ness by her ill-timed pleasantry, it would be better for him to tell the truth, so that she might be in some measure prepared for her sister's playful and highly coloured deductions. He therefore added, in a gentle, deprecating tone, "Will you be very angry with me if I confess that I found that out for myself?" "How?" queried Ella, below her breath. "I was in the act of stepping inside old Ambrose's cottage when I recognised your voice, and rather than disturb you I decided on putting off my visit until to-morrow." 66 "Oh, I am so sorry!" said Ella, whose heightened colour and the slight shadow of disappointment that gathered over her fair young brow testified that she was in earnest; so very sorry!" "May I ask why?" returned Herbert, a half-smile parting his lips; "for my own part, I was very glad." "Glad!” repeated Ella, looking doubtfully up at him. "Yes, glad to find you so well and profitably engaged,” he explained, in low, earnest tones; "glad to feel that you derive not only satisfaction, but pleasure, in ministering to the temporal and spiritual necessities of our poorer and less enlightened neighbours." "You do me far more than justice," murmured Ella, with averted eyes; “I am so lamentably ignorant myself, that I can do little good to others." "It is when we are thus persuaded of our ignorance and incapacity for doing any good work, that we begin to gain true wisdom," said Herbert, encouragingly. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” 66 "I am not humble," was the modest disclaimer, accompanied by a grave and very conclusive shake of the head. Herbert's eyes expressed a different opinion, but he could not trust himself to continue the subject, and their conversation during the rest of the walk was of a more general, though scarcely less interesting nature. 66 Well, here you are at last!" cried Lucy, hastening to meet them directly they entered the house. "The carriages are at the door, and we are all ready to start." 66 Perhaps I had better go as I am, then,” said Ella, locking dubiously down upon her neat summer costume; "it will be better than keeping you "Go as you are!" echoed Lucy, lifting her hands and eyes in pure amazement. "You foolish child!" "There's plenty of time, my love," said Lady Stanley, coming out of the drawing-room on hearing their voices; "you will find Leeson upstairs ready to assist you in dressing-but you need not hurry," she added, as Ella ran off to make the necessary alterations in her toilet; 66 we should never dream of going without you." In less than a quarter of an hour the young girl returned and joined the others on the terrace. Both so lovely, and yet The two sisters formed a pretty contrast. so dissimilar in appearance, manner, and character. Ella with her fairy, sylph-like form, her soft, liquid eyes, her delicate rose-tinted cheeks, and golden rippling hair, suffered not a whit from comparison with the brilliant brunette complexion, raven tresses, large, dark, sparkling eyes, and queenly figure of her elder sister, although the latter's distingué and slightly imperious air was never perhaps seen to greater advantage than when viewed in conjunction with Ella's gentle and retiring disposition. Their dresses were alike, with this exception, that while Lucy's flowing robe of silver-grey crape was tastefully decorated with flutings of pink satin, Ella's was simply and lightly trimmed with narrow bands of blue. Their ornaments also differed in one respect, inasmuch as Lucy's brooch, necklet, and bracelets, were composed of pink amethysts-Ella's of turquoise stones; and the same distinction might have been observed in the long white feathers which drooped so gracefully over their dainty little hats, one being tipped with pink, the other with blue. A single glance was all that Herbert allowed himself to take of Ella, as she made her appearance. Apparently Mr. Lexley's admiration was less easily restrained; for his gaze was so ardent and prolonged that the colour mounted to her very forehead, and she turned away from him almost with a frown. Nothing daunted, however, the young man persevered in his attentions, escorted her to the carriage with as much complacency as if he were already her accepted lover, and, seating himself beside her, devoted his conversation exclusively to her until they reached the Gothic cottage which served as lodge to his father's villa. Here they all alighted, and made their way through newly mown walks and terraces to a bread plateau of green sward, where their hostess was receiving her guests under the canopy of a Turkish tent. "You see I was right," sagely remarked Lucy to Herbert, as Mr. Lexley, after accompanying them to his mother's presence, hurried Ella off—evidently against her inclination—to a distant part of the grounds; "he has neither eyes nor ears for any one else when she is by." "It would be strange if he had," murmured Herbert, quite unconsciously. 