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Chapter XX.

Christmas Day! Not the merry Christmas of Old England, typical of frosty age, in hoary garb, with rubicund face, and redolent of good cheer, but the Austral Christmas, smiling under a radiant sky, clad in mantling blue and glowing sunshine.

It was a beautiful morning. The little township, with its sprinkling of wooden huts and gabled houses dotted about over a green plain, between parallel rows of post and rail fences and plots of newly-planted gardens, lay still and basking in the noontide glare, reflecting from its shingle roofs the dazzling sunbeams.

The dusty roads were deserted, the shops were closed, and no one was to be seen about save a few loiterers by the public-house, and a gathering of gaily-dressed women and children, with their male companions in sober black, emerging from a little wooden church, with a little steeple of the pepper-box pattern, that stood apart on rising ground in a grove of young gum trees.

Doctor Valentine and his friend started for Glen-page 540moor, the residence of the Seymours, and as the distance was under two miles, they determined to walk it. It was a pretty stroll. The track skirted the slope of grassy downs that formed the banks of a shingly river bed, then plunged through a marshy flat thickly overgrown with shining flax bushes, of which the tall flowering stalks shot upwards in dense clusters in all directions; thence climbing up the high terraces that formed the escarpment of the table-land, it led on to wide-stretching yellow plains, flaming in the bright sunshine. From this elevated ground a fine and extensive prospect opened to the view. To the eastward, bordered by white cliffs and rolling downs, the sombre and wrinkled ocean spread out to the horizon, while on the other side, only a few miles off, rose Mount Pleasance, in her morning garb of pearly grey, streaked with dark lines of winding spurs and wooded gullies, and with hazy forests gathered round her feet. To the far north, peeping forth through gaps in rugged hills, some glimpses of snow-clad peaks glittered in the distance.

The two friends trudged jauntily along, mostly absorbed in their own placid cogitations, and taking in sensations of the beautiful while inhaling the fresh and invigorating breeze that swept over the plains.

What an amount of sympathetic companionship page 541may be got out of silence! How truly may congenial spirits commune together without the vulgar aid of speech. This is not the prevailing notion on the subject, for most people imagine that to be cheerful and sociable one must chatter, and it is not unusual to estimate the flow of spirits by the rate of chattering. But intelligent friendship knows better, and can readily devise more delicate modes of expression, while love is far too exquisite and ethereal to be communicable by such clumsy means. Amorous sentiment should be mute. The heart, indeed, has a language of its own, transmissible through a subtle fluid that speaks from the eye, that thrills by touch, and that may find a voice in harmony, but not by such guttural sounds as spoken words. The only articulation permissible to the outpouring of passion is a sigh. Anything else in that line—unless, perhaps, it be set to music—falls flat, or resolves itself into commonplace twaddle. Should any male reader—for ladies, as a rule, are not given to speaking their love—doubt the correctness of this proposition, let him listen to the inane maundering of a lover—the first come will do, or, better still, let him recall to mind, with inward confusion, his own silly attempts, if he has ever been given that way, of blurting out something sweet and tender. Failing this, he may page 542fall back on the ample store of sentimental novels, where he will find the subject pretty well exhausted, and all the changes rung out of the conventional terms of endearment, such as dearest, darling, sweetest, fondest, &c., &c., which constitute the vocabulary of love. Then let him judge.

"Behold! all is here," exclaimed Valentine to his musing companion, as if awaking from a pleasant reverie. "Into whose arm can I place my hand as I can into thine; to whom can I speak the first thoughts that come uppermost save to thee; with whom else can I walk a mile, gazing at the clouds, and saying nothing, absolutely nothing?"

"The last is the truest test of friendship," replied the philosopher laughingly.

