saying that a poor night's sleep can have a significant effect on your mood, in addition to the obvious health effects of insufficient sleep ("People who chronically fail to get enough sleep may actually be cutting their lives short," according to the APA). Inadequate or bad sleep exacerbated emotional states, according to a study published in the journal Sleep that examined the sleep habits of 30,594 British individuals aged 16 and up over a 4-year period. In order to measure health-related quality of life, they compared those who slept more and better with those who did not utilise the frequently administered General Health Questionnaire (GHQ): Mental health professionals who complete an eight-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programme to increase psychological well-being show comparable changes on the GHQ, according to the study. "They are also on par with the typical enhancement in happiness demonstrated by Brits who win a medium-sized lottery two years subsequent to the win." Reading this will improve your mood just as much as hitting the jackpot. Enjoy the company of loved ones Even for those who are naturally reserved, spending time with others is crucial to our well-being. Spending time with loved ones significantly improves our mood, according to multiple research. This is a quote from Daniel Gilbert, a happiness expert at Harvard University: "We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends, and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends." I really like this explanation. One of the most extensive longitudinal studies ever conducted followed the lives of 268 men for 72 years under the direction of psychiatrist George Vaillant. He was asked about the lessons he had acquired from the men in an interview that took place in 2008. The answer from Vaillant: "That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people." He discussed the study's findings with Joshua Wolf Shenk of The Atlantic, who was interested in the men's social relationships and their impact on happiness: "No other variable, except defences, predicted late-life adjustment better than the men's relationships at age 47," says Wolf Shenk. "Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger." Go find a greenish area outside. Those of us who are cooped up at our desks all day long can rejoice: getting some fresh air doesn't require slaving away in the sun. The International Journal of Environmental Health Research found that a mere 20 minutes spent outdoors in a green area significantly improved participants' well-being. According to Hon Yuen, who was a co-author of the study, "some people may go to the park and just enjoy nature" (TIME). They are under no need to engage in strenuous physical activity. After you unwind and lessen your tension, you'll start to feel happier. Urban parks in Birmingham, UK, rather than Yosemite National Park, were visited by study participants, so there's no need to worry if the concept of finding a place green enough to be deemed "nature" seems far-fetched. For the majority of people, the ideal place to spend a warm, sunny weekend day is outside, close to the water, according to research out of the University of Sussex. Actually, people reported much higher levels of happiness when they were outside in natural settings as opposed to city dwellers. Temperature is an intriguing additional factor. According to studies published by the American Meteorological Society, human happiness is more affected by the present temperature than by factors such as wind speed and humidity or even by the day average temperature. Keep an eye on the forecast before you go outside for your 20 minutes of fresh air, because it was shown that happiness is maximised around 13.9°C (57°F).

What Should I Do Today?

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests. My name is Dmitrii (for most non-Russian speaking people, it is easier to pronounce as ‘Dimitry’). I am a software developer since the 1990s when I first started with Borland tools, such as Paradox and Delphi. In the mid-2000s, I switched to .NET, and my first project for it was developed in version 1.1. Quickly after version 2.0 was released, the project was updated to the new .NET version, and since then, I have been doing all sorts of applications - WinForms and WPF, Web APIs, Silverlight, WCF services, cloud-hosted apps and services, and on and on... I like to emphasize on code quality and clean code (not the same as the 'clean architecture', mind you!) - this is what I always keep in mind while designing, implementing, or doing code reviews. And do not take me wrong - I have nothing against clean architecture; it is just a very different level of concern that has its own time and place. Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about? The is about log enrichment; it is my second story dedicated to improving the code quality around logging and observability. Unfortunately, my personal observation is that many projects suffer from treating these concerns as 'second-class citizens', often neglecting best practices and patterns when it comes to adding or implementing logging and observability. latest story Thus, since one of my recent efforts in a large-scale enterprise system was closely related to cleaning up exactly this problem, I decided to share with a wider audience what can done to lessen the pain and improve the quality. Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about? Actually, I do not write that often, not until recently, at least. Mostly, it is live communication with other people in my company over a topic. However, as I realized, most of these interactions revolve around my favorite subjects of code quality, and this is what I would like to explore further in writing. Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?) Not much routine here, yet. However, it all begins with live code, and then I can see how some particular code piece or approach can be extended to other similar cases, generalized, and made useful for other people and situations. So, I take this code piece, clean it up - anonymize, if you will - and generalize to better suit the purpose of demonstrating a particular concept. Then I go over the code and explore all important bits and pieces - 'the devil is in the details' - generally it is not enough to copy and paste a piece of code, or call a method, or use a class. A developer needs to know the why's and side effects - there may be a real game-changer that may turn a proposed solution into its opposite if these details are not respected. Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing? I think the most challenging is staying brief and simple. Too many words obscure the meaning and may lead a reader astray. The writer is also in danger of not reaching the initial goal while probably not even realizing it. On a humorous note - the 'single responsibility principle' shines in many aspects of our life; not just in software development. What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career? Having more impact - taking on a role that would allow me to help more and be involved in doing what matters to many people and businesses. Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice? That would be good wine and liquor... In measure, of course. I enjoy exploring wines and strong drinks offered by different countries and cultures in the company of my friends. Good and fitting wine may change a regular meal into something really memorable and enjoyable. Elegance really affects the quality - be it in engineering or in more simple life experiences. Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it? Traveling. I did not visit that many places but I can count stamps of probably fifteen countries in my passport, and I do not mind coming back again and exploring more. The world is very rich, we only need to take what it offers. What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next? I think more on code quality in that or another way. As I mentioned, the main challenge I see is in being brief and simple. Quality often comes with simplicity (not via simplification, though). But making things simple is often one of the hardest things to do, thus there is a lot to learn and share here. What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers? Actually, I am grateful - Hackernoon gives a convenient way of sharing with other people, and it’s effective and far-reaching. A real treat for both a reader and a writer. Thanks for taking time to join our “ ” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words? Meet the writer Thank you for the opportunity to share!

Meet the Writer: HackerNoon Contributor Dmitrii - A Software Developer Since the 90s

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . "OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE, AND ON WITH THE NEW." here CHAPTER LVI. "OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE, AND ON WITH THE NEW." The next morning saw Mrs. Gibson in a much more contented frame of mind. She had written and posted her letter, and the next thing was to keep Cynthia in what she called a reasonable state, or, in other words, to try and cajole her into docility. But it was so much labour lost. Cynthia had already received a letter from Mr. Henderson before she came down to breakfast,—a declaration of love, a proposal of marriage as clear as words could make it; together with an intimation that, unable to wait for the slow delays of the post, he was going to follow her down to Hollingford, and would arrive at the same time that she had done herself on the previous day. Cynthia said nothing about this letter to any one. She came late into the breakfast-room, after Mr. and Mrs. Gibson had finished the actual business of the meal; but her unpunctuality was quite accounted for by the fact that she had been travelling all the night before. Molly was not as yet strong enough to get up so early. Cynthia hardly spoke, and did not touch her food. Mr. Gibson went about his daily business, and Cynthia and her mother were left alone. "My dear," said Mrs. Gibson, "you are not eating your breakfast as you should do. I am afraid our meals seem very plain and homely to you after those in Hyde Park Street?" "No," said Cynthia; "I'm not hungry, that's all." "If we were as rich as your uncle, I should feel it to be both a duty and a pleasure to keep an elegant table; but limited means are a sad clog to one's wishes. I don't suppose that, work as he will, Mr. Gibson can earn more than he does at present; while the capabilities of the law are boundless. Lord Chancellor! Titles as well as fortune!" Cynthia was almost too much absorbed in her own reflections to reply, but she did say,—"Hundreds of briefless barristers. Take the other side, mamma." "Well; but I have noticed that many of these have private fortunes." "Perhaps. Mamma, I expect Mr. Henderson will come and call this morning." "Oh, my precious child! But how do you know? My darling Cynthia, am I to congratulate you?" "No! I suppose I must tell you. I have had a letter this morning from