nown;
but he was not lucky in anything."

"I will doubt that," said Gust Havard. "He had Auda to wife, and
never was there a woman more beautiful and loving and faithful. He
had love-luck, if he had no other luck. God give us all such wives
as Auda!"

"Well, then," answered Matilda, "a man's fate is his wife, and she
is of his own choosing; and, what is more, a good husband makes a
good wife." Then, suddenly stopping, she listened a moment and added:
"The minister is come, and we shall hear from him still better words.
But sit down, Liot; you have passed the hour well, as you always do."

The minister came in with a smile, and he was placed in the best
chair and made many times welcome. It was evident in a moment that
he had brought a different spirit with him; the old world vanished
away, and the men and women that a few minutes before had been so
close to it suffered a transformation. As the minister entered
the room they became in a moment members of the straitest Christian
kirk--quiet, hard-working fishers, and douce, home-keeping women. He
said the night was bad and black, and spoke of the boats and the
fishers in them. And the men talked solemnly about the "takes" and
the kirk meetings, while some of the women knitted and listened,
and others helped Matilda and Karen to set the table with goose and
fish, and barley and oaten cakes, and the hot, sweet tea which
is the Shetlander's favorite drink.

Many meals in a lifetime people eat, and few are remembered; but
when they are "eventful," how sweet or bitter is that bread-breaking!
This night Liot's cake and fish and cup of tea were as angels'
food. Karen broke her cake with him, and she sweetened his cup,
and smiled at him and talked to him as he ate and drank with her.
And when at last they stood up for the song and thanksgiving he held
her hand in his, and their voices blended in the noble sea psalm, so
dear to every seafarer's heart:

"The floods, O Lord, have lifted up,
They lifted up their voice!
The floods have lifted up their waves
And made a mighty noise.

"But yet the Lord, that is on high,
Is more of might by far
Than noise of many waters is,
Or great sea-billows are."

Soft and loud the singing swelled, and the short thanksgiving
followed it. To bend his head and hold Karen's hand while the
blessing fell on his ears was heaven on earth to Liot; such happiness
he had never known before--never even dreamed of. He