They soon reached the gate of the boundary enclosure of the Glenmoor estate. A winding carriage-drive, through a plantation of young gum trees, led up to the homestead, and as they approached it a delicious fragrance of sweet-scented flowers came wafted towards them on the breeze. Emerging from a thick shrubbery, the view suddenly opened on to a delightful prospect, made all the more refreshing to the eye from the contrast with the bare and glowing plains around. In a sheltered spot, at the foot of grassy downs, and embosomed in the tranquil shade page 543of some grand old native trees, stood the residence. Like most buildings at that time, it was of wood, and of one storey, with a broken outline, broad verandahs encircling it about, and a wide sloping shingle roof that glistened like metal in the bright sunshine. In front of the house there was a pretty stretch of velvety lawn of irregular shape, bordered by serpentine walks, and around it masses of dark shrubbery, spotted here and there with gaily decorated flower-beds, and resplendent with brightly-flowering bushes. Plots of verbenas matted the ground with brilliant hues, tangled beds of petunias breathed forth their exquisite aroma round clusters of standard roses that were laden with fragrant bloom. The borders had been tastefully adorned with masses of flowers disposed so as to produce a pleasing contrast of colour, groups of tall white lilies peered forth from shady recesses, and rows of gaudy hollyhocks formed an imposing background to the floral display. Evidently the garden was tended with unfailing care, yet it had not the appearance of being scrupulously prim or burnished up for effect, but it preserved a natural charm, and seemed to expand in an air of unchecked luxuriance.

As the two friends approached, Mr. Seymour was seen reclining on a garden-seat, under the shade of page 544the front verandah. He was dressed in a light-coloured suit, with his feet in slippers, and a tasselled smoking-cap on his head. A book lay open on his knees, he had one arm thrown carelessly over the back of the seat, and with face upturned and a pleasant smile upon it, he was listening complacently to the lively chatter of his two daughters, who, in their riding habits, in which they had just returned from church, stood gracefully by his side. At the sight of his visitors he arose nimbly from his seat, and linking his arm lovingly in that of his eldest daughter, as if claiming with playfulness the support of old age, which he certainly did not need, he advanced a few steps to meet them.

Mr. Seymour was an elderly man, but well preserved. In stature rather above the middle height, although with a slight stoop, yet his carriage was noble, and his every word and gesture bespoke the English gentleman. His hair was streaked with grey, and thin at the top, but brushed forward in ample brown curls over each temple; his face clean-shaved, with the exception of small and closely-trimmed side whiskers, that were nearly white. The features strongly marked, the nose prominent and aristocratic, many wrinkles about the forehead and round the eyes, which shone with a gentle and dreamy ex-page 545pression. It was a face stamped by thought, and not unscathed by suffering, yet softened with kindliness, and in which humour played about the mouth and in the corners of the eyes, ever ready to relieve its sadness and to relax its features into a smile.

Of his two daughters Alice was the elder. She seemed to be about twenty-five, a brunette, rather short, and in figure inclined to be a dumpling. She was not beautiful, if regularity of features be held to constitute beauty, but she had fine dark hazel eyes, and a sweet face that was redolent of health and cheerfulness. In manner Miss Seymour was impulsive and animated; her temper was generally considered to be decidedly hot, and she had a quick outspoken style about her which was deemed by some people to be wanting in feminine grace.

Her sister Mary was six years younger and fully half-a-head taller, with a slight and graceful figure. She was fair, with a delicate complexion, blue eyes, and a face that was considered very pretty. She was just as much inclined to be languid and poetical—verging at times on the lackadaisical—as her sister was to be bustling and prosaic; but both of them had a full share of their father's genial and expansive humour, which kept them chirping and singing the live-long day as blithely as a pair of gay canaries.

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"You need not introduce us to Mr. Raleigh with the usual formalities, papa," exclaimed Alice, "for we have met before, and if I remember right, on that occasion we introduced ourselves."

"When was that, my dear?"

"One of the only occasions on which I take the trouble to run after gentlemen; hearing of the arrival of a stranger, we went to dun him for a subscription."

"Is that all we men are good for?" inquired Raleigh.

"Oh, I don't say that," replied the young lady opening her eyes wide, with a comical expression, "but it is what the most of you are best provided with, and money we must have."