him, and he's coming down by the 'Umpire' to-day." "But he has offered? He surely must mean to offer, at any rate?" Cynthia played with her teaspoon before she replied; then she looked up, like one startled from a dream, and caught the echo of her mother's question. "Offered! yes, I suppose he has." "And you accept him? Say 'yes,' Cynthia, and make me happy!" "I shan't say 'yes' to make any one happy except myself, and the Russian scheme has great charms for me." She said this to plague her mother, and lessen Mrs. Gibson's exuberance of joy, it must be confessed; for her mind was pretty well made up. But it did not affect Mrs. Gibson, who affixed even less truth to it than there really was. The idea of a residence in a new, strange country, among new, strange people, was not without allurement to Cynthia. "You always look nice, dear; but don't you think you had better put on that pretty lilac silk?" "I shall not vary a thread or a shred from what I have got on now." "You dear, wilful creature! you know you always look lovely in whatever you put on." So, kissing her daughter, Mrs. Gibson left the room, intent on the lunch which should impress Mr. Henderson at once with an idea of family refinement. Cynthia went upstairs to Molly; she was inclined to tell her about Mr. Henderson, but she found it impossible to introduce the subject naturally, so she left it to time to reveal the future as gradually as it might. Molly was tired with a bad night; and her father, in his flying visit to his darling before going out, had advised her to stay upstairs for the greater part of the morning, and to keep quiet in her own room till after her early dinner, so Time had not a fair chance of telling her what he had in store in his budget. Mrs. Gibson sent an apology to Molly for not paying her her usual morning visit, and told Cynthia to give Mr. Henderson's probable coming as a reason for her occupation downstairs. But Cynthia did no such thing. She kissed Molly, and sate silently by her, holding her hand; till at length she jumped up, and said, "You shall be left alone now, little one. I want you to be very well and very bright this afternoon: so rest now." And Cynthia left her, and went to her own room, locked the door, and began to think. Some one was thinking about her at the same time, and it was not Mr. Henderson. Roger had heard from Mr. Gibson that Cynthia had come home, and he was resolving to go to her at once, and have one strong, manly attempt to overcome the obstacles whatever they might be—and of their nature he was not fully aware—that she had conjured up against the continuance of their relation to each other. He left his father—he left them all—and went off into the woods, to be alone until the time came when he might mount his horse and ride over to put his fate to the touch. He was as careful as ever not to interfere with the morning hours that were tabooed to him of old; but waiting was very hard work when he knew that she was so near, and the time so near at hand. Yet he rode slowly, compelling himself to quietness and patience when he was once really on the way to her. "Mrs. Gibson at home? Miss Kirkpatrick?" he asked of the servant, Maria, who opened the door. She was confused, but he did not notice it. "I think so—I'm not sure! Will you walk up into the drawing-room, sir? Miss Gibson is there, I know." So he went upstairs, all his nerves on the strain for the coming interview with Cynthia. It was either a relief or a disappointment, he was not sure which, to find only Molly in the room:—Molly, half lying on the couch in the bow-window which commanded the garden; draped in soft white drapery, very white herself, and a laced half-handkerchief tied over her head to save her from any ill effects of the air that blew in through the open window. He was so ready to speak to Cynthia that he hardly knew what to say to any one else. "I am afraid you are not so well," he said to Molly, who sat up to receive him, and who suddenly began to tremble with emotion. "I'm a little tired, that's all," said she; and then she was quite silent, hoping that he might go, and yet somehow wishing him to stay. But he took a chair and placed it near her, opposite to the window. He thought that surely Maria would tell Miss Kirkpatrick that she was wanted, and that at any moment he might hear her light quick footstep on the stairs. He felt he ought to talk, but he could not think of anything to say. The pink flush came out on Molly's cheeks; once or twice she was on the point of speaking, but again she thought better of it; and the pauses between their faint disjointed remarks became longer and longer. Suddenly, in one of these pauses, the merry murmur of distant happy voices in the garden came nearer and nearer; Molly looked more and more uneasy and flushed, and in spite of herself kept watching Roger's face. He could see over her into the garden. A sudden deep colour overspread him, as if his heart had sent its blood out coursing at full gallop. Cynthia and Mr. Henderson had come in sight; he eagerly talking to her as he bent forward to look into her face; she, her looks half averted in pretty shyness, was evidently coquetting about some flowers, which she either would not give, or would not take. Just then, for the lovers had emerged from the shrubbery into comparatively public life, Maria was seen approaching; apparently she had feminine tact enough to induce Cynthia to leave her present admirer, and to go a few steps to meet her to receive the whispered message that Mr. Roger Hamley was there, and