s both. Why need he mar by
cruel suspicions and prejudices this great joy of my life? I remember to
have wondered sometimes that girls could marry contrary to the consent
of their parents, but it seemed to me now that no one could sacrifice an
attachment as strong as mine to blind authority without doing wrong to
the eternal principles of love and honor. I vowed in secret that if
Roger Dale should prove as true to me as I would be to him, nothing
should keep us apart.

V.

Tinker's Reach, as most people know, is a very popular summer resort on
the Atlantic sea-coast. It possesses the advantages both of the ocean
and the country. There are beautiful drives in its vicinity variegated
by mountain peaks, ponds almost large enough to be classed as lakes, and
extensive woods where one--or more readily two--may be lost with ease.
On the other hand the harbor is adapted to all sorts of craft, from the
two hundred ton yacht to the bark canoe; and for those who prefer
looking at the waves to riding over them, there are superb rocks to sit
upon and clamber over, which abound in eyries for the retiring and caves
for the curious. Altogether it is a delightful place.

It takes its name, not as might be supposed from one of the aborigines,
but from a small variety of mackerel known to fishermen as "tinkers,"
which used to be seined off the main head-land in large quantities.
Originally a primitive settlement, fashionable patronage had dotted the
shore with large hotels and showy villas, which at this period were less
numerous than at present.

Soon after my arrival I received a note from Mr. Dale announcing that he
would be able to get away from the city by the end of the week. The
receipt of this missive thrilled me with joy; but I felt that proper
sentiments obliged me to tell my Aunt Helen. It would scarcely be
honorable to carry on an affair of which she disapproved, while enjoying
her hospitality and under her protection. Besides, I was not without
hopes of winning her over to my side. She had always been the one to
whom I had gone for sympathy, and her desertion in this case made me
feel sadly the need of an ally. So I said to her one evening,--

"Mr. Dale will be here early next week."

Aunt Helen shifted uneasily in her chair. "I don't know what your father
would say to that. He disapproves of your intimacy with Mr. Dale."

"I know it, Aunt Helen. He is prejudiced against him."

"Mr. Dale is certainly a very constan