The People of the Mist

e passed without a word, closing the hall door behind him. Outside snow was falling, thou

urther conversation with any male member of that family. As it chanced, however, he found himself face to face not with Arthur, but with Jane herself, who perhaps had never looked more beautiful than she did at this moment in the snow and the moonlight. Indeed, whene

vously, "why do you go with

s was the last sight which he should win of his love for many a year, and therefore his

and his words were

n those thin shoes through the

h a cold as would kill me; then I should be out of my troubles. Let us g

rd; "it is a hundred yards away, and

ind the snow

use put his arms around Jane, and lifting her as though she were a child, he bore her down the path which led to the summer-house. She was heavy, but, sooth to say, he could have wished the jo

safe in her lover's arms that it seemed to her as though she never wished to sp

ane. It was because your father has dismissed me from th

e girl, lifting her

" he answered wit

whispered, taking

y father embezzled all my money. The sins of the father are visited upon the children, you see. Also he has done this with more than

shi

he said, "and oh! L

be as well not to ma

ie first," she sa

always die when it happen

e said, beginning to cry. "Where a

o me I will stick to you. The luck is against me now, but I have it in me to see that through. I love you a

t love me more than I love you, but I can never make you under

f Jane heard, at that moment her filial affections wer

rrying one whom she does wish to marry. Now you know my address at my club in town; letters sent there will always reach me, and it is scarcely possible for your father or anybody else to prevent you from writing and posting a letter. If you want my help or to communicate in any way, I shall expect to

d, but you put t

me, love, and I must be plain - this

t was none other than the distant voice of Mr. Beach, calli

out by the back door, but mother must have been up to my room

been saying good-bye to me. It is not

about her lover's neck and burying her beautiful face upon his breast, she began t

now, and he kissed her and comforted her as he might best, even going so far as to mingle his tears with hers, tears of wh

t in memory of me, Leonard," and thrusting her hand into the bosom

e had vanished back into the snow and darkness, passing out of Leonard'

Sighing heavily, he opened the packet and examined its contents by the feeble moonlight. They were not large: a prayer-book bound in morocco, he

which was yet warm from Jane's shoulders, he also turned and vanished

stuffed birds and fishes, and chiefly remarkable for its wide old-fashioned fireplace with wrought-iron dogs. There was no lamp in the room when Leonard entered,

eamer, the brown eyes were large and reflective, and the mouth sensitive as a child's. He was a scholar and a

e said, looking up absent

ry," answered

you been do

want t

urse. Did y

told him al

his brother had finished. "Given the situation

e worked out, I don't quite see the fun of it. But if you ask me what I think she wi

t want to know more. But I have always understood that it is the peculiar glory of their

k a great deal more of their own hours of ease than of th

period of his life. He had sustained a most terrible reverse, and do what he might he could never quite escape from the shadow of his father's disgrace, or put out of his mind the stain with which his father had dimmed the honour of his family. And now a new misfort

on to suppose that she would exhibit greater determination in the matter of their engagement than her general lack of strength might lead him to anticipate. Besides, and here his common sense came in, would it be wise that she should do so? After all, what had he to offer her, and were not his hopes o

words and outward behaviour, for at

they were alone again, Tom spoke to his b

do to-night, Le

I suppose,"

her again, "what do you say to hav

Tom, but it wi

hurt us, old fellow," said Tom, laying

e scene of a recent sale one of the most desolate sights in the world. Never had the old house looked grander or more eloquent of the past than it did on that night to the two brothers who were dispossessed of their heritage. They wandered round it in silence, gazing affe

go in,"

f ecclesiastical design. This window was filled with the armorial bearings of many generations of the Outram family, wrought in stained glass and placed in couples, for next to each coat of

nard," said Tom, pointing to these;

"I suppose that the Cohens boast some so

ave the good taste to begin a new

the painted window, the memorial of so much forgotten grandeur, and illumining

tto which alternated pretty regularly with a second device tha

think that our family never needed such consolations more, if indeed there are any to be found in mottoes. Our H

not we retrieve the past? Let us take that motto - the more ancient one - for an omen, an

fail in the struggle, at least the star

wear an oath with me? It seems childish, but I think that un

h?" asked

t fortune to enable us to repurchase our lost home; that we will never return here

ted a moment,

ls me, I wil

wner. Among the articles which remained was a very valuable and ancient bible, one of the first ever printed indeed, that stood upon an oaken stand in the centre of the hall, to which it was securely chained. Tom led the way to this

t again till we can call it ours once more. We swear that we will follow this, the purpose of our lives, till death destroys us and i

God!" repe

ad said, the thing was childish, but if so, at the least it was solemn and touching. Their cause seemed hopeless indeed; but if faith can move mountains, much more can honest endeavour attain its ends. In that hour th

word came from Jane Beach, and for good or ill the chains of the oa

s were nearing the shores of Africa, the land