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These books are for sale by all booksellers, on trains or will be sent to any part of Canada, free of postage on receipt of i)rice, by BELFORD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, ■IkI 4\ •■*!'.: rUULtSllKiy LXIJ.ORM W I III I'll I. s wiAMi: liY INFELICE, ■"■'•I STA J. K\A.vs WII.SIIN. ' 'V„ anmn ,V,-„., u,,.,, „„,, ,,,„„^ ^^..^^^^^.^^^^^^ Scut IW... p„, ,,^ ,,,;,_ ,_,^ ^^^^.^_^ ^^ _^^.^^^ ^ BELFOKD BliOmjiKS, P,Ms/,a., ToKo.xn^, Canada ; Syd.vkv, \. s. w. ^ffM.fj (j.fr^.t OiC ^/5 / ^r^ cit-il ///?' V Ifc I A Q o *:> n o i H t/ tJ O il Li i p ^0 \ V r ^\yW^ ^' ,^- /• .AM"-*^ \ Ca>k- / ? ^^A-- ^i t N y^ J Q^TJ^^> ' ^^. .A sf'-f/'--- ST. ELMO. ^j/\^ SI BV AUGUSTA J. lOVANS WILSON, AI'TIIOK OK . " INFELICE," .. liEULAII." .' MACARJA," KTC. to be; whatever of the hils"hcc?nh : """""''''' '^ '^ ^"-'^ '«« all he worlds cb,no,.r, he must win his praise • i„ ''«■-. through ..II, he world's warfare, hen. u;t find his peace.'- -John RusKiN. ^otmia, Um'bn; ^^iriw^, |t, ^. ggt. . BELPOHO BKOTHEB^, PUBi.ISHKUS. *• "• I^A^KN'-ORT, Ajjent, Sydney, N. S. W. MDCCCLXXVI. I B tiinci trim A on li( Cai-y .stoo( level knk. of L( centi plisli brotl ately looke blind the ft a ben fingei i advei: witch j oratio praise have ! I Baal b land g; Tlu |si>ark] ST. ELMO. . CHAPTER T. HE stood and measured tJ.e eartli : and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills di.l 1,oav " Ihese words of the proj^het upon 8hi;rionoth were sun., by a sweet, happy, childish voice, and to a strange, wild, anoinalous tune-solemn as the Hebrew chant of Debomh, and fu y triumphant. ^ A slender girl of twelve years' growth steadied a pail of water Oaiyatides att. [e, and, pausing a moment beside the sprin- tood frontii,^ the great golden dawn-watching for the first level ray of the coming sun, and chanting the prayer of Habak- n^ f" 1. ;'Ar ''''' "' ''^^"* g^-HHdeur towered the huge outline of Lookout Mountain, shrouded at summit in grey mfst • while cen re and base showed dense masses of foliage, dim and p ! phsli 111 the distance-a stern, cowled monk otHhe Cum]>erland brotherhood Low hills clustered on either side, but ;mn e ately in front stretched a wooded plain, and across this the ch d ooked at the flushed sky, rapidly brightening into fiery n binding radiance Until her wild song waked echoes am on he far off rocks the holy hush of early morning had rested Hke a benediction upon the scene, as though nature laid her broad USTtl "' -^n/'^"'-^"^ '''''''^' in reverent silence t advent ot the sun Morning among the mountains possessed witchery and gOories which filled the" heart of the gii/w I id L;: r' 't^T' 'r iT 'i^^^ ^'"^^^^ ^^-^^ exultant aiUhel'f piaise. The young face, lifted toward the cloudless east mi^^ht have served as a mod.1 for a pictured Syriac priestes -one^o [Laalbec s vestals, ministering in the olden time in that woXus and grand temple at Heliopolis. wonaiuu^ Lna^ili!?'^! '' m'^ '^'' !''n^ "" ''''-''^'''' f'^«^ination in their mild, spaikling depths, now full of tender, loving light and childish 6 ST. ELMO. Madness- and tlie flexible, red lips curled m ines of orthodox Gre^k perfection, showing remarkable versati ity of expression ; whUe the broad, full, polished forehead with its prominent, Wlin! brows, could not fail to recall, toeven casua observers he calm, pow;rful face of Loren.o de' f-Ucis, whicl,^^^^^^^^ looked on, lastens itself upon heart and brain, to be foigotten no more. Her hair, black, straight, waveless as an Indian s ung around her shoulders, and glistened as the water from he dripping bucket trickled through the wreath o purp emorni g- glorLstnd scarlet cypi^ess, which ^^^ .^-^ ^-^^^^.f/f J^ head ere lifting the cedar pail to its resting-place J^J^ woie a SXeved dress of yellow, striped homespun, which fdln^ax^ to her ankles, and her little, bare feet gleamed pearly white 1 the green grass and rank dewy creepers that clustered along the marcrin of the bubbling spring. Her complexion was un- uaTly Wsparent, and e^rly exercise and mountain air had Gouged her cheeks till , they matched the brilliant hjie « hei scai^et crown. A few steps in advance of l-'^7^°« ^ ^^ .^^s^ fierce, yellow dog, with black, scowling face and eais cut close to his head ; a savage, repulsive creature, who looked as it he reioiced in an opportunity of making good his name ^rip. l^Zl solemn bLuity of that summer morning the g- -emf to have forcrotten the mission upon which she came , but as sne oiS th^e sun flashed up, kindling diamond * -?- - -^7^ dew-headed chestnut leaf and oak-bough, and siheung the mhty mantle which enveloped Lookout. A moment longer S pure-hearted Tennessee child stood watching the goi-geouB_ spectLle, drinking draughts of joy which minglec no di.p o sin or selfishness in its crystal waves ; for she h^^lS^own n,> alone with nature-utterly ignorant of tne roar ^^^^^V'torl'd of burning hate and cunning intrigue of the the gmit woild o men and women, where " like an Egyptian P^ f J„ ^^ ^^^^^^^ vipers, each struggles to get its head above the othei . io he i, cai-th seemed very lovely; life stretched before l^^^l^^^ U^^^ sun's path in that clear sky, and as, free from care or foiebod ing as the fair June day, she walked on, preceded by her dog, the chant burst once more from her lips : .l..,^-:„„ " He stood and measured the earth : and the eveilastmg mountains were scattered, the perpetu.al hills-— ' ' almost simultaneous — "•^. "f two mstol-shots rang out sharply on the cool, calm air, am il startled the child I 1 1 it so violently that she sprang forward and dropped the bucket. ,- .'»nw ll l,'. 'WW>W ST. ELMO. of orthodox ■ expression ; ,s prominent, al observers, hich, if once be forgotten an Indian's, ater from the i-ple morning- ed about her She wore a ich fell nearly- pearly white ustered along exion was un- ntain air had nt hue of her stood a large, ears cut close ooked as if he lame, " Grip." he girl seemed ne ; but as she inges on every silvering the noment longer g the gorgeous ;led no drop of had grown up and strife, the great world of tcher of tamed ther." To her, i-e her like the care or forebod- led by her dog, the everlasting >» two pistol-shots ;artled the child [)ed the bucket. The sound of voices reached her from the thick wood bordering the pa* and, without reflection, she followed the dog, who boui.tl ■> off toward the point whence it issued. Upon the verge u^ the foi-est she paused, and, looking down a dewy green glade where the rising sun darted the earliest arrowy rays, beheld a spectacle which burned itself indelibly upon her memory. A group of five gentlemen stood beneath the dripping chestnut and sweet-gum arches ; one leaned against the trunk of a tree, two were conversing eagerly in undertones, and two faced each other fifteen paces apart, with i)istols in their hands. Ere she could comprehend the scene, the brief conference ended, the seconds resumed their places to witness another fire, and like the peal of a trumpet echoed tlie words : " Fire ! One !— two !— three ! " The flash and ringing report mingled with the command and one of the principals tlirew up his arm and fell. When, with horror in her wide-strained eyes and pallor on her lips, the child staggered to the spot and looked on the prostrate form, he was dead. The hazel eyes stared blankly at the sky, and the hue of life and exuberant health still glowed on the full cheek ; but the ball had entered the heart, and the warm blood, bubbling froui his breast, dripped on the glistening grass. The surgeon, who knelt beside him, took the pistol from las clenched Angers and gently pressed the lids over liis glazing eyes. Not a word was uttered, but while the seconds sadly regarded the stiffening form, the surviving principal coolly drew out a cigar, lighted and placed it between his lips. The child's eyes had wandered to the latter from the pool of blood, and now in a shuddering ci-y she broke the silence : "Murderer!" The party looked around instantly and for the first time per- ceived her standing there in their midst, with loathing and horror in the gaze she tixed on the perpcitrator of the awful deed. In great surprise he drew back a step or two, and asked gruftly : " VVho are you ? What business have you here? " " Oh ! how dared you murder himi Do you tliink God will forgive you on the gallows 'i " He was a man probably twenty-seven years of age — singularly fair, haudsoiue, and h;irdent;d iu iniquity, but he cowered be- fore the blanched and accusing face of the appalled child ; and ere a reply could be framed, liis friend came close to him. ■% 8 ST. ELMO. '' Clinton, you liad better be off; you have barely time to catch the Knoxville train, which leaves Chattanooga in half an hour. I would advise you to make a long stay in New York, for there will be trouble when Dent's brother hears of this morn- ing's work." " Aye ! Take my word for that, and put the Atlantic between you and Dick Dent," added the surgeon, smiling grimly, as if the anticipation of the retributive justice afforded him pleasure. " I will simply put this between us," replied the homicide, fitting his pistol to tl,>e palm of his hand ; and as he did so, a lieavy, antique diamond ring flashed on his little finger, " Come, Clinton, delay may cause you more trouble tlian we bargained for," urged liis second. Without even glancing toward the body of his antagonist, Clinton scowled at the child, and, turning away, was soon out of sight. " O sir ] will you let him get away 1 will you let him go un- punished 1 " " He can not be punished," answered the surgeon, looking at her with mingled curiosity and admiration. " I thought men were hung for murder." " Yes — but this is not murder." *' Not murder ] He shot him dead ! What is it ?" '' He killed him in a duel, which is considered quite right and altogether proper." ''AdueU" She had never heard the word before, and pondered an instant. *' To take a man's life is murder. Is there no law to punish 'a duel' r *' None strong enough to prohibit the practice. It is regarded as the only method of honourable satisfaction open to gentlemen." " Honourable s.^tisfaction 1 " she repeated, weighing the new phraseology as cautiously and fearfully as she would have handled the bloody garments of the victim. " What is your name V asked the burgeon. " Edmi Earl." " Do you live near this place ]" "Yes, sir, very near." " Is vour father at home 1 " " I have no father, but grandpa has not gone to the shop yet." " Will you show me the way to the housed' avely time to )ga in half an n New York, 1 of this morn- antic between grimly, as if him pleasure, the homicide, ,s he did so, a finger. )uble tlian we ds antagonist, was soon out let him go un- ion, looking at 5itr' ed quite right pondered an law to punish It is regarded to gentlemen." ighing the new le would have the shop yet." ST. ELMO. 9 "Do you wish to carry him there 1" she asked, glancing at the corpse, and shuddering violently. " Yes, I want some assistance from your grandfather." " I will show you the way, sir." The surgeon .spoke hurriedly to the two remaining gentlemen, and followed his guide. Slowly she retraced her steps, refilled her bucket at the spring, and walked on before the stranger. But the glory of the morning had passed away ; a bloody mantle hung between the si)lendour of summer sunshine and the chilled heart of the awe-struck girl. The forehead of the radiant, holy June day had been suddenly red-branded like Cain, to be henceforth an occasion of hideous reminiscences ; and with a blanched face and trembling limbs the child followed a narrow, beaten path, which soon terminated at the gate of a rude, un- whitewashed paling. A low, comfortless-looking, three-roomed house stood within, and on the steps sat an elderly man, smok- ing a pipe, and busily engaged in mending a' bridle. The creaking of the gate attracted his attention, and he looked up wonderingly at the advancing stranger. " grandpa !' there is a murdered man lying in the grass, under the chestnut-trees down by the spring." " Why ! how do you know he was murdered?" "Good morning, sir. Your granddaughter happened to witness a very \mfortunate and distressing affair. A duel was fought at sunrise, in the edge of the woods yonder, and the challenged party, Mr. Dent, of Georgia, was killed. I came to ask permission to bring the body here, until arrangements can be made for its interment ; and also to beg your assistance in obtaining a coffin." Edna passed on to the kitchen, and as she deposited the bucket on the table, a tall, muscular, red-haired woman, who was stoojiing over the fire, raised her flushed face and exclaimed angrily : " What upon earth have you been doing 1 I have been half- way to the spring to call you, and hadn't a drop of Avater in the kitchen, to make coflfee 1 A pretty time of day Aaron Hunt will get his breakflist ! What do you mean by such idleness 1 " She advanced with threanening mien and gesture, but stop- ped suddenly. " Edna, what ails you ? Have you got an ague 1 You are as white as that pan of flour. Are you scared or sick 1 " " There was a man killed tlvis morning, and the body will be jf^itms 10 ST. ELMO. m '• m ri brought liero (lii*ectly. If you want to hear about it, you had better go out on the poreli. One of the gentlemen is talking to gi-andpa. " iStunntil by what shti had seen, and indisposed to narrate the horrit' details, the girl went to her own room, and seating herself in x,\e window tried to collect her thoughts. She was tempted to believe the whole affixir a hideous dream, which would pass away with vigorous rubbing of her eyes ; but the crushed purple and scarlet flowers she took from her forehead, her dripping hair and damp feet assureil her of the vivid reality of tiie vision. Every fibre of her frame had received a terrible shock, and whcai noisy, bustling Mrs. Hunt ran from room to room, ejaculating her astonishment, and calling on the child to assist in putting the house in order, the latter obeyed silently, mechanically, as if in a state of somnambulism. Mr. Dent's body was brought up on a rude litter of boards, and tempoi-arily placed on J*]dna's bed, and toward evening, when a coffin arrived from Chattanooga, the remains were re- moved, and the coffin rested on two chairs in the middle of the same room. The surgeon insisted upon an iiumediate inter- ment near the scene of combat ; but the gentleman who had officiated as second for tlie deceased expressed his determination to carry the unfortunate man's body back to his home and family, and the earliest train the following day was ai)pointed as the time for their dei)arture. Late in the afternoon Edna cautioiisly opened the door of the room which she had hitherto avoide d, and with her apron full of lilies, white poppies, and sprigs of rosemary, approached the coffin, and