Lorimer of the Northwest

HURCH

lished. So leaving him at the venerable "Swan," I hurried through the miry streets toward the church. They were thronged with pale-faced men and women who had sweated out their vigor in the glare of red furnace, dye-shop, and humming mill, but there was no lack of enthusia

urch, though I opined that all the multitude did not intend to venture within, and when once I saw my uncle with a wand in his hand I carefully avoided him. Martin Lorimer was a power and well liked in that town, but I had not driven ten miles to assist him. Then I waited 17 among the jostling crowd in a fever of impatience, wonde

ed human beings, and fortune had signally favored me. Squeezing through from behind a pillar I reached her side, and grew hot with pride when she slipped her arm through mine, and we were borne forward irresistibly by the surging crowd. Once I saw Ormond vainly trying to m

der an oaken canopy among the ancient carved stalls I longed that the service might last

of light 18 and blazed out of the gloom. I saw Grace's eyes rest on it, and then I followed them down across the sea of faces, along the quaint escutcheons, and over two marble tombs, until she fixed them on her father, who with his party sat in a high-backed pew. The crash of music outside ceased, and with a steady tramp of feet, file by file, men in scarlet uniform moved up the aisl

urred impression of rolling music, half-seen faces, and gay uniforms, until a tall old man of commanding personality stood high aloft in the carved pulpit, and proclaimed a doctrine that seemed strangely out of place in the busy town. Honest labor brought its own reward in the joy of diligent toil, he said, and the prize of fame or money was a much sl

aired and delicately pretty, and was said to be aware of it; but now of all times I did not want those playful smiles directed toward me. However, I hoped that Grace did not see them; and not knowing what else to do, for I could not frown at her, I sought refuge in what proved to be a bewildering chapter of genealogy, until the building trembled as t

shed it, which I certainly did not, so after some demur and the discussing of other expedients, Grace accepted m

n. I knew the road and did not take the shortest one; and it was rapture to draw the rugs and apron round Grace's waist, and feel the soft furs she wore brushing against me. The ten miles passed in what seemed to be scarcely as many minutes, and the rush through t

Devil might keep his footing on the loose stones of a very bad road. One lurch flung Grace against the guard-rail, the next against my shoulder, and I remember feeling when the little hand fastened on my arm, that I would gladly have done battle with ten wild horses were she

o horse was ever foaled which could run away up that. So, trusting to one hand, I slipped my arm round Grace's waist, and, thrill

tarcross Brow proved too much for him, and, with a sigh of relief, Grace dr

down the opposite side of the valley. After Grace had thanked me with a quiet friendliness as I helped her down, a group turned to meet us at the door. The first was a tall, thin-faced man of commanding presence with a long gray moustache, and he stared hard at me with a haughtiness that I fancied was tinctured with contempt, while Captain Ormond st

ced. "We were rather anxious about you. But w

d down at me from the top step as he said, "I thank you, sir, but I did not catch the name. May I ask w

that he regretted the debt, while the whimsical look on Ormond's face aide

harply around. Still, as I climbed into the dog-cart I saw that the burly master of Starcross House was chuckling at something, and I drove away feeling 22 strangely satisfied with myself, until I began to wonder whether after all to walk twice o

t I entered, because Martin Lorimer was frank of speech and quick in temper, and I knew he was then busy with the details of a scheme that might double the output of his mill. H

e about your running away with an heiress and giving his answer to Colonel Carrington. I'm

tions about the family money; and you have been very kind to me. But the fact is I can't stand

denly with his fist, and there wa

altogether, l

n't help longing for a life in the open air; and

3 my stewardship. Shall I ask the cashier to make out a statement? Thy father had whims and fancies, or it would have

, and my well-loved brother. If you take your share of the five hundred, what is going to educate your brother Reggie and your

shame that Martin Lorimer had already most generously done his best

'm sorry, but that is only the simple truth. Let Reggie and Aline keep all, except enough for a third

l would hardly have moved poor Tom! Well, lad, you shall not go penniless, nor third-class, if it's only for the credit of the name;

went out, and something in his change of tone

ed with much sense, she was a sympathetic girl. She listened with a pretty air of dismay, and said petulantly, "So I shall lose my only friend in t

nto the room on passing. Still, it was some time afterward before I learned that he had heard the last words; and, r