CHAPTER XXVIII. "My son, be this thy simple plan- PRINGLE. GLYNNE never took any notice of Isabel, though I thought she grew handsomer every time she came to spend the day with us. Selina asked him one day, after he had returned from Ireland, if he did not admire her? "Who?" he asked. Isabel Berrington." "Who is she? Where does she live? Is she like Miss Harrington ?" "You dull Glynne! She comes here every Saturday, and is Nellie's cousin, and she admires you immensely." "Tell her I cannot return her affection; I never looked at her." 66 'Why not? she is so handsome." "I am conscious that a person comes here now and then with an unpleasant drawl in her voice; or is it an elderly gentlewoman who always puts herself in my situation (she would be most devilishly surprised if she was, I am thinking!) whom I dislike? I have a notion somehow they come together very often. I don't know one from the other, my dear child." It was clearly impossible to interest him about Isabel. Otherwise, as Selina said, "how charming it would be if Glynne would marry her, and both of us go and live with them." Much too charming to be true. "You seem very strict about going to church, Nellie," said he to me one Sunday evening; "what do you go for?" "To say my prayers." "Not to hear what the parson says, then?" "Yes, of course." Pray now, what does he say?" You had better go and hear for yourself." "Perhaps I will, some day. I don't want to go where Lady Maria will, when she dies." Glynne!" I exclaimed, in horror. There was silence for a few minutes. denly he rose up, and crossed sitting. Sud where I was I would not have done so if I could have helped it, for my eyes were full of tears; I compressed the lids together to disperse them; but I knew the eyelashes must retain some moisture, they felt so heavy as I raised them. He looked at me earnestly, and so long, that I rose to avoid the gaze. "Do not be ashamed of those tears, Nellie, they may have saved a soul." And he left the room. I told Selina what had passed, and she saidPerhaps, Nellie, that was why your life was preserved at sea, that you might teach Glynne the only virtue he wants." Thought I-"How enthusiastic Selina is about those she loves; as if Glynne had not some glaring sins besides this one, and as if-" but I was ashamed of pursuing that thought,as well I might, knowing the price given for the saving even of one soul. On the next Sunday, Glynne went to church with us. Our clergyman was not a very good one, that is, he dwelt much in his sermons upon the joys and pleasures of heaven, in comparison with the pains and horrors of hell; but the ways and means of reaching the one and avoiding the other he did not point out. The common sense of every-day life, and its duties, placed side by side with those of religion, never formed any part of his sermons. They were altogether high-flown and ecstatic; and if they touched the chords of some sensitive heart, as no doubt they did, still they were not suitable for one on the perilous brink of atheism. Glynne required a plain and sober statement of the evidences of God-an unvarnished and sensible description of a man's heart. When he could deny neither the existence of the one, nor the weakness or depravity of the other, he would be in some measure prepared for higher food. At present, the sermon he heard this day rather exaggerated his besetting sin, than smote it. Pray, Nellie, do I look like—or feel likea person who can go psalm-singing all through eternity? I'd as lief die like a dog!” "Oh! hush, Glynne!" "He said so, your favourite parson, whom you go to hear twice a week, said, that if I threw Satan behind me, if I kept all the command |