looked at the rigid sleepcn-. Judging from his a[)pearance, not more tlian thirty y ears had gone over his handsome liead ; his placid fea- tures we re unusually regular, and a soft, silky brown beard fell upon his' pulseless breast. Fearful lest she should touch the icy form' the girl timidly strewed her flowers in the coffin, and tears gathered and dropped with the Ijlossoms, as she noticed a plain gold ring on the little fing5 well have talked to the winds. I never knew her obstinate before, but she seemed to have a presentimtnt of the truth. God pity her two sweet babes !" The old man bowed his head upon her pillow, and sobbed aloud. Throughout the night Edna crouched beside the bed, watch- ing the wan but lovely face of the young widow, and tenderly chafing the numb, fair hands which lay so motionless on the coverlet. Children are always sanguine, because of their ignor- ance of the stern, inexorable realities of the untried future, and Edna could not believe that death would snatch from the world one so beautiful and so necessary] to her prattling, fatherless in- fants. But morning showed no encouraging symptoms, the stupor was unbroken, and at noon the wife's spirit passed gently to the everlasting reunion. Before sunrise on the ensuing day, a sad group clustered ■iii I 12 ST. ELMO. once more under the dripping chestnuts, and whore a pool of blood had dyed the sod a wide grave yawned. The coflins were lowered, the bodies of Jfenry and Helen Dent rested side by side, and, as the mound rose slowly above them, the solemn silence was broken by the faltering voice of the surgeon, who read the burial service : " Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and IS full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a tiower ; he Heeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. Yet, O J.ord God most holy, O J.ord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the i)ains of eternal death !" The melancholy rite ended, the party dispersed, the strangers took their departure for their distant homes, and cpiiet reigned once more in the small, dark cottage. But days and weeks brought to Edna no oblivion of the tragic events which consti- tuted the first great ei)och of her monotonous life. A nervous restlessness took possession of her, she refused to occupy hei- old room, and insisted upon sleeping on a pallet at the foot of her grandfather's bed. She forsook her whilom haunts about the s]H-ing .and forest, and started up in terror at every sudden sound ; while; from each opening between the chestnut trees the hazel eyes of the dead man, and the wan, thin face of the golden- haired wife looked out beseechingly at her. Frequently, in the warm light of the day, ere shadows stalked to and fro in the thick woods, she would steal, with an apronful of wild flowers, to the solitary grave, scatter her treasures in the rank grass that waved above it, and hurry away with hushed breath and quivering limbs. Summer waned, autumn passed, and winter canie, but the girl recovered in no degree from the shock which had cut short her chant of praise on that bloody June day. In her morning visit to the spring she had stumbled upon a mon- ster Avhich custom had adopted and petted, which the passions and sinfulness of men had adroitly draped and fondled and called Honourable Satisfaction ; but her pure, unperverted Ithuriel nature pierced the conventional mask, recognized the loathsome lineaments of crime, and recoiled in horror and am- azement, wondering at the wickedness of her race and the for- bearance of outraged Jehovah. Innocent childhood had for the farst tune stood face to face with Sin and Death, and could not forget the vision. Edna Earl had lost her parents before slie was old enough to rf h tt rt J ir fo .i ai hi ■; hi 1 m ki .S'7'. ELMO. 13 ore a pool of s coftins were 3sted side by , the solemn surgeon, who itime to live, clown, like a :ontinueth in iiost mighty, ato the pains bhe strangers [uiet reigned i and v/eeks vhich eonsti- A nervous » occnjiy her t the foot of launts about very sudden lut trees the f the golden- Bfjuently, in id fi'o in the vild flowers, ( rank grass breath and , and winter shock which ue day. In ipon a nion- tlie passions !'ondled and unperverted ognized the ror and ani- ind the for- . had for the td could not l1 enough to reineinber liithcr. I for mother was the only (hiughter of Aaron Hunt, the village blacksmith, and her father, who was an in- telligent, promising, young carpentei- accidentally fell from the; roof of the house which he was shingling, and died fiom the mjuries sustained. Thus Mr. liunt, who had been a widowc^r tor nearly t(}n years, found himself burdened with the care of an infant only six months old. His daughter had never left lam, and after her death the loneliness of the house opi)ressed him painfully, and for the sak(! of his grandchild he resolved to marry again. The middle-aged widow whom he selected was a kind-hearted and generous woman, but indolent, ignorant and exceedingly high-tempered ; and while she really lovecl the little or[)han committed to her care, she contrived to alienate her affection, and to tighten the bonds of union between her husband and the child. Possessing a rc.markably amiable and equable disposition, Edna rarely vexed Mrs. Hunt, who crradu- ally left her more and more to the indulgence of her own%iews and caprices, and contented hersi^f wHh (exacting a certain amount of daily work, aft(u- the accomplishment of which she a lowed her to amuse herself as childish wliinis dictated. There chanced to be no children of her own age in the neighbourhood consequently she grew iq. without companionship, save that turnished by her grandfather, who was dotingly fond of her and would have utterly spoiled her, had not her tenii)eranu'nt tortunately been one not easily injured by unrestrained liberty ot action. Before she was able to walk, he would take her to tlie forge and keep her for hours on a sheepskin in one corner wlience she watched, with infantine delight, the blast of the furnace and the shower of sparks that fell from the anvil, and where she often slept, lulled by the monotonous chorus of trip and sledge. As she grew older, the mystery of bellows and slack-tub engaged her attention, and at one end of the shop, on a pile of shavings, she collected a mass of curiouslv shaped bits of iron and steel, and blocks of wood, from which a miniature shop threatened to rise in rivalry; and finally, when strong enough to grasp the handle of the bellows, her greatest pleasure consisted in rendering the feeble assistance which her grand- tatlier was always so proud to accept at her hands. Although Ignorant and uncultivated, Mr. Hunt was a man of warm, tender feelings and rare nobility of soul. He regretted the absence of early advantages which poverty had denied him ; and in teaching Edna to read, to write, and to cipher he mnm^ 14 ST ELMO. novor failed to iniproHs upon luii- tlio viist sti|>(aiority wlikh a tlioroii^'li education conferH. Whether his exhortationa first kindled her ambition, or wlnither lun- asjtiration tor knowledge was spontaneous and irrepiessible, he knew not ; hut she mani- fested very early a fondness for study and thirst foi- learning, which he gratified to the fullest extent of his limited ability. The blacksmith's library consisted of the family Bible, Pilgrim's l*i-ogross, a co})y of Irving's Sermons on Parables, Guy Man- n(!ring, a few ti-acts, and two books which had belonged to an itinerant minister who preached occasionally in the neighbour- hood, and who having died rather suddenly at Mr. Hunt's house, left the volumes in his saddle-bags, which were never claimed by his family, residing in a distant State. Thost; books were Plutarch's liives and a worn school copy of Anthon's Clas- sical Dictionary ; and to Edna they proved a literary Ophir of inestimable value and exhaustless interest. Plutarch especially was a Pisgah of letters, whence the vast donuiin of learning, the Canaan of human wisdom, stretched alluringly before her ; and as often as she climbed this height, and viewed the wond- rous scene beyond, it seemed indeed " an arch wherothrough Gleams that iintravellcd world, whose margin fades Forever and forever when we move." In after-years she sometimes cpiestioned if this mount of ob- servation was also that of temptation, to which ambition had led her spirit and there bargained for and bought her futur:?. Love of nature, love of books, an earnest piety and deep religious enthusiasm, were the chai'acteristics of a noble young soul, left to stray through the devious, checkered paths of life without other guidance than that which she received from communion with Greek sages and Hebrew prophets. An utter stranger to fashionable conventionality anJ latitudinarian ethics, it was no marvel that the child stared and shivered when she saw the laws of God vetoed, and was blandly introduced to murder as Honourable Satisfaction. m I ^,4 m ority whli'li ii DrtatioiiH Hi'Ht for knowledge hut she iiifini- t for leaniing, niited ability, ilde, I'ilgriiii's OS, (xuy Maii- jelonged to an ho neighbour- i Mr, Hunt's cli wei"o never Tlio.s(! books \ntlion's Clas- irary Opliir of ircli espeeially n of learning, ly before her ; kved the wond- fades i mount of ob- anxbition had ht her futur:;. deep religious oung soul, left f life without [n communion ler stranger to lies, it was no L she saw the to murder as i ST. ELMO. ClIAI'TEU I J. 15 Nearly a mile from the small, straggling village of Chat- tanooga stood Aaron Hunt's shop, shaded by a grove of oak and chestnut trees, which grew upon tlu! knoll, where two roads intersected. Like the majority of blacksmiths' shops at conntiy cross-roads, it was a low, narrow shed, filled witl dust and rubbish, with old whe(!ls and new single-trees, broken ploughs and dilapidated wagons awaiting repairs, and at the njar of the shop stood a smaller shed, where an old, gray hoise (piietly ato his corn and fodder, waiting to carry the master to his home, two miles distant, as soon as the sun had set beyond the neigh- bouring mountain. Early in the winter, having an unusual amount of work on hand, Mr. Hunt hurriiul away from honui one morning, neglecting to take the bucket which contained his dinner, and Edna was sent to repair tlie over-sight. Accus- tomed to ramble about the woods without companionship, she wiilked leasurely along the rocky road, swinging the tin bucket in one hand, and pausing now and then to watch the shy, red birds that flitted like flame-jets in and out of the trees as she passed. The unbroken repose of earth and sky, the cohl, still atmosphere and peaceful sunshine, toiiched her heart with a sense of (juiet but pure happiness, and half unconsciously she be- gan a hymn which her grandfather often sung over his anvil : " Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear My voice ascending liigh ; , To Thee will I direct my prayer, To Thee lift up mine eye." Ere the first verse was ended, the clatter of horst;'s hoofs hushed her song, and she glanced up as a harsh voice asked im- patiently : "Are you stone deaf] I say, is there a blacksmith's shop near]" ^ The rider reined in his horse, a spirited, beautiful animal, and waited for an answer. _ " Yes, sir. There is a shop about half a mile ahead, on the right hand side, where the road forks." He just touched his hat with the end of his gloved fingers and galloped on. When Rdna reached tho shop she saw her grandfather examining the horse's shoes, while the stranger walked up and down the road before the forge. He was a very in ST. ELMO. i Hf mn I |: 1: 3 M ul, stioiii,' nian. with a gray whawl thrown ovor ouo shouldor, (iici a black fur hat drawn ho far over liin face that only tho »wtn' portion whh visihlo ; and tliis, swarthy and hiirsh, h ft a nil .st disagrooabh- inijn cHsioii on the » hild's mind as she ])a.ss<'d him and weAt u[) to tht spot whorc! Mr. Jlunt was at work. Putting the bucket behind her, slie stooped, kisseut I am in the Im'-it of payin^r for ui . a< vk.*' '• It is not worth talk.ii^ about, (rood ■j . «»'. Mr. ffiiut turned and walked into the Hliop. "Tli«ie is 11 dollar, it is (lin only huuiII chan^'o I havo." flti rode u|) to th(^ door of the shed, threw th.- .small gold coin to- ward the Macksiiiith, a,. I was ridiii;^ rapidly away, when h'dna darted after him, exclaiming, " iStop, sir ! yon iKive l.;ft vcnr shawl!" "^ lie turned in the saddle, and own under the scn^en of lier c.ilico bonnet .she t\'lt the tirvy gleam of his ovch, as he stooped to take th(! .shawl frou) her hand. (Jnce nujre his lingn- touched his hat, he bowed and said hastily, "I thank you, child." Then, npurring his liorse, he wa.s out ot sight in a moment. ''He is a riide, l>lasph(!mous, wicked man," .said Mr. Hunt a.s Ldiui reentered the shop an • I am at raid of him." ° ' " Never feai-, Pearl, lie is a stranger here, and thei 's little chance ot your ever setting your eyes on his ugly, savage face again keep the money, dear ; 1 won't liave it af*;er ill the airs he put on. If, instead of shoeing his wild brute T had knocked the fellow down for his insolence in cursin.r ,„. it would have served him right. roliteness is a eheaif t 'inl- and a poor man, if he behaves himsedf and does his work well IS as much entitled to it as the President." ' " I will ^ive the dollar to grandma, to buy a new cofTee- .ot : tor she said to-day the old one was burnt out, and she oouhl not nse It any longer. JJut what is that yonder on the grass] Ihat man left something after all." " She j.icked up from the .spot where he had thrown hissha wl a liandsoiue morocco-bound pocket copy of Dante, and openi!iv should I know ] It is G^-eek, oi Latin or Dutch, like the other outlandish gibberish he talked to that devilish horse. He must have spent his life among the heathens, to judge from his talk ; for he has neither manners nor religion Honey, better put the book there m the furnace; it is not ht for vo^i" eyes." ... . » "He may come back for it, if he misses it, pretty soon. _ *' Not he One might almost believe that he was running from the law. He would not turn back for it if it was bound in gold instead of leather. It is no account, 1 11 warrant, or he would hot have been reading it, the ill-mannered heathen! Weeks passed, and as the owner was not heard ot again, Edna felt that she might justly claim as her own this most mar- vellous of books, which, though beyond her comprehension, furnished a source of endless wonder and delight, [he copy was Gary's translation, with illustrations designed by Flax- man; and many of the grand, gloomy passages were iinderlined bv pencil and annotated in the unknown tongue which so com- pletely balHed her curiosity. Night and day she pored over this new treasure ; sometimes dreaming of the hideous faces that scowled at her from the solemn, mournful pages ; and anon, when startled from sleep by these awful visions, she would Koothe herself to rest by murmuring the metrical version ot the Lord's Prayer contained in the " Purgatory." Most emphati- callv did Mrs. Hunt disapprove of the studious and contempla- tive habits of the ambitious child, who,she averred, was indulging dreams and aspirations far above her station in life and well calculated to dissatify her with her humble, unpretending home and uninviting future. Education, she contended, was useless to poor people, who could not feed and clothe themselves with - book learning ;" and experience had taught her that those who loun^^ed about with books in their hands generally came to want, and invariable to harm. It was in vain that she en- deavoured to"cmivince her husband of the impropriety of per- mitting the girl to spend so much time over her books; he finally put the matter at rest by declaring that, m his opinion, Edna was a remarkable child; and, if well educated might even vise to the position of teacher for the neighbourhood, which ^^.