the motto in dahlias on a ground of
evergreens, 'Welcome for all,' which had been arranged by Miss Hall. The
school-room was very tastefully decorated by the mistress, Gladys, and
the children; and the motto, 'Long Live Miss Gwynne,' was very apparent
in scarlet letters amongst a crown of laurels.

All the children and their teachers were assembled here, and a great
many of their relations, also most of the farmers and their families. In
addition, there were Mr and Miss Gwynne, Miss Hall, Lady Mary and Miss
Nugent, Colonel Vaughan, who was staying at the Park, Sir Hugh Pryse,
Mrs Jonathan Prothero, who left her husband at his particular request,
and Rowland. No one out of the precincts of the Park had been invited,
and as it was, there was a goodly number.

As there was no church near enough for them to go to, Rowland read the
evening service in the school-room; after this he gave out one of the
hymns for harvest, and led the youthful band in singing it. His fine
clear voice seemed to give the children courage, especially when a
beautiful full treble joined, to which they were evidently accustomed.
It was impossible not to try to discover from whom those sweet notes
proceeded, and one by one everybody looked at Gladys, who had a
magnificent voice; she, however, was unconscious of observation, for her
eyes were fixed on her hymn-book that she was sharing with a small
child.

It must be acknowledged that she not unfrequently distracted the
attention of many a young man from his hymn-book on Sunday, when at
church; and on the present occasion, what with the face and the voice,
more than one pair of eyes were fixed on her. Owen, I am sorry to say,
looked more attentively at her than at his book; and, as to Colonel
Vaughan, he never took his eyes off her face, and was heard to whisper
the question of 'Who is that girl?' to Lady Mary Nugent.

When the hymn was sung, Rowland stood behind the high desk of the
mistress, and gave a short lecture on the words, 'Thou crownest the year
with thy goodness.' Rowland was not ungifted with the talent for
extempore preaching, common to so many of his countrymen, and therewith
possessed, in general, much self-possession; on the present occasion, it
must be confessed that he felt unusually nervous, still he commanded
himself and his feelings, and by degrees, forgetting them and his
hearers, in his subject, warmed into a natural flow of eloquence that
somewhat astonished his congregation