"We have heard so much about Mr. Raleigh from our friend Doctor Valentine," put in Mary, "that we look upon him as an old acquaintance already."

"Well, girls, you certainly don't stand upon ceremony. If my daughters can do nothing else, sir," Mr. Seymour remarked, addressing himself to his visitor, "I trust they will be able to make you feel quite at home. As for our friend here," turning to the Doctor, "we consider him already I'ami de la maison. And now, as dinner is not yet ready," he added in a gracious way, "allow me to show you round my garden, for that, I must tell you, is what I take my greatest delight in."

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"You might add, papa, that it is what you work in, walk in, smoke in, frequently take your meals in, and often sleep in," said Alice. "We have returned to the primeval state. Our garden is our Paradise; it yields us everything, except—profit."

"That exception," remarked Doctor Valentine, "with most people here, would damn it as effectually as Eve's apple did the first one."

"You are right," observed Mr. Seymour; "the only question with most of our colonists is, Will it pay. And I should have to give an emphatic answer in the negative."

"And do your fair hands assist in this charming work?" Raleigh asked of Alice, as they were strolling through the rosery, and lingered over a cluster of beautiful flowers.

"My hands are not fair, but decidedly brown, Mr. Raleigh," replied the other, as she exhibited a set of chubby fingers that did not look much the worse for wear. "Neither my sister or myself ever meddle with the garden—we should be afraid of committing some damage; and our instructions are to admire, but 'please not to touch.'"

"Then I suppose you have plenty of other pastimes."

"Other pastimes! Well, I declare! Do you know, sir, that I am up and about every morning at five page 548o'clock? We only keep one servant, whom at home one would call 'a maid-of-all-work,' but here in the colony goes by the grand name of a general. She leaves us plenty to do, and we are always fully engaged during the morning until dinner time, for we have adopted the plebeian habit of dining in the middle of the day. My sister is the housemaid, I am 'cooky.' In the afternoons I go my rounds, for I have a multitude of outside duties to attend to, and nearly every day I have to go to the village—I beg its pardon, the township. When it is fine we generally jump on our horses and go for a scamper over the downs, or pay calls. We have liberty to do what we like, and go where we like, so long as we are home by sundown."

"And of an evening?" inquired Raleigh.

"Of an evening, when we are by ourselves, we sew a little, read a little, do a little music, and chatter a great deal, until about ten o'clock, when we are tired out and glad to go to bed. So you see our engagements are numerous, and our time fully occupied."

They next visited the conservatory, in which there was a brilliant display of bloom, very tastefully arranged.

Mr. Seymour, who was a learned botanist, and had made quite a hobby of floriculture, descanted with fervour about several of the plants, and laid claim to having propagated several new varieties.

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"Whenever papa comes in to breakfast with a more than usually beaming countenance," observed Mary Seymour, "we know that something new, choice, or rare, as the gardeners say in their catalogues, is out."

"Quite true, my dear," replied the old gentleman, with his kindly smile; "the opening of some new blossom, or the discovery of some remarkable tint in one of my varieties, often puts me in good humour for the whole of the day. It appears a trifling matter to build happiness upon, but as you know, little things amuse little minds."

"Not at all," interjected Raleigh. "It is proverbial that the occupation of gardening and the love of flowers has afforded solace and delight to great minds."

Mr. Seymour made a low bow, with mock solemnity. "I will take it to myself," he said, with a beaming countenance.

"I do believe," cried Alice archly, "that Mr. Raleigh is given to paying compliments. This is not in keeping with the character we have heard of him, and I hope he won't, for I have a horror of compliments."

"That is because you do not need them, Miss Seymour," replied the philosopher gallantly.

"Why, that sounds like another one," exclaimed the young lady, laughing; "worse and worse."