^,^1^ confer most honourable distinction upon the family, i^ay- in- his l)rawny hand fondly on her head, he said .tenderly: " Let her alone, wife ! let her alone ! You will make us proud of you won't you, little Pearl, when you are smart enough to ST. ELMO. 19 ek, or Latin, ,lkecl to that lie heathens, nor religion. ; it is not fit Dy soon." was running it was bound . warrant, or ed heathen !" Li'd of again, his most mar- uiprehension, t. Tlie copy led by Fhvx- re underlined yhich so 00111- e poi-ed over hideous faces es ; and anon, IS, she would version of the VIost emphati- nd contenipla- , was indulging life, and well etending home d, was useless lemselves with that those who :rally came to 1 that she en- Dpriety of per- her books ; ho in his opinion, ied, might even (urhood, which le family. Lay- said tenderly : make VIS proud iiart enough to teach a school. I shall be too old to work by that time, and you will take care of me, won't you, my little mocking-bird I" " Grandy ! that T will. But do you really think I ever shall have sense enougli to be a teacher] You know I ought to learu everything, and I have so few books." "To be sure you will. Remembei" there is always a way where there's a will. When I pay off the debt T owe Peter Wood, I will see what we can do about some new books. Put on your shawl now, Pearl, and liunt up old Briudle; it is milking time, and she is not in sight." " Grandpa, are you sure you feel better this evening 1" She plunged her fingers in his thick, white hair, and i-ubbed her round rosy cheek softly against his. " Oh ! yes, I am better. Hurry V)ack, Pearl, I want you to read to me." It was a bright day in January, and the old man sat in a large rocking chair on the porch, smoking his })ii)e, and sunning himself in the last rays of the sinking sun. He had comi)lained all day of not feeling well, and failed to go to his work as usual; and now, as his grandchild tied her ])ink calico bonnet under her chin, and wrap[)ed herself in her faded plaid shawl, he watched her with a tender, loving light in his keen, grey eyes. She kissed liim, buttoned his shii't-collar, which had become unfastened, drew his home-spun coat closer to his throat, and, springing down the steps, l)ouuded away in search of the cow, who often strayed so far off that she was dispatched to drive her home. In the grand, ix^aceful, solemn woods, through wliich the wintry wind now sighed in a soothing monotone, tlui child's spirit reached an exaltation which, had she lived two thousand years earlier, and roamed amid tlie vales and fastnesses of classic Arcadia, would have vented itself in ditliyrambics to the great " Lord of the Hyle," the Greek " All," the horned and hoofed god, Pan. In eveiy age, and among all people — from the Parsee devotees and the Gosains of India to tluj Pantheism of Bruno, Spinoza, and New-England's '■^ Illnminatl" — nature has been apotheosized ; and the heart of the black- smith's untutored darling stirred with the same emotions of awe and adoration which thrilled the worshii)pers of Hertha, when the veiled chariot stood in Helgeland, and which made the groves and grottoes of Phrygia sacred to Dindymene. Edna loved trees and fiowers, stars and clouds with a warm, clinging attection, as she loved those of hei own race ; and that solace t fj 20 ,ST. ELMO. and aumseineut wliicli most children find in the society of chihh-en and the sports of childhood this girl derived from the solitude and serenity of nature. To her woods and tields were indeed vocal, and every flitting bird and gurgling brook, every passing cloud and whispering breeze brought messages of God's eternal love and wisdom, and drew her tender, yearning heart more closely to Jehovah, the Lord Ood Omni])otent. To-day, in the boundless reverence and religious enthusiasm of her charactei-, she directed her steps to a large spreading oak, now leafless, where in summer she often came to read and pray ; and here falling on her knees she thanked God for the blessings showered upon her. Entirely free from discontent and querul- ousness, sue was thoroughly happy in her i)oor, humble home, and over all, like a consecration, shone the devoted love for her grandfather, which more than compensated for any want of which she might otherwise have been conscious. Accustomed always to ask special favour for him, his name now passed her lips in earnest supplication, and she fervently thanked the Father that his threatened illness had been arrested without serious consequences. The sun had gone down when slie rose and hurried on in search of the cow. The shade v.'s of a winter evening gathered in the forest and climbed like ti^ooping spirits up the rocky mountain side, and as she plunged deeper and deeper into the woods, the child began a wild cattle call which she was wont to use on such occasions. The echoes rang out a weird Brocken chorus, and at hist, when she was growing im- patient of the fruitless search, she paused to listen, and heard the welcome sound of the familiar lowing, by which the old cow recognised her summons. Following the sound, Edna soon saw the missing favourite coming slowly towards her, and ere many moments both were running homeward. As she approached the house, driving IJrindle before her, and merrily singing her ruelIious teelings hardened her heart when she remembered that I even wlnle she was kneeling, thanking God for his preservation foni dlness he had already passed away ; nav his sanctified spilt probably poised its wings close to the Eternal Throne and listened to the prayer which she sent up to God for his weltare and happiness and protection while on earth. The souls of our dead need not the aid of Sandalphon to intcnpret the amonj •1 lown the golden streets of the New Jerusalem. So through the gates of pearl, we all trust. 22 ST. ELMO. i 1 ;? 1 selves with the fond hope ed'to'tho Heavenly Will; and we go on with 1 prate of onr faith, and deceive our an( that we are resignv..v ^ . . -- . a show of Christian reliance, while the morning sun smiles in •dadness an.l plenty, and the hymn of happy days an( the dear voices of our loved ones make music in our ears, and lo ! Uo( puts us in the crucible. The light of life, the hope ot all future years is blotted out ; clouds of despair and the grim ni"ht of an unbroken and unlifting desolation fall like a pall on heart and brain ; we dare not look heavenward, dreading an- other blow ; our anchor drags, we drift out into a hideous Dead Sea where our idol has gone down forever, and boasted taith and trust and patience are swept like straws from our gmsp "^ the tempest of svoe ; while our human love cries wolhshly lor its lost darling, and the language of tierce rebellion is, '| 1 care not what is left or taken ! What is there in earth or heaven to hope or to prav for now ] " Ah ! we build grand and gloomy mausoleums for our precious dead hopes, but, like Artemisia, we refuse to sepulchre— we devour the bitter ashes ot the lost, and grimlv and audaciously challenge Jehovah to take the worthless, mutilated life that his wisdom reserves tor other aims and future toils ! Job's wife is immortal and ubiquitous, haunting the sorrow-shrouded chamber of every stricken human soul, and fiendishly prompting the bleeding, crushed spirit to " curse God and die." EcUia had never contemplated the possi- bility of her grandfather's death— it was a horror she had never forced herself to front ; and now that he was cut down in an instant, without even the mournful consolation of parting words and farewell kisses, she asked herself again and again : <' WJiat have I done, that God should punish me so 1 I thought I was grateful, I thought I wr doing my duty ; buf oh ! what dread- ful sin have I committed, to deserve this awful affliction ( Durin N 26 ST. ELMO. In one corner of tho enclosure, where Edna's parents slept, she found the new mounds that covered the remains ot those who had nurtured and guarded her young life ; and on an un- painted board was written in large letters : , , . , , " To the memory of Aaron Hunt: an honest blacksmith, ami true Christian ; aged sixty-eight years antl six months," Here with her head on her grandfather's grave, and the faithful 'dog crouched at her feet, lay the orphan, wrestling with grief and loneliness, striving to face a future that loomed betore her spectre-thronged; and here Mr. Wood found her when anxiety at her long absence induced his wife to institute a search for the missing invalid. The storm of sobs and tears had spent itself, fortitude took the measure of the burden im- posed, shouldered the galling weight, and henceforth, with un- dimmed vision, walked steadily to tho appointed goal, ihe miller was surprised to tind her so calm, and as they went homeward she asked the particulars of all that had occurred, and thanked him gravely but cordially for all the kind care be- stowed upon her, and for the last friendly offices performed tor her grandfather. , i • i Conscious of her complete helplessness and physical prostra- tion, she ventured no allusion to the future, but waited patiently until renewed strength permitted the execution of designs now fully mapped out. Nothwithstanding her feebleness, she ren- dered herself invaluable to Mrs. Wood, who praised her dexterity and neatness as a seamstress, and predicted that she would make a model housekeeper. Late one Sunday eveniug in May, as the miller and his wite sat upon the steps of their humble and comfortless looking iiome, they saw Edna slowly approaching, and surmised where she had spent the afternoon. Instead of going into the house she seated herself beside them, and, removing her bonnet, traces of tears were visible on her sad but patient face. " You ought not to go over yonder so often, child. It is not crood for you," said the miller, knocking the ashes from his pipe. * She shaded her countenance with her hand, and after a moment said, in a low but steady tone : " I shall never go there again. I have said good-bye to everything, and have nothing now to keep me here. You and Mrs. Wood have been very kind to me, and I thank you heartily; but you have a family of children, and have your hands full to support them without taking care of me. I know that our now. ,ST. ELMO. 27 house must go to you to pay tliut old debt, and even the horsts iind cow ; and then; will be notliinj,' left when you are i)aid. You are very good, indeed, to otl'erme a lioine here, and I never can forget your kindness ; but I should not be willing to live on anybody's charity ; and l)esides, all the world is alike to mo jiow, and I want to get out of sight of— of — what shows my sorrow to me every day. 1 don't love this place now ; it won't l(!t mo forget, even for a minute, and — and — " Here the voice faltered and she paused. " But where could you go, and how could you make your bread, you poor, little, ailing thing 1" " I hear that in the town of Columbxis, Georgia, eveii little thildren get wages to work in the factory, and I know I can earn enough to pay my board among the factory people." " But you are too young to be stra,ying about in a strange place. If you will .stay here, and help my wife about the house and the weaving, I will take good care of you, and clothe you till you are grown and married." *' I would rather go away, because I want to be educated, and I can't be if I stay here." " Fiddlestick ! you will know as much as the balance of us, and that's all you will ever have any use for. I notice you have a hankering after books, but the quicker you get that foolishness out of youi head t'lie better ; for books won't put bread in your mouth and clothes on your back ; and folks that want to be better than their neighbours generally turn out worse. The less book-learning you women have the better." " I don't see that it is any of your business, Peter Wood, how much learning we women choose to get, provided your bread is baked and your socks darned when yo\i want 'em. A woman has as good a right as a man to get book-learning, if she wants it ; and as for sense, I'll thank you, mine is as good as yours any day ; and folks have said it was a bh'ssed thing for the neighbourhood when the rheumatiz laid Pet Wood up, and his wife, Dorothy Elmira Wood, run the mill. Now, it's ot' no earthly use to cut at us women, over that child's shoulders ; if she wants an education she has as much right to it as anybody, if she can pay for it. My doctrine is, everybody has a right to whatever they can pay for, whether it is schooling or a satin frook." Mrs. Wood seized her snuff-bottle and plunged a stick vigor- ously into the contents, and, as the miller showed no disposition to skirmish, she continued : I I 28 ST. KLM*K » I take an interest in yon, Edna Karl, b(!cause I bved yonr mother, who was the only sweet-tetnpen.l l.eanty that ever 1 knew I think I never set my eyes on a pr(>ttier taee with hif,', l.nnvn eves as n.e.'k as a partridge's ; and tlxm her hands ami fcM.t wen. as small as a .pKHm's. Now as Im.g as ymi are satis- lied to stay here 1 shall b(, glad to have ynous thing lor a poor, motherless girl to he all alone among strangers lliere was a bi'ief silence, and Kdna answered slowly : " Yes Mrs. Wood, I know it is ; but God can protect nw there as' well as here, and I have nom^ now but Hi^m. T hav(. made up my mind to go, because I think it is the best lor me ami I hope' Mr. Wo.kI will carry me to tin. ( ihatt.mooga ( epot to-morrow morning, as the trahi leaves early. « have a little money-seven dollars-that-that grandpa gave mo at different times, and both Ibindh.'s calves belong to me-'..e gave them to me— ami 1 thought maybe you would pay me a lew dollars for them." „ '' But you are not ready to start to-morrow. " Yes sir, I washed and ironed my clothes yesterday, and what few I have are all packed in my box. Everything is ready now, and, as I have to go, 1 miglit rr. well start to-morrow " Don't you think yon will get dreadfully home-sick in ahout a m(mth, and write to me to come and fetch you back 1 " I have no home and nobody to love me, how then can 1 ever be home-sick ] Grandpa's grave is all the horn^. I have, and— and-God would not take me there when I was so sick, ■ind— and " The quiver of her face showed that she was losin-- her self-control, and turning away, she took the cedar DiL-'in, and went out to milk ]k-indle for the last time. Feelin- that they had no right to dictate her future course, neither the miller nor his wife offered any furthe)- opposition, and very early the next mo.