aise.

Clouds can not always lower, the sun must shine;
Grief can not always last, joy's hour will come;
Seize as you may, each sunbeam, make it thine,
And make thy heart the sunshine's constant home.

Nor for thyself alone, a sunny smile
Carries a magic nothing can withstand;
A cheerful look may many a care beguile,
And to the weary be a helping hand.

Be brave--clasp thy great sorrows in thy arms;
Though eagle-like, they threat, with lifted crest,
The dread, the terror which thy soul alarms,
Shall turn a peaceful dove upon thy breast.

* * * * *

_A STRANGE STORY--ITS SEQUEL._

PREFACE.

The often expressed wish of the American Press for an explanation of the
meaning of 'A Strange Story,' shall be complied with. It is purely and
simply this: Many novels, most of them, in fact, treat of the World; the
rest may be divided into those vaguely attempting to describe the works
of the Flesh and the Devil. This division of subjects is fatal to their
force; there was need to write a novel embracing them all; therefore 'A
Strange Story' was penned. Mrs. Colonel Poyntz personated the World,
Doctor Fenwick the Flesh, and Margrave, _alias_ Louis Grayle, certainly,
I may be allowed to say, played the Devil with marked ability. To give a
fitting _morale_ to all, the character of Lilian Ashleigh was thrown in;
the good genius, the conqueror of darkness, the positive of the
electrical battery meeting the negative and eliciting sparks of
triumphant light--such was the heroine.

Man, conscious of a future life, and endowed with imagination, is not
content with things material, especially if his brain is crowded with
the thoughts of the brains of ten thousand dead authors, and his nervous
system is over-tasked and over-excited. In this condition he rushes
away--away from cool, pure, and lovely feature--burying himself in the
hot, spicy, and gorgeous dreams of Art. He would adore Cagliostro, while
he mocked Doctor Watts! Infatuated dreamer! Returning at last, by good
chance--or, rather, let me say, by the directing hand of
Providence--from his evil search of things tabooed, to admiration of the
Real, the Tangible, and the True; he will show himself as Doctor Fenwick
does in this sequel, a strong, sensible, family-man, with a clear head
and no-nonsense about him.

CHAPTER I.

'I think,' said Faber, with a sigh, 'that I must leave Australia and go
to other la