wished to speak to her. Roger could see her startled gesture; she turned back to say something to Mr. Henderson before coming towards the house. Now Roger spoke to Molly—spoke hurriedly, spoke hoarsely. "Molly, tell me! Is it too late for me to speak to Cynthia? I came on purpose. Who is that man?" "Mr. Henderson. He only came to-day—but now he is her accepted lover. Oh, Roger, forgive me the pain!" "Tell her I have been, and am gone. Send out word to her. Don't let her be interrupted." And Roger ran downstairs at full speed, and Molly heard the passionate clang of the outer door. He had hardly left the house before Cynthia entered the room, pale and resolute. "Where is he?" she said, looking around, as if he might yet be hidden. "Gone!" said Molly, very faint. "Gone. Oh, what a relief! It seems to be my fate never to be off with the old lover before I am on with the new, and yet I did write as decidedly as I could. Why, Molly, what's the matter?" for now Molly had fainted away utterly. Cynthia flew to the bell, summoned Maria, water, salts, wine, anything; and as soon as Molly, gasping and miserable, became conscious again, she wrote a little pencil-note to Mr. Henderson, bidding him return to the "George," whence he had come in the morning, and saying that if he obeyed her at once, he might be allowed to call again in the evening, otherwise she would not see him till the next day. This she sent down by Maria, and the unlucky man never believed but that it was Miss Gibson's sudden indisposition in the first instance that had deprived him of his charmer's company. He comforted himself for the long solitary afternoon by writing to tell all his friends of his happiness, and amongst them uncle and aunt Kirkpatrick, who received his letter by the same post as that discreet epistle of Mrs. Gibson's, which she had carefully arranged to reveal as much as she wished, and no more. "Was he very terrible?" asked Cynthia, as she sate with Molly in the stillness of Mrs. Gibson's dressing-room. "Oh, Cynthia, it was such pain to see him, he suffered so!" "I don't like people of deep feelings," said Cynthia, pouting. "They don't suit me. Why couldn't he let me go without this fuss? I'm not worth his caring for!" "You have the happy gift of making people love you. Remember Mr. Preston,—he too wouldn't give up hope." "Now I won't have you classing Roger Hamley and Mr. Preston together in the same sentence. One was as much too bad for me as the other is too good. Now I hope that man in the garden is the ,—I'm that myself, for I don't think I'm vicious, and I know I'm not virtuous." juste milieu "Do you really like him enough to marry him?" asked Molly earnestly. "Do think, Cynthia. It won't do to go on throwing your lovers off; you give pain that I'm sure you do not mean to do,—that you cannot understand." "Perhaps I can't. I'm not offended. I never set up for what I am not, and I know I'm not constant. I've told Mr. Henderson so—" She stopped, blushing and smiling at the recollection. "You have! and what did he say?" "That he liked me just as I was; so you see he's fairly warned. Only he's a little afraid, I suppose,—for he wants me to be married very soon, almost directly, in fact. But I don't know if I shall give way,—you hardly saw him, Molly,—but he's coming again to-night, and mind, I'll never forgive you if you don't think him very charming. I believe I cared for him when he offered all those months ago, but I tried to think I didn't; only sometimes I really was so unhappy, I thought I must put an iron band round my heart to keep it from breaking, like the Faithful John of the German story,—do you remember, Molly?—how when his master came to his crown and his fortune and his lady-love, after innumerable trials and disgraces, and was driving away from the church where he'd been married in a coach and six, with Faithful John behind, the happy couple heard three great cracks in succession, and on inquiring, they were the iron-bands round his heart, that Faithful John had worn all during the time of his master's tribulation, to keep it from breaking." In the evening Mr. Henderson came. Molly had been very curious to see him; and when she saw him she was not sure whether she liked him or not. He was handsome, without being conceited; gentlemanly, without being foolishly fine. He talked easily, and never said a silly thing. He was perfectly well-appointed, yet never seemed to have given a thought to his dress. He was good-tempered and kind; not without some of the cheerful flippancy of repartee which belonged to his age and profession, and which his age and profession are apt to take for wit. But he wanted something in Molly's eyes—at any rate, in this first interview, and in her heart of hearts she thought him rather commonplace. But of course she said nothing of this to Cynthia, who was evidently as happy as she could be. Mrs. Gibson, too, was in the seventh heaven of ecstasy, and spoke but little; but what she did say, expressed the highest sentiments in the finest language. Mr. Gibson was not with them for long, but while he was there he was evidently studying the unconscious Mr. Henderson with his dark penetrating eyes. Mr. Henderson behaved exactly as he ought to have done to everybody: respectful to Mr. Gibson, deferential to Mrs. Gibson, friendly to Molly, devoted to Cynthia. The next time Mr. Gibson found Molly alone, he began,—"Well! and how do you like the new relation that is to be?" "It's difficult to say. I think he's very nice in all his bits, but—rather dull on the whole." "I