-uing, after Mrs. Wood had giviui the "irl "what slu; called " some good, motherly advice,' and pro- videll her with a basket containing food for the journey, she kissed her heartily several times and saw her stowed away ni the miller's covered cart wliit-h was to convey her Lu t lie depot. The road ran by the old blacksmith's shop, and Mr. Wood s eyes filled as he noticed the wistful, lingering, loving gaze which NT. l:m<). 29 tlu! jjjlil tlxetl (ipou it, until a <,'rovo of ti-ces sliut o\it tlio view ; tlicii tli(! lit'iul 1)()W(hI itself uiui a stiHcd moiiii i-tsaclicd his oui-s. Tlu! cn^'iiu; wliistk'd as tlicy apitroacliod the depot, and Edna was hurried aboard the train, whik; her companion busied him- self in tninsferrinj,' lier box of clothing to the ba«,'«jfagmod to tlie orplian to fly past the window ; and wlien she leaned out and looked back, only the mist-mantled rocks of Jjookout, and the dim, purplish outline of the Seipuitchie heights were familiar. In the shadow of that solitary sentinel peak her life had been passed ; she had gathered chestnuts and chincapins among its wooded clefts, and clambered over its gray boulders as fearlessly as the young llamas of the Parime ; and now, as it rapidly re- coded and finally vanished, she felt as if the last link that bound her to the i)ast hud suddenly snapped ; the last friendly .31 face which had daily looked dle. Here, Lenox ! help mc. The pain was so intense that she fainted, and after a sliort time, wlien she recovered her consciousness, lier feet and ankles i^T. ELMO. 33 he flai'ing assengei's, Dante's impted to !grees the was held len across hem, and 3 arm too, lay npou niinjiired te face of ler aston- 5 pinched i, and the ied as day md Edna leir way sufferers, own and between feet. " lis raised aced lier ling and ain fi'om a village oimining 1 Edna's I counte- m, came n on the II after a for your 'oken in Lenox ! were tightly bandaged, and the doctor was chafing her hands and bathing her fVice with some powerful extract. Smoothing back her liair, he said : " Were your parents on the cars 1 Do you know wliether they are hurt 1 " " They both died when I was a baby. " " Wlio was with you ? " " Nobody but Grip — my dog. " " Had you no relatives or friends on the train 1 " '* I have none, I am all alone in the world. " *' Where did you come from V " Chattanooga. " " Where were you going V " My grandpa died, and as I had nobody to take care of me, I was going to Columbus, to work in the cotton factory. " " Humph ! Much work you will do for many a long day. " He stroked his greyish beard, and mused a moment, and Edna said timidly : '' If you please, sir, I would like to know if my dog is hurf?" The physician smiled, and looked around inquiringly : " Has anyone seen a dog that was on the train V One of the brakemen, a stout Irishman, took his pipe from his mouth, and answered : " Aye, aye, sir ! and as vicious a brute as ever I set eyes on. Both his hind-legs were smashed — dragged so — and I tapped him on the head with an axe to put him out of his misery. Yonder he lies now on the track. " Edna put her hand over her eyes, and turned her face down on the grass to hide tears that would not be driven back. Here the surgeon was called away, and for a half hour the child lay there, wondering what would become of her, in her present crippled and helpless condition, and questioning in her heart why God did not take her instead of that dimpled dar- ling, whose parents were now weeping so bitterly for the untimely death that mowed their blossom ere its petals were expanded. The chilling belief was fast gaining ground that God had cursed and forsaken her; that misfortune and be- reavement would dog her steps through life ; and a hard, bitter expression settled about her mouth, and looked out gloomily ^rom the sad eyes. Her painful reverie was interrupted by the cheery voice of Dr. Rodney, who came back, accompanied by an elegantly-dressed middle-aged lady. 3 '•SI MB u *S2'. ELMiK " Ah, my brave little soldier ! Toll us your name V* " Edna Earl. " " Have you no relatives 1 " asked the lady, stopping to scru- tinize her face. " " No, ma'am. " ** She is a very pretty child, Mrs. Murray, and if yon can take care of her, even for a few weeks, until she is able to walk about, it will be a real charity. I never saw so much fortitude displayed by one so young ; but her fever is increas- ing^, and she needs immediate attention. Will it be convenient for you to carry her to your house at once 1 " " Cei'lainly, doctor ; order the carriage; driven up as close as possible. I brought a small mattrass, and think the ride will not be very painful. What splendid eyes she has ! Poor little thing ! Of course you will come and prescribe for her, and I v.'ill see that she is carefully nursed until she is quite well again. Here, Henry, you and Richard must lift this child, and put her on the mattrass in the carriage. Mind you do not sjtumble and hurt her. " During the ride neither spoke, and Edna was in so much pain that she lay with her eyes closed. As they entered a long avenue, the rattle of the wheels on the gravel aroused the child's attention, and when the carriage stopped, and she was carried up a flight of broad marble steps, she saw that the house was very large and handsome. " Bring her into the room next to mine, " said Mrs. Murray, leading the way. Edna was soon undressed and placed within the snowy sheets of a heavily-carved beadstead, whose crimson canopy shea a ruby light down on the laced and ruffled pillows. Mrs. Murray administered a dose of medicine given to her by Dr. Rodney, and after closing the blinds to exclude the light, she felt the girl's pulse, found that she had fallen into a heavy !)leep, and then, with a sigh, went down to take her breakfast. It was several hours before Edna awoke, and when she opened lier eyes, and looked around the elegantly furnished and beau tiful room, she felt bewildered. Mrs. Murray sat in a cushion- ed chair, near one of the windows, with a book in her hand, !ind Edna had an opportunity of studying her face. It was fair, proud-, and handsome, but wore an expression of habitual anxiety, and gray hairs showed themselves under the costly lace that bordered her morning head-dress, while lines of care -S7'. ELMO. :}5 marked hor brow and juouth. Children instinctively de- cipher the hieroglyphics which time carves on Imman 'faces, and, in reading the countenance of her hostess, Edna felt that she was a haughty, ambitious woman, with a kind but not very warm heart, who would be scrupulously attentive to the wants of a sick child, but would })robably never dream of caressing' or fondling such a charge. Chancing to glance towards the led as she turned a leaf, Mrs. Murray met the curious gaze fasten- ed upon her, and rising, approached the sufferer. " How do you feel, Edna ] I believe that is your name. " " Thank you, my head is better, but I am very thirsty. " The lady of the house gave her some ice-water in a silver goblet, and ordered a servant to bring up the refreshments she had directed to be prepared. As she felt the girl's pulse Edna noticed how white and soft her hands were, and how dazzlin-dy the jewels flashed on her fingers, and she longed for the touch of those aristocratic hands on her liot brow where tlie hair clustered so heavily. " How old are you, Edna] " " Almost thirteen. " " Had you any baggage on the train ] " " I had a small box of clothes. " " I will send a servant for it. " She rang the bell as she spoke. 'I When do you think I shall be able to walk about ] " "Probably not for many weeks. If you need or wish any- thing, you must not hesitate to ask for it. A servant will sit here, and you have only to tell her what you want. " " Yon are very kind, ma'am, and I thank you very much " felie paused, and her eyes filled with tears. Mrs. Murray looked at her and said gravely : " What is the matter, child ? " "I am only sorry I was so ungrateful and wicked this morning. " How so 1 " " Oh ! everything that I love dies ; and when I lay there on the grass, unable to move, among strangers who knew and cared nothing about me, I was wicked, and would not trv to pray^and^ thought^ God wanted to make me suffer ail my life, and X wished that I had been killed instead of that dear little baby, who had a father and mother to kiss and to love it It was all wrong to feel so, but I was so wretched. And then God 4(| I tsgssismmm * lb i^ ! h I! I t< ilii I :jG .S7'. Jrotector till you are eighteen, and capable of providing for yourself. You will live in my house, and look upon it as your honie, at least for tlie present. What do you say to this plan 1 Is it "ot much better and more pleasant than your wild-goose chase after an education through the dust and din of a factory 1 " " O Mrs. Murray ! You are very generous and good, but I have no claim on you — no right to imi)ose such an expense and trouble upon you ! I am " " Hush, child ! you have that claim which poverty always has on wealth. As for the expense, that is a mere trifle, and I do not expect you to give me any trouble ; perhaps you may even make yourself useful to me." " Thank you ! oh ! thank you, ma'am ! I am very grateful ! I cannot tell you how much I thank you ; Init I shall try to prove it, if you will let me stay here — on one condition." "What is thatl" " That when I am able to pay you, you will receive the money that my education and clothes willcost you." Mrs. Murray laughed, and stroked the silky black hair. " Where did you get such proud notions 1 Pay me, indeed ! You poor, little beggar ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! Well, yes, you may do as you please, when you are able ; but that time is rather too tUstant to be considered now. Meanwhile, quit grieving over the past, and think only of improving yourself. I do not .S?'. ELMO. 30 aA like doloful faces, and sliall expect you to bo a clieerful, con- tented, and obedient girl. Jlugar is making you an entire set of new clothes, and I hope to see you always neat. I shall give you a smaller room than this — the one across the hall ; you will keej) your books there, and remain there during study l)ours. At othei- times you can come to my room, or amuse yourself as you like ; and when there is company here, remem- ber, I shall always expect you to sit quietly, and listen to the conversation, as it is very improving to young girls to be in really good society. You will have a music teacher, and prac- tise upon the u^^right piano in the library, instead of the large one in the parlour. One thing more : if you waixt anything, come to me and ask for it, and I shall be very mucli displeascnl if yoii talk to the servants, or encourage them to talk to you. Now everything is xinderstood, and I hope you will be happy, and properly improve the advantages I shall give you." Edna drew one of the white hands down to her lips and murmured : '' Thank you — thank you ! You shall never have cause to regret your goodness ; and your wishes shall always guide me." '•Well, well; I shall nnuember this promise, and trust I may never find it necessary to remind you of it. I dare say we shall get on veiy happily together. Don't thank me any more, and hereafter we need not speak of the matter." Mrs. Murray stooped, au'l for the first time kissed the child's white forehead ; and Edna longed to throw her arms about the stately form, but the polished hauteur awed and repelled her. Before she could reply, and just as Mrs. Murray was moving toward the door, it Wiis thrown open, and a gentleman strode into the room. At sight of Edna he sto})ped suddenly, and drop[)ing a bag of game on the floor, exclaimed harshly : " What the d — I docs this mean T " My son ! I am so glad you are at home again. T was getting quite uneasy at your long absence. This is one of the victims of that terrible railroad disaster ; the neighbourhood is full of the sufferers. Come to my room. When did you arrive V Hhe linked her arm in his, picked up the game-bag, and led him to the adjoining room, the door of which she closed and locked. A painful thrill shot along Edna's nerves, and an indescribable sensation of dread, a presentiment of coming ill, overshadowed her heart. This was the son of her friend, and the first glimpse !