name. It is no wonder that they are obliged constantly to assert their patriotism. Hear one of the 'little breed' of patriots with hand on his heart, or rather over where the heart ought to be, swearing that he is a patriot. By the way, according to the gauge of the dark ages, the criminality of this kind of perjury is not very great, for not even the relics of a heart are his; his breast is but an empty reliquary. By way of explanation, allow me to quote a passage of Hallam:

'Robert, King of France, perceiving how often men forswore themselves on the holy relics, and less shocked apparently by the crime than the sacrilege, caused an empty reliquary to be made, that those who used it might incur less guilt, in fact, though not in intention.' One could almost think the opposite of the Pythagorean doctrine true, only it would require a great many souls of other animals to compound one man's

soul, as 'whole fields of Persian roses go to the concoction of an ounce of the precious attar.'

This doctrine would account for man's many inconsistencies. You can often detect in him a trace of almost every known animal, and those unreferable traits may have belonged to the iguanodon, the mastodon, the dinotherium, etc. etc.

But I wrong man. May I be forgiven for thus lowering him, even in jest? Whatever may be his elements, they are all fused and transfused by the celestial fire. And when we look at a Dante, a Shakspeare, a Milton, we can but, with Young, exclaim: 'How august, how complicate, how wonderful is man!' And our admiration rises to adoration, as we behold that sublime One into whose soul no littleness ever entered, in that grandest of sacrifices, baptizing with his blood Mount Calvary, consecrating it for

ever.

CHAPTER TENTH.

CASUAL MEETINGS.

SABBATH morning came; and on his way to church Mr. Althorp overtook Miss Clayton, and slackened his rapid pace to accommodate her more leisurely gait.

After the exchange of commonplace courtesies suitable to such chance encounter, he pointedly asked:

'I had the pleasure of calling on Miss Mosby yesterday; but when you term her my intimate friend, such term is misapplied. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean to give you the impression that I would undervalue such friendship, but merely to state that I do not seem to have the right qualities for winning that confidence which is the very corner-stone to a strong and abiding attachment.'

The speaker sighed a little, dropped her eyes and looked sentimentally pensive, all of which demonstrations were thrown away on the insensate clod who was deaf, dumb, and blind to her at tractions.

'I should have supposed,' said the recipient of Miss Clayton's undisguised preference, that Miss Mosby was just the sort of person to repose unlimited confidence in one to whom she is as readily accessible as to yourself.'

'The exact opinion I formed of her during the earlier period of our acquaintance; but I have changed my estimate of her character since then. Not that I intend speaking ill of her, or could do so with truth. It was my fault that I mistook her for a frank, outspoken, warm-hearted girl, when, in reality, she is as capable of concealing or reveal ng, hiding or exposing, her own

the lesson before her, that the course of true love never does run smooth.'

This disclosure was emphasized by tone and look, serving no better purpose than that of sweetness wasted on the desert air.

Mr. Althorp's interest was too deeply aroused to vent itself in question or remark.

'Let me tell you,' resumed Miss Clayton, 'on what trifles I founded my belief. When I saw the lovely butterfly she was coloring, its wings as resplendont as a rainbow, and with a neck-tie as nicely knotted as your own, about its throat, I was curious to know why she took so much pains with her task. To forestall my suspicions, no doubt, she informed me, with great apparent candor, that the painted insect was intended as a present to Lieutenant Lee, off duty from the effects of an accidental hurt. A valuable gift-the portrait of a butterfly-to a disabled soldier; do you not think so?'

'You forget, Miss Clayton, that regard for the donor often imparts an inestimable value to the least valuable of gifts.'

'I forget it! when the very choicest treasure in my whole collection of preserved plants is a common leaf plucked from a wayside hedge by a hand whose touch would render precious the most

humble offering. Pardon my having been betrayed into an avowal so indiscreet; I am such a creature of impulse, so irresistibly swayed by the torrent of overmastering emotion, that'

The speaker paused abruptly on catching sight of her hearer's face, expressive of nothing more complimentary than an uneasy desire of escape, and added:

'I see that your suspicions point in the same direction as my own. If it was a love-quarrel that so suddenly added your cousin's name to our list of volunteers, I can only say that stranger things have happened. That lingering illness, directly after his departure, tells its own tale, according to my way of thinking, and she has not been the same person since. From the most engaging frankness she passed, at once, to its opposite extreme of cold and cautious reserve.'

Mr. Althorp gave no response; he was calling to mind several circumstances connected with that sudden attack of illness, and accounting for the same on a supposition widely at variance from the one advocated by his compan

ion.

'These lovers' quarrels are fearfully serious matters, sometimes,' she resumed with a becoming blush; and those who can merge the pain of temporary alienation in the pleasure of permanent reunion are objects of my sincerest envy.'

So antagonistic to his own current of thought were the observations of his companion, that he availed himself with alacrity of the first plausible pretext for escape.

