of sight,
Yet soars with reluctant motion,
Since there is no backward flight.

CHARLOTTE F. BATES.

A NIGHT AT COCKHOOLET CASTLE.

I.

Cockhoolet was the name of the place: it was a farm of which the
Ormistons were and had been tenants for several generations. A father,
mother and five olive-branches made up the family. A healthy, happy,
united, thriving family they were, and as such much respected. There
were two sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Bessie,
the "Rose of Cockhoolet," as she was called; for that she had all the
beauty and sweetness of the rose was generally allowed, although
there were people who could not be made to see this--people who were
probably idiopts; not idiots--although they might have a streak
of idiocy in them, too, perhaps--but idiopts, or persons who were
color-blind. None of the young men of the district were color-blind.

The clergyman of the parish in which Cockhoolet was situated, and at
whose church the Ormistons attended, was an old man comparatively,
whose sermons were old-fashioned, and not given forth with the fire
of youth: he was not one you would have expected to be very popular,
especially with the young; yet various young men from considerable
distances were attracted to his church, and, generally speaking, they
settled themselves in pews opposite the gallery in front of which
sat Mr. Ormiston and his family. Any person who chanced to be in the
vicinity, if of discerning powers, might have been conscious of the
electricity in the air. Dull people neither saw nor felt it.

Bessie Ormiston was not dull, but, being a modest girl, she would
rather not have been stared at; and, being a good girl, she thought
people might be better employed in church: still, she was only a girl,
and it would not be the truth to say she was mortally offended. Did
the person ever exist who was offended at an honest compliment? If
he ever did, he ought to have been fed on sarcasm for the rest of his
days.

Not only was Bessie pretty--she was also rich. A grand-uncle had left
her five thousand pounds, her brothers and sisters getting only one
thousand each. There is no use in asking reasons for this: simply, the
Rose was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Perhaps, indeed, the
old man did not know he had so much money, for it was as residuary
legatee that Bessie got the five thousand pounds, and it was not
thought she would get anything like that: people remarked,