away. Mary Stansfield knelt her down by the old lady's side,
and in one loving, tearful embrace, such as they had never known before,
the icy barrier that had so long chilled that young and loving heart was
melted, and there was peace.

The colonel was more than satisfied. He knew, as he quietly stole out
of the room without a further word, that he had been privileged to gain
that morning two like-minded workers in the shade, instead of one.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE STAMP OF THE CROSS.

A few days after Colonel Dawson's happy interview with Miss Stansfield
and her niece, a _fete_ was given by the Wilders at their residence,
Holly House, partly for the entertainment of the children who belonged
to the Sunday-school classes taught by the Misses Wilder, and partly
also as a means of gathering together as many neighbouring friends and
acquaintances as might be at leisure to come.

Colonel Dawson and his nephew had received a pressing invitation; and
also Lady Willerly and her daughter, though the latter was hardly
expected, as it was known how many engagements she had to tie her at
home. The invitation, however, decided Grace Willerly to write at once
and say that, although she had a very pressing engagement, she would
arrange to put it off, as she felt that a good game of play with the
dear children on the lawn at Holly House would be just the very thing
she wanted to do her good and freshen her up.

So a large party assembled on the day appointed, and among them the
colonel and his nephew--the former because he wished to keep on friendly
terms with his neighbours, though he anticipated but little pleasure
from this particular gathering. Besides this, he was a little anxious
to see to what extent the intimacy between the young Wilders and his
nephew had gone; for he had something of a misgiving that the young man
might be getting entangled in the attractions of one of the young
ladies, and this was the last thing he would have desired for him. As
for Horace Jackson himself, his impression concerning the younger
members of the Wilder family was that they were decidedly "jolly." He
had not yet consciously arrived at a warmer stage of feeling in regard
to any one of them, and his estimate was tolerably correct. Somebody
had characterised the young ladies of Holly House as "dashing girls,"
and such they certainly were.

The eldest was now about one and twenty, a fine _manly_ young woman,
with a loud voice, and ve