the family gathered around him in the evening, "and Sabbath is the father of the week. For it is the first day, and a great deal depends upon the beginnings of things."

"All is well that ends well, sir."

"That is only partly true, Blair. If an event, or a work does not begin well, and go on well, it is not all well, whatever the ending may be."

"Was it not all well' when the penitent thief ended well, sir?"

"It is true that he ended well, Blair; but did that pay back what he had stolen, or make reparation for all the misery he had caused? How much better it had been if he had begun well, also. To suppose differently is an Arminian fallacy. Now we will thank God for a happy Sabbath. Whatever the week brings it has given us the strength to meet it."

And then Blair and Bertha glanced at each other. They had already the egotism of lovers. They could imagine no joy or no sorrow in Rodney House, which would not have its root in their love and their interests.

VII.

ESAU'S SISTER,

"You Scotsmen are a pertinacious brood,

Fitly you wear the thistle in your cap

As in your grim theology. . . . God knows you'll find
Well-combed and smooth-licked gentlemen enough

To sneer at massive Calvin's close-wedged creed.

The burden of our life is hard to bear,

But we must bear it, if it blame or bless;

Joy is so like to grief, hope to despair,

That life's best sweet, has taint of bitterness."

VERY early on Monday morning the Colonel was ready to receive Blair Rodney. The young man was flattered by this promptitude. "You see how anxious your father is to have our affairs settled," he said to Bertha, and neither of them suspected that restlessness of a brave soul which is "straightened," until it has lifted, and drank to the dregs, any bitter cup appointed it.

And whatever may have been the Colonel's disappointment, he was by this time able to control all evidences of it. He met Blair with his usual courtesy, and discussed the proposed marriage with a calm and honorable recognition of all Blair's rights.

"I have only one charge to make," he said; "it is that you hold Rodney in trust for the next male heir, whether it be your own son or not. If one of my

boys had lived, he would have stood to-day as you stand, future lord of Rodney, but as I have no son, I pass over my daughters in your favor, and I expect you to do likewise, if Destiny demands this sacrifice from you. The house and lands of Rodney must go in the name of Rodney."

"I promise you, sir."

Then Bertha was called, and the Colonel kissed her tenderly and gave her to Blair. "I have determined," he said, "to redecorate and refurnish Innergrey, the dower house. It is large enough for such an establishment as you require, and when you leave it, the place that knows me now will know me no more, and you will take my place."

"May God long preserve you, sir."

Blair spoke with apparent sincerity, and Bertha hid her face in her father's breast. The short silence was broken by Colonel Rodney.

"And as the Innergrey House will then be my wife's home, I think you should decide together as to the colors and style of the painting and furniture." "As to the date of our marriage, sir? Have you anything to propose ?"

"Innergrey will not be ready until the spring. Suppose, Blair, we leave the exact day for a future settlement? And in the mean time, Bertha will prepare her wedding garments." Then both father and lover looked tenderly at the young girl, who, with assured love, had put on a marked increase of beauty. Her fresh muslin gown, her neatness, and sweetness, and pretty air of modesty and dependence, were really very charming. Blair was quite inclined to believe that he had been an extremely fortunate young man. The interview was not prolonged. No one felt it to

over.

be other than a piece of business, well and pleasantly In this respect, fathers are often very hardly treated. Mothers are taken into confidence, and consulted about all the charming details of the marriage. They assist in the arrangement of the new home. They buy the trousseau, and pass many happy days in spending the check which it is the father's sole privilege to write. Mrs. Rodney was now quite excited over Bertha's engagement. To look after the refurnishing of Innergrey was an employment thoroughly suiting her. And in Bertha's wardrobe she anticipated months of pleasurable discussion and shopping. Interviews with modistes, consultations about the ceremony, about people to be asked, and people to be passed over; these and many other affairs in connection with the great event pressed with a sudden but delightful hurry upon her.

Innergrey was a large granite house on the southern confines of Rodney. It had been the dower house for seven generations; and Bertha was delighted with the idea of making it a bride house. In an hour Mrs. Rodney, Blair, and Bertha were on their way there. They took with them a comfortable lunch; for Blair was bent on making all the measurements and calculations that would be necessary.

"We will go through the place, room by room, and make a note of what is to be done; and of what is to be got, for each room." And then he unfolded the paper he had brought, and looked at the pencils, and it was evident that both he and the two ladies felt they had entered upon a very important and a very interesting piece of work.

The Colonel, standing at his window, watched them drive away. He noticed particularly Blair's bluff

comeliness and bounceable manners-his hearty commendation of the capacious lunch basket-his joyous voice, his noisy excitement. And he acknowledged the physical beauty of the young bridegroom, saying to himself at the same moment, that it was, after all, only the husk of being. Yet, in a more delicate way, Bertha was but his counterpart. She was radiating smiles, and all alive with her new hopes and joys; but these hopes and joys touched nothing but bodily senses and material ambitions. Even Mrs. Rodney's happiness was set to the same key-a delightfully natural one, easily reached by the most commonplace of aims and considerations.

66

Perhaps they will look up to my window!" and as the thought crossed his mind, the loving father straightened himself, and smiled in anticipation of the smiles he would be asked for. But in their excited condition all forgot the old man. Mrs. Rodney was

giving directions about the lunch basket. Blair, bending forward, was whispering to Bertha; whispering words which received only a blush, and a smile, and one little push, for answer.

The Colonel understood his exclusion from the merry party. It was natural, but it made him sigh. After all, it is a sharp and melancholy wine which life. distills, and the lonely father drank of it that day. His thoughts quickly turned to Scotia. "Why had she been left at home?" His face flushed with anger at the supposition of any slight offered Scotia. Then he remembered how crossly he had spoken to her on the previous evening, and he rang the bell impetuously, and asked for Miss Rodney.

"Very early this morning she went out to walk, sir."