^ :^l: .1 I i ii ■1 'I 40 ST. ELMO. ^ : id of him filled her witli instantaneous repugnance ; there was an innate and powerful repulsion which she coiild not analyze. He was a tall, athletic man, not exactly young, yet certainly not elderly ; one of anomalous appearance, prematurely old, and, though not one white thread silvered liis thick, waving, brown hair, the heavy and habitual scowl on his high, full brow had ploughed deep fui-rows such as age claims for its monogram. His features were bold but very regular ; the piercing, steel- gray eyes were unusually large, and beautifully shaded witli long, heavy, black lashes, but repelled by their cynical glare ; and the finely-formed mouth, which might have imjrai'ted a wonderful charni to the countenance, wore a chronic, savage sneer, as if it only opened to utter jeers and curses. Evidently the face had once been singularly handsome, in the dawn of his earthly career, when his mother's good-night kiss rested like a blessing on his smooth, boyish foi'ehead, and the prayer learned in the nursery still crept across his pure lii)s ; but now the fair, chiselled lineaments were blotted by dissipation, and blackened and distorted by the baleful fires of a fierce, passionate nature, and a restless, powei-?'al, and unhallowed intellect. Symmetrical and grand as that temple of Juiio, in shrouded Pompeii, whose polished shafts gleamed centuries ago in the morning sunshine of a day of woe, whose untimely night has endured for nineteen hundred years; so, in the glorious flush of his youth, this man had stood facing a noble and possibly a sanctified future ; but the tingovernable flames of sin had reduced him, like that darkened and desecrated fane, to a melancholy mass of ashy arches and blackened columns, where ministering priests, all holy aspirations, slumbered in the dust. His dress was costl}'^ but negligent^ and the red stain on his jacket told that his hunt had not been fruitless. He wore a straw hat, belted with broad black ribbon, and his spurred boots were damp and muddy. What was there about this surly son of her hostess which recalled to Edna's mind her grandfather's words, *'He is a rude, wicked, blasphemous man ]" She had not distinctly seen the face of the visitor at the shop ; but something in the impatient, querulous tone, in the hasty, haughty step, and the proud lifting of the regal head, reminded her painfully of him whose over- bearing insolence had so unwontedly stirred the ire of Aaron Hunt's genial and generally equable nature. While she pon- dered this inexplicable coincidence, voices startled her from the next room, whence the sound floated through the window. ST. ELMO. 41 "If you were not my motlier, T should say you were a candi- date iVr a strait-jacket and a lunatic asylum; but as those amiabi >. proclivities ai-e considered lua-editary, 1 ilo not favour that comparison. ' Sorry for her,' indeed ! I'll bet my right arm it will not be six week' before she makes you infinitely sorrier for your deluded self ;. and you will treat me to a new version of \'je me retfrette!' With youi- knowledge of this precious world and its holy crew, I confess it seems farcical in the extreme that open-eyed you can ventum; another experi- nuMit on human nature. Some fine morning you will rub your eyes and find your acolyte non est; ditto, your silver forks, diamonds, and gold spoons." Edna felt the indignant blood burning in her cheeks, and as she could not valk without assistance, and shrank from listen- ing to a conversation which was not intended for her ears, she coughed several times to arrest the attention o+' the speakers, but apparently without effect, for the son's voice again rose al)ove the low tones of the mother. " carnival of shams ! She is 'pious,' you say 1 Then, I'll swear my watch is not safe in my pocket, and I shall sleep with the key of my cameo cabinet tied around my neck. A Paris police would not insure your valuables or mine. The; fates forbid that your pen-feathered saint should decamp with some of my costly travel-scrai>ings ! ' Pious,' indeed ? ' Edna,' forsooth 1 No doubt her origin and morals are quite as apocry- l)]ial as her name. Don't talk to me about ' her being provi- dentially thrown into your hands,' unless you desire to hear me say things which you have frequently taken occasion to inform me ' deeply grieved ' you. I daresay the little vagrant whines in what she considers orthodox phraseology, that * God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb ! ' and, like some other pious people whom I have heard canting, will saddle some Jewish prophet or fisherman with the dictum, thinking that it sounds like the Bil)lfi. wl.Pvao^ Sfo,.r,o c.,M u gijoj^n lamb, for.sooth ! We, or mi 're, V will be shorn^ — thoroughly Bible, whereas Sterne said it. rather you, 7nadame ma fleeced! Pious? Ha! ha! ha. Here followed an earnest expostulation from Mrs. Murray, only a few words of which were audible, and once more the deep, strong, bitter tones rejoined : "Interfere ! Pardon me, I am only too happy to stand aloof and watch the little wretch play out her game. Most certainly It IS your own affair, but you will permit me to be amused, will 42 »ST. ELMO. i! I I you not ] And with yoiii- iiccustoiiuHl suavity forgive me, if I cluuR't^ iniidvcitcutly lo wliisptT uhovcr my bn^iith, ' Le jm nen vatd jxus la vhniiiU'lle ' / What tlit^ deuce do you suppose I care about lier ' faith "{ Slu^ may run through the whole catak)g\U' from the mustard-seed size up, as far as I am concerned, iukI you may make yourstdf easy on th(* score of my 'contaminating' the sanctified vagrant !" " St. Elmo ! my son ! prouiise me that you will not scoff and sneer at her religion; at least in her i) esence" [deaded the mother. A ringing, mirthless laugh was the only reply that reache the girl,' as she put her fingers in her ears and hid her face on the window-sill. It was no hmger possilde to (h)ubt th«; idimtity of the strang(!r ; th(! initials on the fly-leaf meant Su. Elmo Murray ; and she knew that in the son of her friend and i)rotectress she had found the owner of her Dante and the mui who had cursed her grand- father for his tardiness. If she had only known this one hour eai-lier, she would have declined the, offer, which once accepted, she knew not how to reject, without acquainting Mrs. Murray with the fact that she had overheard the conversation ; and yet she could not endure the prospect of living under the same roof with a man whom she loathed and feared. The n^emory of the blacksmith's aversion to this stranger intensified her own ; and as she pondered in .shame and indignation the scornful and op- probrious epithets which he had bestowed on herself, she mut- tered through her set tev .ii : " Yes, Grandy ! he is cruel and wicked ; and I never can bear to look at or speak to him ! How dared he curse my dear, dear, good grand^ta ! How can I ever be respectful to him. when he is not even respectful to his own mother ! Oh ! I wish I had never come here ! I shall always hate him !" At this junctui-e Hagar entered, and lifted her back to her couch ; and, remarking the agitation of her manner, the nurse said gravely, as she put her fingers on the girl's pulse ! " What has flushed you so 1 Your face is hot ; you have tired yourself sitting up too'^long. Did a gentleman come into this room a while ago*?" " Yes. Mrs. Murray's son." ''Did Miss Ellen— that is, my mistress— tell you that you were to live here, and get your education]" " Yes, she offered to take care of me for a few years." u i u VV,dl be a gr(!a She pa licriiig M \erhiition th(! wall silence ni over the " Liste to give y( and migl sure not 1 he will k and WDul ic finds 3 — tianipl niak(!s u{ mother, a lim. H tread on lie is lik( verythin liing, hi lini ! If le sweara t runs fl Buongli, 1 patan hai f'raid of :)alance t )^'o\l\^\ rat im\ God ; ^f living fow min lime it is rou want She lef ig gloom he could JU'ler wli Sr. ELMO. 4:] " Well, I :un <,'l)ul it is flxod, so— yoii ran stiiy ; for you nvn he a yn^iit oomtbrt to Miss FAlcn, if yoiT try to pjcaso hvv." She paused, and busied lu-rsclf iiliout tlie room, and i-emeni- bering Mrs. Murray's injunction that slu; sl»ouId discourage cou- \er.Mition on the part of tW, servants, Edna twrncul her ftice to the wall and sliut h(u- eyes, liut for once Haga.'s habitual I silence and non-conunittalism were laid aside; and, stooping over the couch, she said hurriedly : " Listen to nu;, child, for I like yc • p^.tient ways, and want [to giv(* you a friendly warning; you an; a stranger in this house, land might stumble into trouble. Whatever else you do, be jsure not to cross Mass Elmo's path ! Kee[) out of his way, and IIk' will keej) out of yours ; for ho is shy enough of strangers, luud would walk a mile to keep from meeting anyV)ody ; but if Ihe finds you in his way, lie will walk roughshod right' over you j— trample you. Nothing ever stoi)S him one minute when he [luukes up his mind. He does not even wait to listen to his jiiotlun-, and slie is about the only person who dares to talk to Jiini. He luites everybody and everything; but he doesn't tread on folks' toes unless they are wliere they don't belong. lie is like a rattle-snake; that crawls in his own track, and bites n-crything that meddles or crosses his trail. Above every- liing, ;hild, for the love of i)eace and heaven, don't argue with iiiin ! If he says black is white, don't contradict liim ; and if |u! swears water runs up-stream, let him swear, and don't know It runs down. Keep out of his siglit, and you will do well juough, but once make him mad, and you had better fight latan hand to hand with red-hot pitchforks ! Everybody is ifraid of him, and gives way to him, and you must do like the julance that have to deal with him. I nursed him ; but I iV'ould rather put my head in a wolf's jaws than stir him up ; Mul God knows I wish he had died when he was a baby, instead [f living to grow up the sinful, swearing, raging devil he is ! Tow mind what I say. I am not given to talking, but this lime it is for ymir good. Mind what I tell you, child ; and if |ou want to have jjeace, keep out of his way." She left the room abruptly, and the orphan lay in the gather- ig gloom of twilight, perplexed, distressed, and wondering how 16 could avoid all the angularities of this amiable character, iiHler wliose roof fate seemed to have deposited lier. 11 I fci- J V -p.. ( ' ■ M ':%■ 44 ST. ELMO. CIIAITKU V. At IcuL'th, l.v the ai.l of crutches, VAwi was aWle to loave th. roou. Ihore W. had been ho long eonliued, and -,.1- Ue -use in which every ,ue ue^w charn.. ^^^1^"^^"^ and sittin-room o,,«.ne.l on a U.n^s archo.l veran.hih, ^vhich ex- ".hil around tw,l sides of th. hmlding, .md ^a. paved w^h varie-ated tiles ; whih) the stanie.l ^dass doors of the d.nin- room^'with its lofty, frescoed ceiling' and deep bow-windows, h.l byTvio white nuu-bie steps out on the terrace, whence two more st'ps showed the beginning of a serpentine grave walk vn 1- in.r down to an octagonal hotdiouse, surmounted by a it hlv carve pagoda-roof. Two sentinel statues-a I'.acchus and 1 ac- e l^e l>laced on the terrace, guarded the entrance to h lunincM-oom ; and in front of the houses where a 8cul,>tur... Triton threw jets of water into a gleaming circular bas.n a pa of crouching monsters glare.I from the steps. When Kdna ust tnu! herself before these grim doorkeepers, she stai-ted back m unfei-ned terror, and could scarcely repress a cry of alaim, to the howlin.' rag^. and lespair of the distorted, hideous heads seined fear.fully real, ani years elapsed ^-^^^ ^:, hended their significance, or the sombre mood which mF.^^! their creation. They were imitations of that monumental lion s 1 ead raised on the battle-field of Cha^roneia, to commemorate t^^e Ctiaiis slain. In the rear of, and adjo ning the lin-ary a narrow, vaulted passage with high Gothic windows ol s ainnl glass opened into a beautifully proportioned rotunda ; a d o yond this circular apartment with its ruby-tmted sky-hght i. Moresc.ue frescoes extended two other rooms of whose shap m- contents Edna knew nothing, save the tall arched wind<^^v that looked down on th. terrace. The door of the rotunda ^ .generally closed, but accidentally it stood open one raoimng. Slid she caught a glimpse of the circular form and the springin dome Evid< ntly this portion of t he mansion had been recently built,' while the remainder of the house had been constructed ' many years earlier ; but all desire to explore it was extinguish- ed, when Mrs. Murray remarked one day: ,• i;i.psI " That passage leads to my son's apartments, and he dislikes | noise or intrusion." .„ , , r t>i.o,..v.1i Thenceforth Edna avoided it as if the plagues of FJiauia!' were pent therein. To her dazzled eyes this luxurious houiej was a fairy palace, an enchanted region, and, with eager cuu ■K'^KI ELMiK 45 oHity uikI liouiullcss a of willows, whose long hair threw quivering, fringy sha vs when the slanting rays of dying sunlight burnished the white and purple petals ncjstling among the clover tufts. Rustic sents of bark, cane, and metal were scaft.-iyti i^iiough the grounds, and where the well-trimmed, numtrous hedges divided the parterre, china, marble, and iron vases of varied mould held rare creepers and lovely exotics ; ami riclt masses of roses swung their fragrant chalices of crimson ant! gold, rivaling the glory of Piestum and of Bendemecu". The elevation upon which the liouse was placed commanded an extensive view of the surrounding country. Far away to the north-east, purplish gray waves along the sky showed the range of lofty hills, whose rocky battlements were not yet scarred and brauiled by the red hand of fi.uricidal war; and in an easterly direction, scarcely two n,i!* s distant, glitter- ing spires told where the village clung to th<; raiboad and to a deep nishiii" creek, whose sinuous course was di^itinctlv mark- ed by the dense growth that clothed its steep banks. Now and then luxuriant tields of corn covered the Jevel lands with an U i i- I \ f->^-;mitm :i'i!ijemfm>f'*l>tmi^»mntt I nafcWII 46 i by the severity and duration of the punishment, and witliout pausing to reflect, or to remember Hagar's warning, Edna in- terposed : o o> '* Oh ! please don't whip him any more ! It is cruel to beat him so ! Probably he did not hoar her, and the blows fell thicker than betm-e. .She drew near, and, as the merciless arm was raised to strike, she seized it with both hands, and swung on with her whole weight, repeating her words. If one of his meek, fright- ened sheep had sprung at his throat to throttle him, Mr. Mun-ay won d not have been more astounded. He shook her off, threw lier from him, but she carried the stick in her grasp T " P,~'\?''" • ^'?''' '^'''^ ^"""^ interfere ! What is it to yon if J cut Jus throat, which I mean to do ! " "That will be cruel and sinful, for he does not know it is wrong ; and besides, he did not bite me " She spoke resolutely, and for the first time ventured to look straiglit into his flashing eyes. " Did not bite you ! Did not he worry down and mangle one of my hnest Southdowns? It would serve vou right for yomympertinent meddling, if I let him tear you limb from " He knows no better," she answered firmly. 1' Then, by G-d, I will teach Iiim ! Hand me that stick ! " Oh ! please, Mr Murray ! You have nearly put out one or his eyes already ! " " Give me the stick. I tell you, or I ." He did not finish the threat, but held out his hand with a peremptory gesture. Edna gave one swift glance around, saw that there were no other branches within reach, saw too that the dog's face was bwellmg and bleeding from its bruises, and bending the stick across her knee she snapped it into three pieces, which she threw as far as lier strength would permit. There was a brief palise, broken only by the piteous howling of the suffering creature and as she began to realize what she had done, Edna's face reddened and she put her hands over her eyes to shut out the vision of the enraged man, who was absolutely dumb with in- fn^l^^v +1 i' 1 '"^ l-resendy ;i sneering laugii caused her to look through her fingers, and she saw - Ali," the do- now released, fawning and whining at his master's feet Aha ! The way of all natures, human as well as brute I' '1 •:! ^ 1 .c, ST. ELMO. Pet and fondle and pamper them, they turn under your caressing hand and bite you ; but bruise and trample them, and instantly t^^ey a e on thcL knees licking the feet that kicked them. Be- gone ! you bloodthirsty devil ! I'll settle the account at the kennel. Buftbn is a fool, and Pennant was right after all , the blood of the jackal pricks up your ears." He spurned the crouching culprit, and as it slunk away m the direction of the house, Edna found herself f ^^^^ *ace to f ace with the object of her aversion, and she almost wished that the earth would open and swallow her. Mr. Murray came close to her, held her hands down with one of his, and placing the other under her chin, forced her to look at him. " How dare you defy and disobey mel " I did not defy you, sir, but I could not help you to uo what was wrong and cruel." " I am the judge of my actions, and neither ask your help nor intend to permit your interference with what does not con- ""^''^GocWs the judge of mine, sir, and if I had obeyed you I should have been guilty of all you wished to do with that stick. I don't want to interfere, sir. I try to keep out of your way and I am very sorry I happened to come here this evening. 