ore they realize the power of
religion, live only half-filled lives, however much work they may do--as
Mrs. Browning says--'Nor man, nor nature satisfies whom only _God_
created.'"

"That's just where Minnie has us, _I_ think," put in Seymour at this
juncture, "If you all feel as I do, you must acknowledge that there is
something within us which isn't of a piece with the corruptible part of
our nature--something that craves for an object to worship and pour
itself out to, and yet nothing on earth is perfect enough to satisfy."

"I suppose you mean the soul," observed Ned.

"Nay," replied Seymour, "that is what I would call the spirit, and if
so, it cannot be of the earth--it must be supernatural. It cannot be a
substance, and therefore it cannot be killed or subjected to any of the
forms of corruption or extinction to which mundane objects are liable."

Just at this point they were interrupted by the entrance of two of the
servants, and they were obliged to exchange their quarters for the
drawing-room, where the conversation was not resumed. On the next
afternoon, however, as Minnie was alone in the parlour, Archie came in,
and leaning on the back of her chair with one arm round her neck, began
in his usual impulsive fashion. "I say Minnie, Ned and I were talking it
over--you know, what we were talking about last night--well, we had a
long talk after we went to bed and we both came to the conclusion that
since we always intended to go in for it some time, and knew that we
could not face death without it, it would be a mean and cowardly thing
to make a rush for it just at the end, and so we're determined to try
for it at once."

Minnie's heart gave a great throb of joy at these words, and a torrent
of thanksgiving went out from it for this answer to her unceasing
prayers on her brothers' behalf; nevertheless, she was a good deal
perplexed about the queer ideas he seemed to entertain on the subject,
especially as he did not seem to have the ghost of a notion as to how he
was to "make a try for it," as he expressed it.

Just at this point Mabel came in, and Minnie, for the first time in her
life, regretted her friend's presence, fully expecting Archie to
disappear as he usually did when any of her friends visited her. But
this time Archie did not move, and after a minute he said "Does not Miss
Chartres go down to Hollowmell with you? I think Seymour said she was
with you the night you went with Charlie?"

"Yes," an