at happened. I gave Philip up. I consented to let
my light, my hope, and my joy die out. I did that for you; but I did not
consent to let my love die; and I tell you now, once and for all, that
my love will never die; and that, as I so love Philip, I can never, even
for your sake, marry any one but Philip!"

"Oh, Francie! Francie!" suddenly exclaimed a joyful little voice. "No
one in all the world wants you to marry any one else! The stranger isn't
a stranger. Say 'Yes' to your father and to Philip at the same time."

Frances turned; Arnold stepped in through the open window and put his
arm round her.

"Now, sir," he said, holding Frances's hand, and turning to the squire,
"which am I to have--the Firs or Frances?"

Of course everybody present knew the answer, so there is no need to
record it here.

THE END.

MONSIEUR THE VISCOUNT'S FRIEND.

A TALE IN THREE CHAPTERS

"Sweet are the vses of aduersitie
Which like the toad, ougly and venemous,
Weares yet a precious Iewell in his head."

AS YOU LIKE IT: A.D. 1623.

CHAPTER I.

It was the year of grace 1779. In one of the most beautiful corners of
beautiful France stood a grand old chateau. It was a fine old building,
with countless windows large and small, with high pitched roofs and
pointed towers, which, in good taste or bad, did its best to be
everywhere ornamental, from the gorgon heads which frowned from its
turrets to the long row of stables and the fantastic dovecotes. It stood
(as became such a castle) upon an eminence, and looked down. Very
beautiful indeed was what it looked upon. Terrace below terrace glowed
with the most brilliant flowers, and broad flights of steps led from one
garden to the other. On the last terrace of all, fountains and jets of
water poured into one large basin, in which were gold and silver fish.
Beyond this were shady walks, which led to a lake on which floated
waterlilies and swans. From the top of the topmost flight of steps you
could see the blazing gardens one below the other, the fountains and the
basin, the walks and the lake, and beyond these the trees, and the
smiling country, and the blue sky of France.

Within the castle, as without, beauty reigned supreme. The sunlight,
subdued by blinds and curtains, stole into rooms furnished with every
grace and luxury that could be procured in a country that then accounted
itself the most highly-civilized in the world. It fe