think him perfection," said Mr. Gibson, to Molly's surprise; but in an instant afterwards she saw that he had been speaking ironically. He went on. "I don't wonder she preferred him to Roger Hamley. Such scents! such gloves! And then his hair and his cravat!" "Now, papa, you're not fair. He is a great deal more than that. One could see that he had very good feeling; and he is very handsome, and very much attached to her." "So was Roger. However, I must confess I shall be only too glad to have her married. She's a girl who'll always have some love-affair on hand, and will always be apt to slip through a man's fingers if he doesn't look sharp; as I was saying to Roger—" "You have seen him, then, since he was here?" "Met him in the street." "How was he?" "I don't suppose he'd been going through the pleasantest thing in the world; but he'll get over it before long. He spoke with sense and resignation, and didn't say much about it; but one could see that he was feeling it pretty sharply. He's had three months to think it over, remember. The Squire, I should guess, is showing more indignation. He is boiling over, that any one should reject his son! The enormity of the sin never seems to have been apparent to him till now, when he sees how Roger is affected by it. Indeed, with the exception of myself, I don't know one reasonable father; eh, Molly?" Whatever else Mr. Henderson might be, he was an impatient lover; he wanted to marry Cynthia directly—next week—the week after; at any rate before the long vacation, so that they could go abroad at once. Trousseaux, and preliminary ceremonies, he gave to the winds. Mr. Gibson, generous as usual, called Cynthia aside a morning or two after her engagement, and put a hundred-pound note into her hands. "There! that's to pay your expenses to Russia and back. I hope you'll find your pupils obedient." To his surprise, and rather to his discomfiture, Cynthia threw her arms round his neck and kissed him. "You are the kindest person I know," said she; "and I don't know how to thank you in words." "If you tumble my shirt-collars again in that way, I'll charge you for the washing. Just now, too, when I'm trying so hard to be trim and elegant, like your Mr. Henderson." "But you do like him, don't you?" said Cynthia, pleadingly. "He does so like you." "Of course. We're all angels just now, and you're an arch-angel. I hope he'll wear as well as Roger." Cynthia looked grave. "That was a very silly affair," she said. "We were two as unsuitable people—" "It has ended, and that's enough. Besides, I've no more time to waste; and there's your smart young man coming here in all haste." Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick sent all manner of congratulations; and Mrs. Gibson, in a private letter, assured Mrs. Kirkpatrick that her ill-timed confidence about Roger should be considered as quite private. For as soon as Mr. Henderson had made his appearance in Hollingford, she had written a second letter, entreating them not to allude to anything she might have said in her first; which she said was written in such excitement on discovering the real state of her daughter's affections, that she had hardly known what she had said, and had exaggerated some things, and misunderstood others: all that she did know now was, that Mr. Henderson had just proposed to Cynthia, and was accepted, and that they were as happy as the day was long, and ("excuse the vanity of a mother,") made a most lovely couple. So Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick wrote back an equally agreeable letter, praising Mr. Henderson, admiring Cynthia, and generally congratulatory; insisting into the bargain that the marriage should take place from their house in Hyde Park Street, and that Mr. and Mrs. Gibson and Molly should all come up and pay them a visit. There was a little postscript at the end. "Surely you do not mean the famous traveller, Hamley, about whose discoveries all our scientific men are so much excited. You speak of him as a young Hamley, who went to Africa. Answer this question, pray, for Helen is most anxious to know." This P.S. being in Helen's handwriting. In her exultation at the general success of everything, and desire for sympathy, Mrs. Gibson read parts of this letter to Molly; the postscript among the rest. It made a deeper impression on Molly than even the proposed kindness of the visit to London. There were some family consultations; but the end of them all was that the Kirkpatrick invitation was accepted. There were many small reasons for this, which were openly acknowledged; but there was one general and unspoken wish to have the ceremony performed out of the immediate neighbourhood of the two men whom Cynthia had previously—rejected; that was the word now to be applied to her treatment of them. So Molly was ordered and enjoined and entreated to become strong as soon as possible, in order that her health might not prevent her attending the marriage; Mr. Gibson himself, though he thought it his duty to damp the exultant anticipations of his wife and her daughter, being not at all averse to the prospect of going to London, and seeing half-a-dozen old friends, and many scientific exhibitions, independently of the very fair amount of liking which he had for his host, Mr. Kirkpatrick himself. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (2003). Wives and Daughters. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4274/pg4274-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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