, mother?
Have I done anything to grieve you?"

"Not as I know by, dear. I wish you hadn't worn your best dress--dresses
do cost money, don't they now?"

"Yes, they do, mother. There then! Shall I take it off? I will, to
please you, mother."

"No, no! The will be as good as the deed from my little girl. Maybe
you are right, too. Dress do go a long way to pleasing."

"Then good-bye. Kiss me, mother! Kiss me twice! Kiss me again, for
father!"

So Joan kissed her child. She smoothed her hair, and straightened her
collar, and put in a missed button, and so held her close for a few
moments, and kissed her again; and when Denas had reached the foot of
the cliff, she was still watching her with the look on her face--the
look of a mother who feels as if she still held her child in her
arms.

O love! love! love! Is there any sorrow in life like loving?

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Family, race.

CHAPTER VIII.

A SEA OF SORROW.

"Time the shuttle drives; but we
Give to every thread its hue
And elect our destiny."
--BURLEIGH.

"Life does not make us, we make life."

"He gave me trust, and trust has given me means
Once to be false for all."
--DRYDEN.

"He at the news
Heart-struck, with chilling gripe of sorrow, stood,
That all his senses bound."
--MILTON.

It had been raining a little when Denas bade her mother farewell, but
by the time she reached the top of the cliff the rain had become fog.
She stood still awhile and turned her face to the sea, and saw one
drift after another roll inland, veiling the beach, and the boats, and
the cottages, and leaving the whole scene a spectacle of desolation.

It affected her painfully. The love and hope in her heart did not
lift her above the depressing influence of that mournful last view
of her home. Was the thing that she was going to do worth while? Was
anything in life worth while? The little town had a half-awakened
Monday-morning look. Every one seemed to be beginning another week
with an "Oh, dear me!" sort of feeling. Miss Priscilla was just
dressing her shop window, and as cross as crossed sticks over her
employment. She said that Denas was late, and wondered "for
goodness' sake why she was so dressed up."

It gave Denas a kind of spiteful pleasure to answer: "She was dressed
to go to Burrell Court and