"Be reassured," he continued gravely; "I am not page 550given to paying compliments, but, on the contrary, I frequently give offence by speaking my mind. Yet I take no credit to myself on that account, for I believe it is only a sign of indifference to the feelings of others, or of natural moroseness. The man who pays a pretty compliment displays at least a kindly wish to please, and that deserves to be appreciated."

"Of course," exclaimed Mary, "and I think it very nice; but there is a foreign flavour about compliments, you know, and my sister is so rabidly English that she can't tolerate Continental notions or manners."

"I simply love sincerity above all things," said Alice quietly.

"An excellent sentiment in the abstract, my dear," observed her father; "but unfortunately our people are much given to mistake bluntness for sincerity, and have but little compunction in hurting the feelings of others under the guise of administering wholesome truth."

"For my part," continued Raleigh, "I consider that two of the most objectionable inflictions one has occasionally to put up with in life are—a candid friend and a plain-spoken woman."

"What an atrocious sentiment!" exclaimed Alice, opening wide her big eyes, with an expression of incredulity not unmixed with indignation. Then turn-page 551ing to the Doctor, she asked in a low tone, "Your friend does not mean what he says, does he, now?"

"My friend," replied Valentine, with a twinkle in his eye, "is one of the most faithful of friends, and one of the most innocent and best-intentioned men alive; but as to what he may believe in his heart on most controversial points is more than I can tell you, for I don't think he knows himself. He has many ideas, but no fixed opinions. Yet however wild, paradoxical, or even pernicious his principles may appear, I will vouch for it that under all circumstances of life he will ever act the part of an honest man."

They next visited the shade-house. This was a large enclosure, roofed in with bamboo trellis-work, which, while it admitted air and light freely, yet afforded good shelter, and acted as a screen against the scorching rays of the sun. In the middle of the shed there was an open space, furnished like a summer-house, with rustic table and seats, while on either side there was a beautiful display of flowers and foliage plants. A splendid show of fuchsias had been trained up the trellis walls, and from the roof hung festoons of flowering creepers, among which several varieties of the gorgeous passion-flower were conspicuous. One end of the building had been closed in with wire netting and made into an aviary, where a score of canaries page 552and other songsters flitted blithely about and made the air ring with their merry notes. At the opposite extremity a rockery had been constructed of shining boulders and moss-covered stones, round a little fish-pond wherein a fountain played and sent forth a jet of glittering spray, and the whole was encircled with outspreading fern trees. From a shady recess a pair of ringdoves sent forth their gentle cooing, and several long-legged aquatic birds could be seen strutting about the premises, with measured steps and pointed beaks upraised, apparently quite indifferent to the presence of visitors. An exquisite sense of rustic seclusion and repose pervaded this charming bower, inspired by the splash of dripping waters, the rustling of the leaves, the chequered shade, the lively twittering of the birds, and the sweet fragrance that filled the air.

"This is my favourite resort," said Mr. Seymour, as he courteously invited his guests to be seated. "Here it is that I spend much of my leisure. I make it my study, my smoking-room, my refuge from all the worries and anxieties of daily life. Here I invariably come after dinner in fine weather, my girls bring me my cup of coffee, I swing my hammock to yonder posts, and with a book in one hand and my pipe in the other, I"——

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"Go to sleep, papa!" ejaculated Mary, with a silvery laugh.

"Well," replied the old gentleman, with a humorous smile, "I plead guilty to taking my usual forty winks under the circumstances; for, let me tell you, girls, that after listening to the incessant rattle of your little tongues for an hour at dinner time, the quiet of this sequestered spot has a most soothing and somniferous effect."

"Well, I declare!" said Alice, with a pert toss of the head, "that is a pretty way to put it too. We shall bear that in mind, sir."

Her father patted her on the cheek. She took his hand, and for a few moments held it firmly in her own, then pressed it to her lips.

Dinner went off very gaily. It consisted of the orthodox Christmas fare. Neither the roast beef, nor the goose with apple sauce, nor the plum pudding, was missing. It was hardly the most appropriate fare for a hot midsummer's day, but custom is stronger than climatic influences, and the Englishman, wherever he goes, likes to live, and especially to cat and drink, as nearly as possible as he used to do at home.