66 Upon my word, you are very complimentary," exclaimed the disdainful beauty, affecting to be mightily offended; "is this your gratitude for all the disinterested exertions I have been making in your behalf?" "Pardon me, I am far from understanding you," faltered Herbert, colouring with vexation at having thus unwittingly betrayed himself. "Did I not connive at your enjoying a tête-à-tête walk with a certain young lady?" she demanded, in her usual tone of lively persiflage, her eyes meanwhile sparkling with playful malice; " and did I not voluntarily charge myself with the ungracious task of amusing a certain unamusable gentleman, merely for the sake of pleasing and gratifying you?" "Must I be responsible for your free-will actions ?" asked Herbert, recovering his wonted calmness of manner. "I was no party to "Nevertheless, you fell in with my designs naturally enough,” mockingly interposed Lucy. "I had no alternative," was Herbert's quiet response, as he paused at the foot of one of the artificial embankments, and offered his hand to assist her to descend. "Really you are too provoking," replied Lucy, in a half-petulant, half-amused tone; "there's no such thing as managing you; I may as well give up the attempt, I think." "Pray do," said Herbert, smiling pleasantly; "you will find me a mauvais sujet." "An obstinate one, at all events," muttered Lucy, sotto voce; " and not gifted with any great amount of perspicacity." CHAPTER LXXXIV. LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. "Oh! why has worth so short a date, While villains ripen gray with time? Fall in bold manhood's hardy prime?" BURNS. Must cry, 'We perish !'-Father, hear, and save! "We are as near heaven by sea as by land." SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. On the day which succeeded Lady Lexley's fête Herbert paid his promised visit to the old fisherman; after which he indulged himself in one of those long solitary rambles he so much enjoyed, where he could almost forget his own multiplied sorrow, while 66 Climbing the green hill's side With healthful life-pulse and elastic limb, Who framed the earth, and girt the azure tide, Who fathers all that creep, or soar, or swim, Whose model and whose handmaid, Nature, smiles 'Mid arctic icebergs, as in tropic isles!" and feel, while thus considering, the perfection of harmony revealed to him by the incomparable work of creation, that he was surrounded by an unseen presence, and could hold, through nature, communion with nature's God. The afternoon was advancing when he at length set out on his return. His walk had taken him some distance inland, but on nearing the mount he diverged, and after crossing several fields, found himself upon the cliff. Here the road was very beautiful, and Herbert often stopped to look around him and drink in the exhilarating sea breezes, and listen to the breaking waves as they dashed against the rocky shore below. "This must be an unusually high tide," thought he, as his eye sought in vain for certain large masses of blackened rock which he had not previously seen covered. Before he could do more than make this mental observation his attention was attracted by a group of fishermen, who seemed to be cautiously leaning over the precipitous cliff at a little distance from the spot where he stood. With a feeling of alarm, for which he could not have accounted, Herbert came quickly up to them, and inquired, in his grave, kindly tones, "Is anything the matter, my friends?" The men stepped back a few paces on hearing his voice, and looked at each other without speaking. Again Herbert repeated his question, and again the men regarded him with a dubious, uncertain look, as if loth to communicate the cause of their disquietude. At last one of them said, 66 Well, sir, tez the young lady." "What young lady?" cried Herbert, grasping the nearest man by the shoulder, and gazing at him with a face from which every particle of colour has fled. "Doent take on, sir," replied the man, in a tone of rough sympathy, as he tried to escape from his gripe; "we may be mistaken 'bout it, you know." "What do you suspect? " asked Herbert, addressing himself to one, who seemed from his dress to belong to a higher grade in the strata of society than that of a poor fisherman-he was, in fact, a respectable wholesale tradesman who had come to Penruthven for the purpose of negotiating with these simple-minded children of the sea for a regular supply of its produce for the Exeter market. "Well, sir," he answered, trying to be as concise as possible, "it appears that this young lady-Miss Stanley I believe she is called?" appealing to the others, who, as if to add to the insupportable load of anguish which was already weighing down Herbert's heart, briefly responded, "Yes-the youngest." "Was seen passing through the village on her way to the sands more than an hour ago," continued the sympathising tradesman, "and," he paused for an instant appalled by the expression of Herbert's face, then went on in a low, hurried tone, "and nothing has been heard of her since." "And have you taken no steps?" indignantly cried Herbert, turning to the hardy fishermen with flashing eyes and quivering nostrils. "What could we do?" demanded one of them, somewhat sullenly; "afore we knew aught of th' matter the tide 'ud made it impossible to go by the reg'lar path "And equally impossible for her to return by it," said Herbert, in the tone of a man who had begun to bring every faculty of the mind to bear upon some life or death question. "There is still one chance left," said the first speaker. "You mean the private footpath leading into Sir Edward's own garden?" quickly interposed Herbert. The man assented. "We'll soon see 'bout that," exclaimed another of the men, who had been looking eagerly in the direction of the mount, "for here comes th' messenger we sent to inquire at th' house." As he spoke, a well-grown boy approached them, panting and out of breath. The dismal shake of his head prepared them for the intelligence he brought. Ella had not yet returned home, and the servants were in a great fright about her-Sir Edward and Colonel Lansmore being out driving with the other ladies, quite unconscious of the threatened danger. Quick as lightning Herbert considered the case in all its bearings. He had not a doubt that Ella was still on the sands; and if so, |