1 4id not dream of meeting you; I thought you had gone to ^° lie read all her aversion in her eyes, which strove to avoid his, and smiling grimly, he continued : "You evidently think that I am the very devil himself, walking the earth like a roaring lion Mind your own affairs hereafter and when I give you a positive order obey it. 'm- 1 am master here, and my word is hiw. Meddling or dis dience I neither tolerate nor torgive. Do you understand me i " " I shall not meddle, sir." . "That means that you will not obey me unless you thinR I) )» ^'' She was silent, and her beautiful soft eyes filled with teafs. "Answer me!" , , v, i. i, " " I have nothing to say that you would like to hear. ''What? Out with it!" ^ . , . . ^ ;,i u You would have a right to chink me impertinent it 1 saui any more." , , _ _^ „ » No, I swear I will not devour you, say what you may. She shook her head, and the motion brought two tears down on her cheeks. ST. ELMO. 53 " Oh ! you are one of the stubborn, sweet saints, wliose lips even Torquemada's red-hot steel fingers could not open. Child, do you hate or dread me most 1 Answer that question." He took his own handkerchief and wiped away the tears. " I am sorry for you, sir," she said in a low voice. He threw his head back and laugluHl derisively. "Sorry for mel For me? Me? The owner of as many thousands as there are hairs on your head ! Keep your pity for your poverty-stricken, vagrant self ! Why the deuce are you sorry for me ] " She withdrew her hands, which he seemed to hold unconsci- ously, and answered : " Because, with all your money, you never will be happy." "And what the d~l do I care for happiness? I am not such a fool as to expect "it ; and yet after all, ' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.' Pshaw ! I am a fool never- theless to waste words on you. Stop ! What do vou think of my park, and the animals? I notice you often come here." " The first time I saw it, I thought of Noah and the ark, with two of every living thing ; but an hour ago it seemed to me like the garden of Eden, where the animals all lay down to- gether in peace, before sin came into it." "And Ali and I entered, like Satan, and completed the vision ? Thank you, considering the fact that you are on my premises, and know something of my angelic, sanctified temper, I must say you Indulge in bold flights of imagery." " I did not say that, sir." " You thought it, nevertheless. Don't be hypocritical ! Is not that what you thought of?" She made no reply, and anxious to terminate an interview painfully embarrassing to her, stepped forward to pick up the history which lay on the grass. " What book is that ? " She handed it to him, and the leaves happened to open at a picture representing the murder of Becket. A scowl blackened Ins face as he glanced at it, and turned away muttering : " Malice prepense ! or the devil ! " At a little distance, leisurely cropi)ing the long grass, stood nis favourite horse, whose arched forehead and peculiar mouse- colour proclaimed his unmistakable descent from the swift hordes that scour the Kirghise steppes, and sanctioned the whim which induced his master to call him " Tamerlane." As Mr. Murray 4 54 ,S7'. ELMO. approacliea his horse, Edna walked away toward the house, fearin.' that ho might overtake her; but no sound of hoots reaclu^^l her ears, and looking back as she crossed the ave^uie and entered the flower-garden, she saw horse and ruler standnig where she left tliem, and wondered why Mr. Murray was so still, with one arm on the neck of liis Tartar pet, and his own head bent down on his hand. In reflecting upon what had occurred, she felt her repugnance increase, and began to think that they could not live in the same house without continual conflicts, which would force her to abandon the numerous advantages now within her grasp. The only ray of hope darted through lier mind when she recalled his allusion to a contemplated visit to the Houth Sea Islaiuls, and the i)Ossibility of his long absence. Insensibly her dislike of the owner extended to everything he handled, and much as she had enjoyed the perus 1 of Dante, she determined to lose no time in restoring the lost volume, which she felt well assured his keen eyes would recognize the first time she inadvertently left it in the library or the greenhouse. The doubt of lier honesty, which he had expressed to his mother, rankled in the orphan's memory, and for some days she had been nerving herself to anticipate a discovery of the book by voluntarily restoring it. The rencontre in the park by no means diminished her dread of addressing him on this subject ; but she resolved that the rendition of Ca-sar's things to Cajsar should take place that evening before she slept. CHArTEll VI. The narrow, vaulted passage leading to Mr, Murray's suite of rooms was dim and gloomy when Edna approached the par- tially opened door of the rotunda, whence issued a stream of light. Timidly she crossed the threshold and stood within on the checkered floor, whose i)olished tiles glistened under t\w glare of gas from bronze brackets representing Telamones, that stood at regular intervals around the apartment. The walls were painted in Saracenic style, and here and there hung speci- mens of Oriental armour — Turcoman cimeters, Damascuss words, Bedouin lances, and a crimson silk' flag, with heavy gold fringe. ill ST. ELMO. 55 surmounted by a cmscont. Tlio cornico of the lofty, iirched ceiling was elaborately arabesqued, and as PJdna looked up she saw througli the glass roof the flickering of stars in the sum- mer sky. In the centre of the room, immediately under the dome, stretched a billiard-table, and near it was a" circular one of black marble, inlaid with red onyx and lapis lazuli, which formed a miniature zodiac similar to that at Denderah, wiiile in the middle of this table sat a small IVEurano hour-glass, tilled with sand from the dreary valley of El Ohor. A huoo plaster Trimurti stoo^ dose to the wall, Ofl/a-tiiaftgular pedes- tal of black rock, and the Siva-face and the writhing cobra con- fronted all who entered. Just ojjposite grinned a red granite slab with a (piaint basso-relievo taken from the ruins of Elora. Near the door were two silken divans, and a richly carved urn, three feet high, which had once ornamented the fac-ade of a tomb in the royal days of Petra, ere the curse fell on Edom, now stood an in memorium of the original Necropolis. For what purpose this room was designed or used Eilna could not imagine, and after a hasty survey of its singular furniture, she crossed the rotundo, and knocked at the door that stood slightly ajar. All was silent ; but the smell of a cigar told her that the owner was within, and she knocked once more. ''Come in." "I don't wish to come in; I only want to hand vou some- thing." "Oh ! the deuce you don't ! But I never meet people even half-way, so come in you must, if you Jiave anything to say to me, I have neither blue blazes nor pitchforks about me, and you will be safe inside. I give you my word tlujre are no small devils shut up here, to fly away with whomsoever peeps in ! Either enter, I say, or be off." The temptation was powerful to accept the alternative ; but as he had evidently recognized her voice, she pushed open the door and reluctantly entered. It was a long room, and at the ene were two beautiful, fluted, white marble pillars, supporting a handsome arch, were hung heavy curtains of crimson Persian silk, that were now partially looped back, showing the furni- ture of the sleeping apartment beyond the richly ca)"ved arch. For a moment the bright light dazzled the orphan, and she shaded her eyes ; but the next instant Mr. Murray rose from a sofa near the window, and advanced a step or two, taking the cigar from his lips. :t 1 1 ^ J6lljtt^^^^t^^^^,^^dL If I ST. ELMO. "Come to the window and tako a scat." ,1 He pointed to the sofa; but «lio Hhook her head, and said "^"'"'^^ave somcthin- wl.idi belongs to you, Mr Murray which I think you nuist value very mm;li, an he had done in the park, he continued in the same low, sweet voice, which she could scarcely l)cliove belonged to him : " I am waiting for your answer, ami I intend to have it." Kov large, sad eyes were brimming with j)recious memories, as she lifted them steadily to meet his, and answered : " My grandfather was noble and good, and he was all I had in this world." " And you cannot forgive a man who happened to be rude to him ]" " If you i)lease, Mr. Murray, I would rather go now. I have given you your book, and that is all I came for." " Which means that you are afraid of me, and want to get out of my sight V She did not deny it, but her face flushed painfully. " Edna Earl, you are at least honest and truthful, and those are rare traits at the present day. 1 thank you for preserving and returning my Dante. Did you read any of it 1" " Yes, sir, all of it. Good-night, sir." " Wait a moment. When did Aaron Hunt die V "Two months after you saw him." " You have no relatives] No cousins, uncles, aunts?" *' None that lever heard of. I must go, sir." "Good night, child. For the present, when you go out in the grounds, be sure that wolf, Ali, is chain ss f^»yp^'* Several handsome, rosewood cases wore filled with rare b(H)ks — two in i'uli — centuries old ; and moth-eafen volumes and valuable Mss. — some in parchment, some bound Ik boards — recalled the days of astrology and alchemy, and tho sombre mysteries of Kosicuucianism. Side by side, on an ebony stand, lay an Elzevir Terence, piinted in r(Hl letters, and a curious Hirman book, whoso j)ag(!s consisted of thin leaves of ivory, gilded at the edges ; and here, too, were black rhyta from Chiusi, and a Cylix from Vulci, and o>«'^ of those (puiint Peruvian jars, which was so codstrusted tl at, w '^n tilled with water, tho air escaped in soinuls that rese ubiod th-t of the song or cry of tho animal represented on the va: o or jr. In tho space between the tall windows that frontet' the Uwn hung a weird, life-size picture that took strange hoL; on the imagination of all who looked at it. A gray-haired Cimbrian Pr( [dietess, in white vestments and brazen girdle, with cfuwas mantle fastened on the shoulder by a broad, brazen clasp, stood with bare feet, on a low, rude scaffolding, leaning upon her sword, and eagerly watching, with divining eyes, the stream of blood which trickled from the throat of tho slaughtered human victim down into the large, brazen kettle beneath the scaffold. The snowy locks and white mantle seemed to flutter in the wind; and thoso who gazed on tho stony, inexorable face of the Prophetess, and into the glittering blue ^oyes, shuddered and almost fancied they heard the pattering of the gory stream against the sides of tho brass caldron. But expensive and rare as were these relics of bygone dynasties and niouhlcring epochs, there was one other object for which the master would have given everything else in this museum of curiosities, and tho secret of which no eyes but his own had yet explored. On a sculptured slab, that once formed a portion of the architrave of the Cave Temple at Ele- phanta, was a splendid n urble miniature, fonr feet high, of that uuracle of ttaracenic architecture, the Taj Mahal at Agra. The elaborate carving resembled lace-work, and the beauty of the airy dome and slender, glittering minarets of this mimic tomb a ^i 1! 60 -ST. ELMO. !.■;!■' ri:; !i of Noor-Malial could find no parallel, save in the superb and matchless original. The richly-carved door that closed the arch of the tomb swung back on golden hinges, and opened only by^ a curiously-shaped golden key, which never left Mr. Murray's watch-chain ; consequently what filled the penetralia was left for the conjectures of the imaginative ; and when his mother expressed a desire to examine it, he merely frowned and said hastily : ^ " That is Pandora's box, minuH imprisoned hope. I prefer it should not be opened." Immediately in front of the tomb he had posted a grim sentinel— -a black marble statuette of Mors, modeled from that hideous little brass figure which Spence saw at Florence, re- presenting a skeleton sitting on the ground, resting one arm on an urn. Filled though it was with sparkling bijouterie that would have graced the Barberini or Strozzi cabinets, the glitter of the room was cold and cheerless. No light, childish feet had ever pattered down the long rows of shining tiles ; no gushing, mirthful laughter had ever echoed through those lofty win- dows ; everything pointed to the past— a classic, storied past, but dead as the mummies of Karnac, and treacherously, re- pulsively lustrous as the waves that break in silver circles over the buried battlements, and rustling palms, and defiled altars of the proud cities of the plain. No rosy memories of early, happy manhood lingered here ; no dewy gleam of the merry morning of life, when hope painted and peopled a smiling world ; no magic trifles that prattled of the spring- time of a heart that, in wandering to and fro through the earth, had fed itself with dust and ashes, acrid and bitter ; had studiously collected only the melancholy symbols of moulder- ing ruin, desolation, and death, and which found its best type in the Taj Mahal, that glistened so mockingly as the gas-li^^ht flickered over it. ^ A stranger looking upon St. Elmo Murray for the first time, as he paced the floor, would have found it difficult to realize that only thirty-four years had ploughed those deep, rugged lines in his swarthy nnd colourless but still handsome face, where midnight orgies and habitual excesses had left their unmistak- able plague-spot, and Mcphistophcles had stamped his signet. Blase, cynical, scoff"ing, and hopeless, he had stranded his life, and .. as recklessly striding to his grave, trampling upon the 1 ' 1: jrence, re- •ne arm on -ST. ELMO. 61 feelings of all with whom he associated, and at war with a world, in which his lordly, brilliant intellect would have lifted him to any eminence he desired, and which, properly directed would have made him the