would leap out, indignant at its long im

prisonment.

Ethel did not wait for him, but passed in first; he, however, had a momentary glimpse of her, in her light morning dress, standing beneath the porch, with the feathery branches of the jasmin waving caressingly towards her; he envied them their nearness, and felt, with sudden anguish, that the prize he coveted was dearer to him than ever, now that it was to be given up.

CHAPTER X.

Truly the heart is deceitful, and out of its depths of corruption

Rise, like an exhalation, the misty phantoms of passion;
Angels of light they seem, but are only delusions of
Satan.

All is clear to me now; I feel it, I see it distinctly!
This is the hand of the Lord; it is laid upon me in

anger;

For I have followed too much the heart's desires and devices."

LONGFELLOW.

HEN breakfast was finished, and Lang

WHEN

ley and Mr. Gresham had departed on their professional duties, Justin, after chatting with his mother for half an hour, took his hat, and, excusing himself on the ground of important business, left the house, and took his way to Talbot Hall.

Ethel had been unusually silent during the progress of the meal. She had made a struggle to be calm and appear as usual, but she was physically and mentally weakened,

and it required all her self-control (which was not very great) to sit opposite Langley, during what seemed to her this morning, a terribly long half-hour. Fortunately, he never raised his eyes to her's. Had he done so, she felt she must have choked. It would be impossible to swallow any more tea or buttered toast, if once those kind eyes met her's. But he sat stolid and quiet, as usual, with no perceptible change in his appearance, save a slight pallor, and a droop of his mouth.

Mrs. Gresham was entirely taken up with her son's return, or she must have noticed the uneasiness pervading the party—an uneasiness visible now and then in dreary pauses which broke into Justin's fluent speech, and which, with all his efforts at conversation, would appear.

When Justin took his hat, and made the excuse of "important business," Ethel raised her eyes, and looked at him. He did not answer the look by any sign, but he felt it,

about himself and his common-sense. Certainly he possessed it abundantly, and was not devoid of other and higher sense, although he would have denied this. His chief failing, like his father's, was a consciousness of his own worth. Perhaps not an over-consciousness or over-appreciation : it did not amount to conceit; but a contented esteem for himself, a perfect trust in himself. He had gone forth into the world armed with this happy self-sufficiency, impregnable to temptation, entirely proof against the errors to which youth is prone, and determined to trample under foot all romantic follies and speculations.

It was wonderful to see the natural credulity of human nature. Because he trusted himself, other people trusted him; and because he said he was a sensible fellow, the world with one accord said what a sensible fellow he was. His father said, “I have implicit reliance in Justin "-his mother, with a proud smile, "My boy is so different

from other young men !"-Ethel and Harriett, "If Justin is not to be trusted, no man is!"

So, with these commendations ringing in his ears, Justin went forth into the great tournament of Life, to test the strength of his armour.

Certainly, it was not the "whole armour of righteousness," but, such as it was, it saved him in the first shock of arms. He was nobly firm to all that overpowers most young warriors who trust wholly to themselves; and, as he proved conqueror, his pride grew, and wrapped him in its iron bands until there seemed no inlet for temptation.

66

If any man thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall."

Justin fell into what cannot be accounted a sin, as we count sin, but into an error, delusive and soul-ensnaring. He let himself be engrossed in a blind infatuation, and devoted himself to the worship of one fair face.