e manor was failing in health, and
longing, as she had long done, to see and forgive her child? If he were
right in his surmises that this "woodland girl," as he had heard her
called, was the daughter of the child of the manor, then even if the
mother was dead, the young violinist would be received with open arms by
both the grand-parents, and would (and here arose the difficulty in the
young man's mind) inherit the estates and wealth which would have
devolved on her mother, all of which, but for the existence of this
woodland child, he, Reginald Gower, would have inherited as heir-at-law.

"Well, there is no call on you to say anything about the matter, at all
events at present," whispered the evil spirit in the young man's heart.
"You may be mistaken. Why ruin your whole future prospects for a fancy?
Likenesses are so deceptive; and as to the necklace, pooh! that is
nonsense--there are hundreds of mosaic necklaces. Let the matter alone,
and go your way. 'Eat, drink, and be merry.'"

All very well; but why just then of all times in the world did the words
of the Bible, taught him long ago by the mother he loved, come so
vividly to his remembrance--"Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with
thy God;" and those words, heard more distinctly still, which his mother
had taught him to call "the royal law of love"--"As ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them"?

Good and bad spirits seemed fighting within him for the mastery; but
alas, alas! the selfish spirit so common to humanity won the day, and
Reginald Gower turned from the low, soft voice of the Holy Spirit
pleading within him, and resolutely determined to be silent regarding
his meeting with the child found in the Black Forest, and the strange
circumstance of her likeness to the picture and her possession of the
mosaic necklace.

Once again the god of self, who has so many votaries in this world, had
gained a great triumph, and the prince of this world got a more sure
seat in the heart of the young man. But all unknown to him there was one
"climbing for him the silver, shining stair that leads to God's great
treasure-house," and claiming for her fatherless boy "the priceless boon
of the new heart."

Was such a prayer ever offered in vain or unanswered by Him who hath
said, "If ye ask anything according to my will, I will do it. Ask, and
ye shall receive"?

CHAPTER IX.

CHRISTMAS IN THE FOREST.

"Christmas, happy Christmas,