'There is the last stroke of the bell,' he declared, and as I have farther than yourself to go, I must hurry along or I shall be late.'

With all his hurry, it was impossible for him to reach the house of worship he ordinarily attended in season for the commencement of services, and thus it came to pass that he entered the nearer church, to the ministrations of whose pastor his neighbors weekly lent ear.

There is no use in trying to gloze over the fact, albeit it may create distrust as to his devotional frame of mind, that the chief recommendation of the ob scure seat in the gallery to which Mr. Althorp found his way, was its overlooking the pew occupied by the Mosbys.

The undivided attention Miss Sallie bestowed on the expounded word of holy writ proved that, in her case, no haunting memories had power to transmute into meaningless sound the lessons enforced from the sacred desk. Eloquently inveighed the speaker against the many forms of sin committed in the interests of expediency-the grasp ing, uncharitable, mercenary spirit of the age, leading its possessors to screen their shortcomings by mean and paltry subterfuge, and the deception which is unspoken falsehood, eating into the soul as a spot of corroding rust into the polished surface of an untarnished buckler. Miss Mosby's eyes, withdrawn from the face of the speaker, looked unheedingly into space, for in searching self-communings she had lost all sense of surrounding objects.

After the benediction had been pronounced, Mr. Althorp lingered in the gallery until the aisles were nearly empty below before leaving the church. On descending its outer steps, he caught sight of Miss Mosby on the opposite sidewalk, and hastened to join her. As he crossed the street, she sensibly quickened her pace to overtake Ned, for whom Emery Clayton was waiting still farther on.

'She has learned to recognize my step, even in a crowd,' thought Mr. Althorp, not ill pleased at her proficiency in the acquisition of this species of knowledge; and with time and atten tion may be taught not to flee its ap proach.'

Paying no heed to her evident desire of escape, he, with the well-bred assur ance of one to whom the idea of repulse scarcely occurs as on the list of possi bilities, took the vacant position at her side. He noticed that her hand trem

bled as she reluctantly yielded it to the proffered grasp of his own, and that there was a vaguely apprehensive look in the startled eyes, quickly raised to, quickly withdrawn from, the face expressive only of cool determination and calm serenity.

'I do not see your father out this morning, Miss Sallie. I hope he is very well.'

'Quite well, I thank you, or was yesterday, when he was unexpectedly called away on business. I am glad he is to be back with us to-morrow, for it is doubly lonely, out of town, to have the head of the family absent.'

They walked on in silence until a little freed from the throng of the several dispersing congregations.

any word or look of mine. Accept or reject my friendship, it is still your own. What is once given, I do not take unto myself again. You will not, at least, refuse me the neighborly privilege of making an occasional call.'

'Certainly not,' she replied, in tones not wholly unmoved; for the generously conciliatory spirit manifested by Mr. Althorp had not failed of effect. 'Father enjoys your games at chess together, and might think it strange if your visits were suddenly discontinued.'

'He would, of course, know to what cause to attribute such discontinuance,' asserted Mr. Althorp in a questioning tone and with a searching glance.

'You were kind enough, at our last interview, to grant me permission to choose the terms, whether of friendship or of enmity, on which our future acquaintance was to be conducted. I have made my choice we remain friends.'

'I beg your pardon, Mr. Althorp; you essentially mistook my meaning; it was of our parting, not of our continued acquaintance, that I spoke. I do not wish to part with you on terms of enmity; but you have dealt me blows, both by word and deed, that have cost me an intensity of suffering such as I will never again willingly subject myself to. I have no desire to speak to you a rude or unkind word, but I do most decidedly decline the friendship that would bring me within striking distance of its giver.'

'I cannot deny, Miss Mosby, that my harshness has given you just grounds of complaint; of the sharp provocation I received, we will not speak. When I proffered you my friendship but now, it was with the firm intention of burying all past causes of dissension amongst the dead memories it is best never to revive. From this time forth, you shall find no occasion to take exception to

'I am not at all given to concealments with my father, Mr. Althorp. He has, and deserves, my entire confidence. So far as I am concerned, he might know what you seem to think he ought already to have been made aware of; but I couldn't tell him of the new footing our acquaintance has assumed without betraying matters strictly personal to yourself-matters as strictly in your own keeping, as much yours to give or to withhold, as though an unfortunate misapprehension had not forced them upon my knowledge. I trust, small cause as you have given me for coveting your good opinion, that you do not hold me in such contemptuously low estimation as to suppose that I could be guilty of referring even to a declaration to which I could not favorably respond.'

Mr. Althorp bent on the speaker a look of unutterable surprise. Was this the woman who had so glibly talked of breaking hearts to retain as trophies to the potency of her charms, and who now so indignantly repelled the suspision of disclosing an avowal whose disclosure alone could make patent her claim to conquest? Where was the use of trophies, save for purposes of exhibition? Had he attached to light,