Halcyone

eventh Henry. It stood very high with its terraced garden in the center of four splendid avenues of oak, lime, beech and Spanish chestnut running east, west, north and south. And four gates in diffe

oak avenue and crossed the pleasance, now only an ov

flagged near the house and bordered with stiff flower-beds. Here you might turn and look back due west upon a vie

e pleasure of passing through the entrance hall in state, and to go out at the back by stone passages into the

the two lower ones were a wild riot of weeds and straggling rose trees unpruned and untrained, and if you looked up at the window

walked the few paces which separated her from it and turning, stood leaning against the broken gate now, drinking in every tone of the patches the lowered sun made of

s. And when, in the great equinoctial storm of the previous year, three giant oaks lay shattered and broken, the sight had caused her deep grief, until she wove a legend about them and turned th

," seemed to be the motto of La Sa

her arms and beckoned

ance nearer to me-I can see your win

ered sun shifted to an opening almost at her feet, and with

e, ye fairy elves that

old, and lit up her eyes, and wove scarves about her with gossamer thre

them, she would not have

old gentleman-and he is Cheiron, and if one could see it in the right light, he may have a ho

path beyond, and Halcyone bo

t had an ivory handle which folded up when she no longer needed the parasol as a shade. She wore one-buttoned gloves, of slate-colored kid, and a wrist-band of black velvet

ly. "Where have you been, child?

cyone a

he or

bout that enchanting visit to Cheiron! A

grunted old William-"

id Miss La Sarthe frowning. "It does not c

ued his laborious task-one of the whee

e, as she screwed up her face. "How can you bear it? Y

s, Halcyone," quavered Miss La S

o the side. Then she bounded up the steps and through the paneled, desolate hall, taking joy in climbing the dog-gates at the turn of the stairs, which she could easily hav

ho could see the other side of her head! Henceforth there would be a human voice,

ught on her face. And the elderly woman shook her head. "That child is not canny," she muttere

ms round Priscilla's neck

ith the Immortals on the blue peaks of

e attending to things you can see. They'll be coming

rtemis is abroad-she does-but the others like the sunlight and great w

began ti

s to say she won't come back, she ca

had one who could appreciate its beauties. Governesses to her were poor-spirited creatures afraid of rats, and the dark passages-and one and all resentful

my stepfather not to send any more. W

more useful than gods and goddesses. Your poor, dear mother in heaven wo

ised her he

dear old gentleman I saw to-day will direct me." And then when she perceived the look of astonishment on Priscilla's face: "Ah! That is a secre

, now, it is long past seven o'clock an

shing her mane of hair, the child kept up a brisk conversation. Silent for hours

ng-room, where the Misses La Sarthe dined in state at seven o'clock, off some thin soup and one other dish, so that at half past seven the cloth had been cleared away

oberta. The dessert did not vary much for months-from October to late June it was the same; and only on Sundays was the almond and raisin dish allowed to be partaken of, but an apple was divided in

uld certainly fall upon them. Halcyone, from her earliest memory, had come down to dessert every night-except at one or two pleasant moments when the measles or a bad cold had k

Miss Roberta-sad falling off from dignity-had her thin bones covered with a habit shirt of tulle, because she was altogether a poorer cr

placed by four stout kitchen ones. The bits of rare china were fewer-but the portrait of the famous Timothy La Sarthe, by Holbei

outer world, and, free from the stern eye of Sister Ginevra, had been wont to chat with one and another. They never stayed lo

is an old gentleman who has bought the orchard house and he says he wi

soned after she heard of Mademoiselle's non-return that the knowledge that she would have some

a gold pince-nez and l

you, Halcyone

seventh of last Oct

twelve years old, child-although governesses in the house

k French and German quite decently, and the other things surel

nded Miss La Sarthe. "You allude to someone of who

e asked me in to tea. He is a very old gentleman with a long white beard, and very, very clever. His room i

be sufficient in the way

ly, "that the orchard house has been bought by an Oxford

arthe loo

Hester's chattering. I cannot conceive personally, how you can converse

ushed. She had often been c

rvant, had announced some such news to her that afternoon; but she remained silent. Sh

Roberta, wishing to propitiate, "it might be company for us all, Gin

s always think it is more genteel to have a smattering of foreign languages than to k

-and oh-I will try so hard by myself to keep up what I already know. I will practice-really, really, Aunt Ginevra-and do my German e

her pride and joy. So she warmly seconded her niece's pleadings, and the momentous decision was come to that James Anderton should be approached upon the subject. If the child learned Greek-from a professor-and

sad connected with the whole story that Priscilla never cared much to talk about it. It was always, "your poor sainted mother in heaven," or, "your blessed pretty mother"-and with that instinctive knowledge of the feelings of other people which characterized Halcyone's point of view, she

king baby brother, in his long clothes, whose coming somehow seemed responsible for the loss of her tender angel, for a long time was

self was La Sarthe to her finger tips-slender and pale and distinguished-looking. She remembered the last scene with her stepfather before her coming to La Sarthe Chase. It was the culmination after a year of misery and unassuaged grieving for her loss. He had come into the nursery where the three little girls were playing-Halcyone and her two stepsisters-and he had made th

d he walked to the window, where his brother followed him-and sh

. Anderton had said. "Why the devil couldn't Elaine have given it to my

eat-aunts Ginevra and Roberta, in their tumble-down mansion which her father had not lived

rness or would they all be left in peace without one? Mrs. James Anderton, Miss Roberta had said once, was a person who "did her duty," as people often

be expected for at least a week. Therefore there was no good agitating herself too soon about the result. It was one of her principles never to

e a month were about the only male creatures Halcyone had ever spoken to within her recollection-their

in him, of course; but I never did see one that didn't think of himself first. It is their selfishness that causes all the sorrow of the worl

cilla in the upper class, but had no rede

a logical mind and re

men's fault for letting them be, or God intended them to

from a town, he could not be speaking of the same wonderful God she knew in the woods and fields-the God so loving and tender in the springtime to the budding flowers, so gorgeous in the summer and autumn and so pure and cold in the winter. Wit

d He had created-not beings to be prayed to or solicited for favors, but just gentle, glorious, sympathetic, invisible friends. She was very much interested in Christ; He was certainly a part of God, too-but she could not unde

written in the Bible I shall find it isn't that a bit, and it is either Mr. Miller can't see straight or he has put the stops all in the wrong places and changed the sense. In an

gical view of a case whi

oes" she felt it was her beautiful father and mother who were the real Halcyone and Ceyx, and she longed to see the blue summer sea and th