benefactor and ornament of the society he snubbed and derided. Like all strong thouf^h mis- guided natures, the power and activity of his mind enlianced his wretchedness, and drove him farther and farther from the path of rectitude ; while the consciousness that he was origin- ally capable of loftier, purer aims, and nobler pursuits than those that now engrossed his perverted thoughts, rendered him savagely morose. For nearly fifteen dreary years, nothing but jeers and caths and sarcasms had crossed his finely sculptured lips, which had forgotten how to smile ; and it was only when the mocking demon of the wine-cup looked out from his gloomy gray eyes that his ringing, sneering laugh struck like a dagger to the heart that loved him, that of his proud but anxious and miserable mother. To-night, for the first time since his desperate plunge into the abyss of vice, conscience, which he had believed efiectually strangled, stirrec? feeblv, startlincr him with a faint moan, as unexpected as the echo" from Mo^ella's tomb, or the resurrection of Ligeia ; and down the murdered years came wailing ghostly memories, which even his iron will could no longer scourge to silence. Clamorous as the aven^in^^ Erinnys, they refused to be exorcised, and goaded him almost to frenzy. Those sweet, low, timid tones, " I am sorry for you " had astonished and mortified him. To be hated and dreaded was not at all unusual or surprising, but to be pitied and despised was a sensation as novel as humiliating; and the fact that all his ferocity failed to intimidate the "little vagrant" was un- pleasantly puzzling. For some time after Edna's departure he pondered all that Had passed between them, and at length he muttered " How thoroughly she abhors me ! If I touch her, the flesh abso utely writhes away from my hand, as if I were plague- stnoken or a lei)er. Her very eyeUds shudder, when she looks at me— and I believe she would more willingly confront Apollyon himself. Strange ! how she detests me. I have half a mind te make her love me, even despite herself. Wha*^^ a steady brave look of scorn there was in her splendid eyes when sue told me to my face I was sinful and cruel ! " He set his teeth hard, and his fingers clinched as if longing r t HI li rp^^re vailed upon him to consent to under- take her education. The parsonage stood on tlie skirts of the ST. ELMO. 63 village, in a square immediately opposite the church, and was separated from it by a wide, handsome street, lined on either side with elm trees. The old-fashioned house was of brick, with a wooden portico jutting out over the front door, and around the slender pillars twined honeysuckle and clematis tendrils, purple with clustering bells ; while the brick walls were draped with luxuriant ivy, that hung in festoons from the eaves, and clambered up the chimneys and in at the windows. The daily-swept walk leading to the gate was bordered with white and purple lilies — " flags," as the villagers dubbed them — and over the little gate sprang an arch of lattice- work loaded with Belgian and English honeysuckle, whose fragrant wreaths drooped til they touched the heads of all who entered. When Mrs. Murray and Edna ascended the steps and knocked at the open door, bearing the name " Allan Hammond, " no living thing was visible, save a thrush that looked out shyly from the clematis vines ; and after waiting a moment, Mrs. Murray entered unannounced. They looked into the parlour, with its cool matting and white curtains and polished, old-fashioned, mahogany furniture, but the room was unoccupied, then passing on to the library or study, where tiers of books rose to the ceiling, they saw, through the open window, the form of the pastor, who was stooping to gather the violets blooming in the little shaded garden at the rear of the house. A large white cat sunned herself on the strawberry bed, and a mocking-bird sang in the myrtle-tree that overshadowed the study-window. Mrs. Murray called to the minister, and taking off" his straw hat he bowed, and came to meet them. " Mr. Hammond, I hope I do not interrupt you V " No, Ellen, you never interrupt me. I was merely gather ing some violets to strew in a child's coffin. Susan Archer, poor thing ! lost her little Winnie last night, and I knew she would like some flowers to sprinkle over her baby." He shook hands with Mrs. Murray, and turning to her com- panion offered his hand, saying kindly : "This is my pupil, Edna, I presume 1 I expected you several (lays ago, and am very glad to see you at last. Come into the house and let us become .icquainte- f- -the. "I should think thr.t, with all mv life before n,e I miri.t study both; and even if I should have no usofor^'it would ty isTtr'"" *" ""''""""''' '*• ^'"'^''"■S'' - '-- in tt "Certainly not half so often as ignorance. A'erv well • v„., shall learn Greek as fast as you please I should LT. ' / you read son.ething. Here I JoldTnitl/s De rt f vtllalT suppose you try a few lines; begin here at ■ Swtt las fhe Ellen did yon ever see a genuine bluo stocking?" ^^^_^^I a^, happy to be able to say that I w,« never so uufor- You nnnwiVliai- vniircolf In-.l-- ■' «.ae^H^n„WerS^^^ J-0 be consistent of course T mn.f »Jiuwning{ ^.ow we w„n.en are ueve;r;pJser .XlEl^rlr 5 ' !' I «| u « -■- % iM 66 ST. ELMO. much less possess tliB jewel itself; and beside, sir, you take un- due advantage of n^e, for the women you mention were U'uly gi-cit geniuses. I was not objecting to genius in women." " Without these auxiliaries and adjuncts which you depre- cate so earnestly, would their native genius ever have distin- guished them, or charmed and benefitted the world i Br: Uiant success makes blue -stockings autocratic, and !.,l;e v/orld Jt;*tter.s and crowns them ; unt misuccessful aspirants !ut strangle »j' witli an offensive .-^jbriqurt, than which it wt^re be*Mn- fiuxt tJiey ha < millstones tied aboui. their necks. Aiior all, i^llen, it is rather ludicrous, and seems very unfaii- that thn whole (lass of literary ladies should be sneered at on account of tlio colour of Stilling- tieet's stockings eighty years aj^; «." " If you please, sir, i should like to know the meaning of ' blue-stocking ' f said Edna. " You are in a fair way to understand it if you btutlv Greek," ans\^-ful Mrs. Murray, "laughing at tjie j)iizzle(j expression of the c^i/kIU':;! .'. ouut.enance. Mr. Jiy,rii'.'\',>nd suiHed, and replied: " A ' l'.v,i-si,ocking,' my dear, is generally supposed to be a lady, neili.'.r yuuug, pleasant, nor pretty (and in most in- :stancek; unmarried), who is unamiable, un^'l•aceful, and untidy, ignorant of all douaestic accomplishments ind truly feminine acquirements, and ambitious of appearing very learned ; a woman whose lingers are more frequently Jidorned with ink- spots than thimble ; who holds houseket^piiig in detestation, and talks loudly about politics, science, and plulosophy ; who is ugly, and learned, and cross ; whose hair is never smooth and whose ruiiles are never fluted. Is that a correct likeness, Ellen r "As good as one of Brady's photographs. Take warning, Edna." "The title of * blue-stocking,' " continued the pastor, "origin- ated in a jest, many, many years ago, when a circle of very brilliant, witty, and elegant ladies in London, met at the house of Mrs. Vesey, to listen to and take part in the conversation of some of the most gifted and learned men England has ever pro- duced. One of those gentlemen, Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings, was so exceedingly agreeable and instructive, that when he chanced to be absent, the company declared liit- party was a failure without 'the blue stockings,' as he was familiarly called. A Frenchman, who )^^ 1 of the circum- )ressxoii ot e waiiiuig, uuI gatl.o.-ings the name of ' ha. W.^. winch means blue stoekin.^^s ; and honJe, you so^ tJZ popular acceptation. I mean in public opinion^ tl e luu t o ^ title, which was given in compliment to a verv c lutrnii Ztle man, is now supposed to belong to very tiresome r.^dt^tf." di^a^eeable ladies. Do you imdersta^l ^ m^^ ^ ^ ^"' I do not quite understand why ladies have not as good a light to be learned and wise as gentlemen " "' lo satisfy you on that point, would involve more histories! l>,j,.r>..f+ ^ outtun all the books vou need nnrl iiei-eafter you must come to me everv inoi-nJn., ../ ', . As they rode homeward, Edna asked : "Has Mr. Hammond a familv?" thai^:ij;:„'r'' '■" *•"»""-- "a^- B,.* why Uo y„,. a.k mcl'oZ."" '"'■'• '""' ' "'"'"''"■'^'' ^'-'"^ '^''P' 'h- house in «„el, hohUaW "■ T^ '"*''"' ""■™"* *'» '"te-'x to his house Jioiu allairs. In your intercourse w\ih M,. vr \ . """'^^- ful uot to allude t'u his ao^nZ:^:^!^.^"'"'"'^^' '"' '•''■<'■ with the ha„,.hty ai. whiol^^a ■ ^i* ZS I'^'il^r' she compressed her lins, lowere.l l,e,. ^„il i ■ ' *''"'*'' and abstracted until ia^v .^ed'hUe ' ""' ''""""'='' »"""* uoltSrir-^e^S' V;'?dnr™'5'' ?-"™"™ »•■ »'>'Ji™ gently ;nd.kilf"li;;:d«l b; he hI,'^^^^^^ ",^ f •'''" ""'^ innished the mental Simti for ^icIehuL« '" '"""'"■ so-ace, viiS:,si"^r„ '.^rr.irtr^'"''''?'^ -, "'-^ Haioeuas held his liter-irv .,«=;,„ VI,? *'»4'"l"iu where text.b«,ks thatta Tl» ir with t :.V ."' ^'"'^T^ " ''"^ '( ' r I' fc:l!i iH* ill !':■ a.'^H'i'^-Mimfimtt^.t.: 68 ST. ELMO. ill I i thought and study gradually stretched out into a broader, grander cycle, embracing, as she grew older, the application of those great principhis that underlie modern science and crop out in ever-vai-yiug phenomena and empirical classifications. Edna's tutor seemed impressed with the fallacy of the popular system of acquiring one branch of learning at a time, locking it away as in drawers of rubbish, never to be opened, where it moulders in shapeless confusion till swept out ultimately to make room for more recent scientific invoices. Thus in lieu of the educational plan of " finishing natural philosophy and chemistry this session, and geology and astronomy next term, and taking up moral science and criticism the year we grad- uate," Mr. Hammond allowed his pupil to finish and lay aside none of her studies ; but sought to impress upon her the great value of Jilackstone's aphorism : " For sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighbourhood of each other ; nor is there any branch of learning but may be helped and improved by assistance drawn from other arts." Finding that her imagination was remarkably fertile, he re- quired her, as she advanced in years, to compose essays, letters, dialogues, and sometimes orations, all of which were not only written and handed in for correction, but he frequently directed her to recite them from memory, and invited hei" to assist him, while he dissected and criticised either her diction, line of argu- ment, choice of metaphors, or intonation of voice. In these compositions he encouraged her to seek illustration from every department of letters, and convert her theme into a focus, vpon which to pour all the concentrated light which research could reflect, assuring her that what is often denominated " far-fet- chedness," in metaphors, furnishes not only evidence of the laborious industry of the writer, but is an in- j lied compliment to the cultured taste and general knowledge of those for whose entertainment or edification they are employed— provided al- ways said metaphors and similes really illustrate^ elucidate, and adorn the theme discussed- -when properly understood. His favoui-ite plea in such instances was, " If Humboldt and Cuvier, and Linnwus, and ]^]hrenberg have made mankind their debtors by scouring the physical cosmos for scientific data, which every living savant devours, assimilates, and reproduces in dynamic, physiologic, or entomologic theories, is it not equiilly laudable in scholars, orators, and authors— nay, is it not obliga- tory on them, to subsidize the vast cosmos of literature, to oir- ;« ''.'■> »S'r. ELMO. 69 cumnavigato tlio world of belloi-kttres, in soarcli of now lumii- spheres of thought, and spice islands of illustifitions ; l)ringinor their rich gleanings to the great public mart, where men baHcr their intellectual merchandise 1 Wide as the universe, and free as its winds, should be the range of the human mind."' Yielding allegiance to the axiom that " the proper stuWy of mankind is man," and recognizing the fact that history faith- fully epitomizes the magnificent triumphs and stupendous fail-; ures, the grand cai)acities and innate frailties of the races, he fostered and stimulated his pupil's fondness of historic investi- gation ; while in impressing upon her memory the chronologic sequence of events he not only gi-ouped into"^great epochs tluj principal dramas, over which Clio holds august critical tribunal, but so carefully selected her miscellaneous reading, that poetry, novels, biography, and essays reflected light upon the actors of tlie particular epoch which she was studying; and thus, through the subtile, but imperishable links of association of ideas, chained them in her mind. The extensive library at Lo Socage and the valuable collec- tion of books at the parsonage challenged research, and, with a boundless ambition, equalled only by her patient, persevering application, Edna devoted herself to the acquisition of knowt ledge, and astonished and delighted her teacher by the rapidity of her progress and the vigour p.nd originality of her restless in- tellect. The noble catholicity of spirit that distinguished Mr. Ham mond's character encouraged her to discuss freely the ethical and psychological problems that arrested her attention as she grew older, and facilitated her appreciation and acceptance of the great fact, that all bigotry springs from narrow minds and partial knowledge. He taught her that truth, scorning mono- polies and deriding patents, lends some valuable elements to al- most every human system ; that ignorance, superstition, and ni tolerance are the red-handed Huns that ravage society, im- molating the pioneers of progress upon the shrine of preiudice —fettering science— blindly bent on divorcing natural and re vealed truth, which God " hath joined together " in holy and eternal^ wedlock; and while they battle a I'outrcmce with every innovation, lock the wheels of human advancement, turning a deaf ear to the thrilling cry : Yet I (loubt not through tlie ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns. ^ ■h 1 .' '■f -1 = ft 4 .;' M •••>iiim.%mm,i^#.mim>m.^. '0 .s7'. la.Mo. If ('arlylf^ iKi cont»ct in liiw (IcH-lamtioii that "Truly, a think- iiiij man is tho worst (momy tlus jirince of darkness can have, and ovory tinu' such a ono announcos Iiimself there runs a sliudder tlironi^li tJie netlior rnipiro, w hero now oinissarios ui-o trained with no"- '.