, 1889-01-03

could no.
ton. You Il.
feSSors before the
time of the first persec,.
you to know that whatever :n.
of the church upon the morrow,
you and respect you with all my heart.
HaIscy-S heart gave bound. This
young girl loved him; he was sure of it,
and everything else went for nothing
What was the part he had played!
Nothing. And before he rec.l- cd what
he wns doing he had told her that her good
opinion was more to him than tha. Of ell the
world beside; that with her love nc could face
contumely and scorn, let it come from what
ever q'Iarter, and it seemed to him as he
spoke that he was really 4 martyr for the
truth instead of the poltroon which he had
called himself q few moments before Ii she
would only respond wit.ra like assurance he
could make n clean breast of everything. But
Orient only replied reassuringly that there
would be no contu,neiy, and that even If
Ramoth Gilead did not give him call, her
fathers opinion of him would not be lessened-
'.Hc has q great deal of influence with the
board" she added, 'iend he has some nice
appointment in view for You. He wanted
me to come up here on purpose to hear you
preach, and he was very curious for me to
give him my opinion OF you. He seemed to
think tnat YOU were still an invalid, and he
will be glad to know tl.:tt you are so strong
l suppose it was your sea voyage and foreign
travel that benefited you"
A deadly certainty grew upon Halsey's .
mind. He had never heard Orient'S family
name mentioned, but he was sure now that
this was Dr. Corcoran's daughter, and that be
had supplanted his friend. He was not pre-
pared for this, and he tried to put the convic-
ton from hiri--to believe that it was not So.
Orient" he said, rs tiia clock struck, can
you believe that we have actually been &C
quainted only twenty-five hours and about
the same number OF mi: ,!teSi'
''Oh, it canI:ot be pos sble," she exclaimed; !;
what an inprudrntiy short acquaintance to
become engaged upon. But know your
whole life from the time you were black
smiths boy to the present, and oil your wan-
derings i'll Palestine Halsey WINGED, but
did not interrupt her. And father knows
you SO thoroughly and respects you so highly,
and both he and mother have talked to me so
much about you. When | came back to my
room it was full of reIni-:!crs of your pres
ence. That explanation OF the unparlonable
sin which you left on my desk was mastery
piece OF reasonin~. AID all the notes which
you made i'll III bop-5 wsre interesting to
me, though / confess that l was indignant
enough at first to think chat You had read
my silly jottings l was :.ot SO prim as
seemed to be wIicr I declined corresponding
with you, for | was secretly pleased that you
had learned to care for me In such an odd
way. Oh! indeed l assure you that woulG
never have fallen il love with you in thi;
disgracefully precipit1ac way without that
long mental preparation"
Clearly it was no time now for Halsey to
,rlla tttGt bs lnH !, tba
past she treasured. He accepted the situa-
ton reg slessly, with all the advantages
which it conferred upon him. $50 the ac-
tual does not come up to your idealf' he
asked
''You are very different" she replied, mu-
singiy, mot a bit as | had imagined you.
You are very worldly looking. l never
would have thought you minister il had
met you anywhere else; but then you ara
handsomer than | expected, and SO wonder
fully talented l am proud to thini, you
should care for little me. And I, no doubt,
am very different from what you imagined.
Are you greatly disappointed"
OF course Halsey protested that he was
not, and he parted from her at tho parson-
age gate with many assurances of his devo-
tion; and, however false their relations to
| each other, these at least were genuine
Ill
Halsey sat thinking deeply far into the
| night Ho reviewed every possible plan fol
! avoiding confession AMI for keeping up hi:
assumed character, but he saw that this wa:
impossible. Orient had told him that she
was To return home upon the morrow, and hs
had agreed to accompany her. On the Jour
ney the explanation must be made Every
moment OF delay made it more difficult, ant
he bitterly regretted that he had not beer
more honest with her. However, to hav,
hrmly made up his mind to throw of tn.
mask was something of relief and he awok,
the next morning with q hopeful feeling, anG
MS usual confidence that some way thing.
would come out right
| AS he was not to lay aside his roll
during the morning, he determined Il
deepen the good impression which he hat
made upon Orient, and to select the sermon
which he was to preach before the fellowship
! meeting solely with reference TO her tastes
/ de Eesitated some time between "Buddht
and his Philosophy of Despair" q discourse
| Of DR.. Newman's, and '-rhe Parallels of th'
{ Talmud," by the Rev. Charles Eaton, bu
finally settled upon the first as more compli
mentary to her intellect. He was iittle dis
turbed to notice, on taking his place in th
pulpit, that Orient was not in the choir, tn
eldest Miss Pearce occupying her place a
tho organ All through the sermon he KEEP
his eyes fixed upon the door, hoping to Sc
her enter, but only to be disappointed. II
| knew, too, from the strong stare with whicl
his hearers confronted him, that his audienc
did not care q penny fer Buddha CT the .c
ligion of India. Only Miss Pearce seemed il
in the least interested, for she had just real
.'Mr. Isaacs," aud had, beside, her reputatiol
as philosopher at stake Tho business meet
ing was called Immediately after the sermon
and Ealsey, leaving il % its deliberations q
to his eligibility, hurried over to the parsof
age He was informed by the servant tha
Mis- ,CoreoFaa bed LETT town On tbs. .nqo