The herald., 1898-11-13

felt hurt, though he could give no rea-
son for the feeling; but he revenged
himself by very ostentatious appro-
priation of Helen, and a long, whis-
pered conversation outside the door.
And Helen was proud and silent when
she came back to her father, whose
dropped head and brooding face was a
kind of reproach that irritated her.
Roy was feeling parfectly annoyed.
father" she said. HE was thinking
you were not pleased with him for a
son-in-law."
II am not. The lad has some dis
cernment, see."
you are not so kind as you should
be, father. You are wanting me to
marry that wee minister, with his
scented hair. and his white hands, and
his hopes O. Glasgow pulpit. 1t Is
not fair, it is not kind, to force on me
a husband I can neither like nor re-
spect."
my lass! 1t is just as unfair, and
just as unkind, to force on me a SON.
in-law that 1 can neither like nor re-
spect. The laws Of the household are
equal laws. There is not one law for
the parent, and another law for the
child. But I know this that love Is a
clamoring selflshness and it will put
on any disguise to get it's own ends.
Go to bed, Helen, and rest and bethinll
yourself. You have suffered temporary
collapse of reason. You will hold the
balance truer in the morning. God be
with you!"
And Helen could not go away with
out returning the blessing: nor yet say
it, and keep her anger. So they part
ed as usual, with a smile and hand
! grip. And love has always invincible
hope.
Father is a bit disappointed" she
! said to herself, but he will get over
1t, and he will be Just. whatever comes,
| he will be just. That is all am want
ing, for when he knows Roy better he
will be liking him better, I know. And
I am very happy with my lad. Oh.
what wonderful thing is love I can
pray for the whole world tonight.
| Roy! Roy! I hope you are as happy
as 1 am, my own dear lad!"
| Happy as Helen had declared herself
| to be, she rose in the morning with n
| certain depression and anxiety. For all
changes to the thoughtful heart must
have an air of melancholy; what we
have to leave behind is part Of our
/ selves: we are dying in a measure to
the life we are quitting. and must do
so, ere We can fully enter on the life
we are going to. And although she
| did not tell herself these things. she
! felt them. Roy had spoken of their
| own home; her heart was turning to-
| ward it, and the home she was to leave
had already lost something of it's
charm AS she went about her usual
d,,f; oh draa M tho a 90
Roy was to prepare for her. and of the
life they were to live in it; and her
present life was the poorer for this
projection Of her best self into the fu-
ture.
Still affairs went on with their ac
customed peace and regularity, and
Robert Brodick was not at once sensi-
tive to his loss. He was far more sensi-
tive to the annoyance which the brag
and pride of his future son-inlaw
caused him. Roy had won the hand
soonest and richest girl in the neigh
borhood, and he was not able to bear
his success modestly. A man so enam-
ored, so transported with love, no one
had ever seen before, and the fisher
wives shook their heads over his noisy
happiness and said such "hot love was
soon cold"
1t certainly soon became subject to
moods which troubled Helen's nature
to it's very depths. For, as the young
man grew accustomed to his good for
tune, he began to find faults in it. The
elder was a standing grievance. He
felt his presence generally to be a
wrong to Helen and himself. 1t was
true that the father was only sitting
on his own hearthstone, but Roy
wished him far away. He said he had
mae a consideration for other folk"
and as the nights grew cold and dark.
the offense was aggravated Then he
vowed, There was no pleasing the
auld man." that is, he could not make
Brodck laugh at his funny stories, and
mimicries. In the first place laughter
was not natural to Brodick; he took
life too seriously to make sport out of
it, in the second place he had that con-
tempt for mimicry and punning, which
all but the most elemental natures feel.
There was not any obvious quarrel.
but no disagreement is so intolerable
as that divided from union by only
semi-tone. 1t is far more intense dis
like than one which explains itself in
a vigorous dispute or contradiction.
To be constantly between these two
opposite natures and feeling the fret of
both, was not good discipline for
Helen. She was nervous and fearful
when her father and lover We're to-