-''os. to lioodwink aiiy nasty of Khlis will instantly termin- ate, when v'veiy , i,iiit in Christendom, from tho frozen shores of SpitzVcri^en to the .tjrpon dells of Owhyhoe, from tho shinin.i.' spires of i „uropo to tho rocky battltnnents th;it front the raeific, shall bo filled with meek and holy men of ripe scholarship and i-esistles.s .lofpunice, whose scientific erudition kooi»s pace with their evani!;(;licMl piety, m' . > irre))roachal)lo lives attest tliat th(!ir hearts are indeed hallowed temples of that lovinj,' charity " that snfferoth lon<,' and is kind ; that \annteth not it- self, is not puffed up ; think(>th no e\ il ; bearoth all thinfjs, Jiopeth all thiuiis, (Midureth nil thing's?" While ('hrist Ma Iked to and I'ro amonj^ the ])alms and poppies of Palestim\ <,dorifyinjf? anew an accursed and degraded human nature, unlettered fishermen, Avho mended their nets and trimmed their sails along the blue waves of (»alileo, wore fit instruments, in his guiding hands, for the dissemination of his gospel; but when the days of the Incarnation ended, and Jesus returned to the Father, all tlu^ learning and the miirhtv genius of Saul of Tarsus Avero required to confiw.u and I'ofute the scoffing sojdiists who, replete with philhellenic lore, and within sight of the marvellous triglyphs .and metopes of the Parthenon, gathered on Mars' Hill to defend their marble altars to the Unknown (iod." .•H'l CHi\^TEE YTII. During the months of Sejitember and October Mrs. Murray filled the hou' ■ with comi>a] ■, and pa- lies of gentlemen came from time ti) time to enjoy tue game season and take }»art in the hunts to which St. Elmo devoted himself. There were ele- gant dinners and pet its i^oH per- thfl would not Lave disgraced Tnscubim. or made Lu' 'lusl'iiali wi:en T*!!mpp.\ antl C'ef^rn sought to suriuii^e hiui tl " Apollo ;" ti sere were billiard- n; itches and horse-race iw. lerry gatherings at the ten-pin alley; and laughter, an«l music, and dane 4 usurped the ST. f'LMO. I dominions wliero silenco and g,. ,fQ had so lonj,' rei^'ned. Nat- urally .shy and nnaccuHtoinod to companionship, VAmx felt no desire to participato in these festivities, ])ut hecanio more and more absorbed in lier studies, and her knovvl(>d<,'e of the com- pany was limited to tlie brief intercourse of the tabhi, wliere she observed the deference yielded to the opinions of the master of the house, and the drc.id that all manifested lest they should full under the hish of his iniTcilcss sarcasm. An IshmiM'l in society, his uplift(Ml hand smote all cMmvention- alities and shams, spared neither ap;e nor sex, nor sanctuaries, and acknowh^dijed sanctity nowher*^ The punctilious court esy of his manner polished and pointed his satire, and when a per- sonal application of his remarks was possible, h(! would bow gracefully to the hidy indicated, and her constrained and uncom- fortable, when forc(!d to enter his i)resence. Mrs. Murray well understood her hostile feeling toward her son, l)ut she never alluded to it, and his name was not mentioned by (.'ithisr. One by one the guests de))arte(l ; autumn pa.s.sed, winter was ushered in by wailing winds and drizzling rains; and one morn- ing as Edna cam. out of the hothouse, with a basketful of camellias, sho saw St. Elmo bidding his mother good-b\ , as he started on his long journey to Oceanica. Thev stoo(i on i\\v. steps, Mrs. Murray's h(;ad rested on his shoulder, and bitter tears were falling on her cheeks as she talked (eagerly and rai)idly to him. Edna heanl him say impatiently : "You ask what is im])Ossible ; it is worse than useless to urge me. Better i)ray that I may find a jteaceful grave in the cinnamon groves and under the 'plumy palms' of the far South." He kissed his mother's cheek and sprang into the saddle, but checked his horse at sight of the orphan, who stood a few yards distant. " Are you coming to say good-by ? Or do you reserve such courtesies for your ' good friends '?" Regret for her former rudeness and sympathy for Mrs. Murray's uncontrollable distress softened' her heart toward him. She selected the finest white camellia in tlu! basket, walked close to the horse, and, tendering (lie flower, said : " Good-bye, sir. T hope yoi, will enjoy your travels." "And prolong them indefinitely] Ah ! you offer a flag of truce ] I warned you I should not respect it. Yoi know my ar. ELMt>. 73 motto, 'Nemo me hnpun,; lace^Hlt ." Tluu.k you for this lovelv peaco of}(.r.njr. 8inco yo„ aro willir.g to n.-i^otiato, nui and op.i the gatu l,,r ,ne. I may never pass tluougl. it again ox- ccpt as a ghoHt. a '^^ SIh, placuHl h.M- Laskot on tl.o stei.s and ran down tiio avonuo whilo he paused to say Hou.etl.ing t„ his niothor. Ei8 key (which I wish you to wear about your jjerson) to my mother, inform her of this conversation, and then open the vault tan you resist the temjitation to look into it? Think well before you answer." He had disengaged the golden key from his watch chain and "('In It in ins hand. " I should not like to take charge of it, Mr. Murray. You rMx certainly trust your own mother sooner than an utter stranger like myself." He frowned and muttered an oath ; then exclaimed : vonrt w'T' ^ '^° ''°* ''^'°°''' ^"^ ^^^^^ '^^ >" '*^ny li""'!'^ but yours. Will you promise or will you not?" oonnr '^'"''^'"^ wretchedness, the "savage hopelessness of liis n^no!""''? ""r^ ^"""^ ^^'^^"'^ ^^^ g"*^' ^""'^ ^^^''' '' moment's W ' """^ "" '^T"* '*'"«"S^^ '''^^' '*«^' ^«^'*' «he extendt-d her iiand, saymg with evident reluctance : :M i away. Closing the ponderous gate, Kdna leaned her face against the* iron bars, and watched the lessening form. Gradually trees intervened, then at a bend in the i-oad she saw him wheel his horse as if to return. For some mouKnits he remained stationary, looking back, but sudchmly disappeansd ; and, with a sigh of indescribable relief she retraced her steps to the house. As she approached the spot where Mrs. Murray still sat, with hei- face hidden in her handkerchief the touch of the little key, tightly folded in her palm, brought a painful consciousness of concealment and a tinge of shame to her cheeks ; for it seemed in her eyes an insidt to her benefactress that tho guardianshi[) of the papers should have been withheld from hrr. She would have stolen away to her own room to secrete tho key ; but Mrs. Murrav called her, and as she sat down beside her the miserable mother threw her arms around the orphan, and resting her cheek on her head w(>pt bitterly. Timidlv, but very gently and tenderly, the latter strove to comfort her, caressing the white hands that were clasped in almost despairing anguish. " Dear Mrs. Murray, do not grieve so deeply ; he may como back much earlier than you expect. Ke Avill get tired of travelling, and come back to his own oeautiful home, and to you, who love him so devotedly." " No, no ! he will stay away as long as possible. It is not beautiful to him. He hates Jiis home and forgets me ! Mv loneliness, my anxiety, are nothing in comparison to his morbiil love of change. I shall never see him again." ST. ELMO. natant onlv, 75 •' Hut he loves you very much, and that will bring him to I you." "Why do you think soT '' Ho pointed to you, a few moments ajyo, and his face was full of wretchedness when he told me, ' Make my mother happy while I am gone, and you will be the first person to whom I have ever been indeV)tfcd.' Do not weep so, dear Mrs. Murray; (!o(l can preserve him as well on sea as here at home." "Oh ! but he will not pray for himself!" sobbed the mother. " Then you must pray all the more for him ; and go where ho will, ho cannot get beyond God's sitrht, or out of His merci- ful hands. Yon know Christ said, 'Whatsoever you ask in my name, I will do it ;' and if the Syrophenician's Vlaughter was saved not by her own prayers, but by her mother's faith, why should not God save your son if you pray and believe?" Mrs. Murray clasped Edna closer to her heart, and kissed her warmly. " You are my only comfort ! If J had your faith I should not be so unhappy. My dc^ar child, promise me one thing, that every time you pray you will remember my son, and ask God to preserve him in his wanderings, and bring him safely back to las mother ! I know you do not like him, but for my sake \\illyou not do this?" " My prayers are not worth much, but I will always remem- ber to pray for him ; and, Mrs. Murray, while he is away, sup- pose you have family prayer, and let all the household join in ]»mymg for the absent master. I think it would be such a l)lo.ssm"rden to himself." What changed him so sadly V " Some melancholy circumstances that occurred early in his lite. Edna, ho planned and built that beautiful church where you come on Sabbath to hear me preach, and about the line It was finished he went off to college. When he returned lie av-oided me, and has never yet been ijiside of the costly church which his taste and his money constructed. Still, whife 1 live, 1 shall not cease to pray for him, hoping that in God's bovho'd'''" ""' "''"*' "" "^^ ^^ "**" ^^"*"*' ^'^^^ °*" '^^^ " Mr. Hammond, is he not a very wickwJ man V 4 rti H 78 ST. ELMO. W' " He had originally the noblest heart I ever knew, and was as tender in liis sympathies as a woman, while he was almost reckless in his nuinilicent charities. But in his present irre- ligious state I hear that he has grown bitter and sour and illiberal. Yet, however repulsive his manner may be, I can- not believe that his nature is utterly perverted. He is dissi- pated but not unprincipled. Let him rest, my child, in the ham is of his God, who alone can judge him.' We can but pray and hope. Go on with your lesson." The recitation was resumed and ended ; but Edna was well aware that for the first time her teacher was inattentive, and the heavy sighs that passed his lips almost unconsciously told her how sorely he was distressed by the erratic course of his quondam pupil. Wheu^ she rose to go home she asked the name of the author of the l^'amily Pi-ayers which she wished to i»urc]iase for Mrs. Murray, and the pastor's face flushed with pleasure as he heard of her cherished scheme. " My dear child, be circumspect, be prudent ; above all things, be consistent. Search your own heart; try to make your life an exposition of your faith ; let profession and practice go hand in hand; ask God's special guidance in the difficult position in which you are placed, an«l your influence for good in Mrs. Murray's family may be beyond all computation." Laying his hands on her head, he continued tremulously : '< O my God : if it be thy will, make her the instrument of rescuing, ere it be indeed too late. Help me to teach her aright ; and let her pure life atone for all the inconsistencies and wrongs that have weil-nigli wrought eternal i-uin." Turning quickly away, hi; left tiie room, before she could even catcii a glimpse of his countenance. The strong and lasting all".' -tioii that sprang up between instructor and pupil—the sense; of dependence on each other's society— rarely occuis among persons in whose ages so great a disparity exists. Spring and autumn have no affinities— age has generally no sympathy for the gushing sprightlir.ess, the eager questioning, the ro.se-hued dreams and aspirations of young people ; and youth shrinks chilJod !»nd constrained from the austere companionship of those who, with snowy locks gililed by the fading rays of a setting sun, totter down the hill of iUe, journeying to the dark and silent valley of the shadow uf death. .ST. ELMO. 79 Preferiiiig Mr. Hainniond's society to that of the comparative strangers who visited Mrs. Murray, Eduu spent half of her time at the quiet parsonage, and the remainder witli her books and music. That under auspices so favourable her i)rogress was almost unprecedentedly rapid, furnished matter of surprise to uo one who was capable of estimating the results of native g aius and vigorous application. Mrs. Murray watched the expansion of her mind and the development of her beauty with emotions of pride and pleasure, which, had she analyzed them would have toli her how dear and necessary to her happiness the orphan had become. As Edna's reasoning powers strengthened, Mr. Hammond led her gradually to the contemplation of some of the gi-avest pro- blems that have from time immemorial per})Iexed and maddened humanity, plunging one half ijito blind, bigoted traditionalism and scourging the other into the dreary, sombre, starless wastes ot Pyrrhonism. Knowing full well that of every earnest soul and honest, profound thinker these ontologic questions would sooner or later denmnd audience, he wisely placed her in the philosophic paltestra, encouraged her wrestlings, cheered her on handed her from time to time the instruments and aids she needed, and then, when satistied that the intellectual gymnastics had properly trained and developed her, he im-ited lier— where he felt a.S8ured the spirit of the age would inevitably drive her— to the great Pythian games of si)eculation, where the lordly mtellects of the nineteenth century gather to test their ratio- cniative skill, and bear oil" the crown of bay on the point of a syllogism or the wings of an audacious hypothesis. Thus immersed in study, weeks, months, and vears glided l)y, bearing her young life swiftly across the EnAa meads of gnlliood, nearer and nearer to the portals of that mystic temple ot womanhood, on whose fair, fretted shrine was to be (jffered a heart either consumed by the baleful tires of Baal, or purified and consecrated by the Shekinah promised through Messiah CHAPTEli IX. During the first year of Mr. Murray's absence, his brief letters to his mother were written nt long interval..; in the Hecuud, they wor- r^vw and briefer still; but toward the clc^o oi the tliird h. viote more frequently, and announced liis inten- i:i ■ J y \ : i 1 I • I "' \] ■ t 1 '' J 1 i f i 1 m; 80 ST. ELMO. rl tion of revisiting Egy{)t before his return to the land of his birth. Although iro allusion wiis ever nuide to Edna, Mi-s Murray sometimes read aloud descriptions of beautiful scenei-y written now among the scorii« of Mauna Roa or Mauna KcV and now from the pinnacle of Mount Ophir, whence, throu-'li waving forests of nutmeg and clove, flashed the blue waters of the Indian Ocean, or the silver ripples of Malacca ; and on such occasions the orphan listened eagerly, entranced by the tropical luxuriance and grandeur of his imagery, by his gor^c ous word-painting, which to her charmed ears seemed scarcely inferior to the woiulerful pen-portraits of Ruskin Those letters seemed flecked with the puiple and gold, the amber au.l rose, the opaline and beryline tints, of which he spoke in tell- ing the glories of Polynesian and Malaysian skies, and the matchless verdure aiul floral splendours of their serene, spicy dells. J or many days after the receipt of each, Mrs. Murray was graver and sadder, but the spectre that had disquieted Edna was thoroughly exorcised, and only when the cold touch of the golden key startled her was she conscious of a va