s and kissed it; and Roland
used every charm he possessed in order to deepen his influence over
his going-to-be-rich sister. He was already making plain and straight
his paths for a certain supremacy at Burrell Court. He was already
feeling that a good deal of Robert Burrell's money would come, through
Elizabeth's hands, into his pocket. That would be a perfectly
legitimate course for it to take. Why should not a loving sister help
a loving brother?

And oh, the pity of it! While brother and sister talked only of
themselves, Robert Burrell sat silent and happy in his study, planning
magnificent generosities for his bride; thinking of her youth, of her
innocence, her ignorance of fashionable society, of her affection for
and her loyalty to her father and brother, and loving her with all his
great honest heart for these very things. And Denas lay dreaming of
Roland. And Roland, even while he was talking with Elizabeth about
Burrell Court, was holding fast to his intention to degrade Denas. For
the singing, dancing, fiddling life which he was to lead with her
suited his tastes exactly; he felt it would be the absolutely
necessary alterative to the wealthy decorum of Burrell Court.

O Love! what cruelties are done in thy name! We think of thee as
coming with a rose, and a song, and a smile. Nay, but the Calydonian
Maidens were right when they cried bitterly: "Death should have risen
with Love, and Grief, and visible Fear; and there should have been
heard a voice of lamentation and mourning, as of many in prison."[2]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] T. E. Brown, M.A.

[2] "Atalanta in Calydon."

CHAPTER III.

THE COTTAGE BY THE SEA.

"O blessed sounds of wiser life
Contented with its day,
How ye rebuke the inner strife
That wears the soul away."

"The Eden we live in is our own heart,
And the first thing we do of our free choice
Is sure to be sin."
--FESTUS.

John Penelles was one of those strong religious characters whose minds
no questions disturb, whose spiritual aspirations are never put out of
breath. He had not yet been a yoke-fellow with sorrow. Hard work, the
cruelty of the elements, the self-denials of poverty, these things he
had known; but love had never smitten him across the heart.

When he rose that Easter Sunday he rose singing. He sang as he put on
his chapel broadcloth; he was trying over the different metres and the
Easter anthem as he w