This peculiar trait of the national character was alluded to in conversation over the festive board. Doctor Valentine, who was not attached to English page 554forms and institutions, denounced it. Mr. Seymour, while he admitted the absurdity under many circumstances, yet pleaded in extenuation, and Raleigh related a story in illustration.

"I remember," he said, "shortly after I first came out, dining with one of that unfortunate tribe that go by the name of 'broken-down swells.' He lived apart, or rather vegetated, on a forty acre section, and in a wretched two-roomed hovel. The poor fellow had known better days, and although resigned to his lot and apparently cheerful in it, he could not forget his antecedents. He was reduced to rags and to the barest necessaries, yet he clung pertinaciously to the customs and style in which he had been brought up. Just before the time of his humble repast to which I had been invited, and which he had made the fashionable hour, I was 'knocked all of a heap' by noticing my friend sally forth in something resembling full dress. At any rate, he had on a swallow-tailed coat, which looked all the more peculiar as he evidently could not sport a white shirt-front to match it. I felt called upon to apologise for my informal toilet, and that was graciously accepted. In the absence of any drawing-room we sat in state on a bench outside the hut, waiting for dinner to be announced. This was done by a ragamuffin of a page 555small boy, who rang a huge bell with deafening clamour within three yards of our ears. My friend then, with a most distinguished bow, ushered me in, and we sat down to the scrag-end of a cold leg of mutton, some potatoes boiled in their skins, and home-baked bread. We had neither tablecloth nor napkins, and for the absence of these he made an elaborate excuse. He discarded tea as being entirely out of keeping with the refined usages of an English dinner, but there were a couple of bottles of cold water on the table. When these were exhausted my friend rang the bell. The ragamuffin appeared at the door. 'James,' he said, with the drawl of the great man ordering the butler to bring up some choice brand of claret, 'James, replenish the decanters!'"

The Doctor was in great form. To his animated and pungent style he added a perfect gift of mimicry, which seasoned all his anecdotes with irresistible humour. The old gentleman laughed heartily, and the young ladies were kept in a constant state of tittering, while Raleigh was delighted to witness his friend's good spirits. Mr. Seymour himself was a man of wide experience and acute observation, taking a keen pleasure in refined and intelligent conversation. He could speak well on most subjects, and there was but one topic on which he remained resolutely mute, page 556and strongly deprecated any allusion, and that was scandal. Of all the homes in the district, that of the Seymours was probably the only one where the breath of detraction never entered.

After dinner the conversation turned upon art. Raleigh had, by special request, brought with him a small portfolio of landscape sketches, and these were inspected by the company and very favourably criticised. Mr. Seymour was himself an amateur of no mean skill, and he was able to tender his visitor some discriminating advice on the subject, Alice also could paint a little, and she took a great interest in the sketches, and ventured to express a hope that some day her modest album might be enriched with one of the artist's productions.

"There was," she said, "a favourite spot in the shrubbery from which a charming glimpse of the house and grounds could be obtained, and if ever they were to be honoured"——

"There is no honour about it," said Raleigh, "and there is no time like the present. Bring me your album, and if you can find me a camp-stool and an umbrella, I will start about it at once and get it done while Mr. Seymour and the Doctor are settling that knotty question on European politics."

Alice was delighted; she ran off to get the neces-page 557sary articles, then piloted the way to the chosen spot, installed her artist, and sat down beside him, holding the umbrella and chatting gaily all the while. She told him much about their former life, and especially concerning her father's career.

Mr. Seymour had been a successful barrister, he had risen while young to a distinguished position, had been made a Queen's Counsel, and might have looked forward to acquiring wealth and honour, when illness and family troubles overtook him and nipped his brilliant prospects almost in the bud. His wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, became a confirmed invalid, and her state of health necessitated their leaving England and residing for a time on the Continent. This was a great trial to them, but it was as nothing to what followed, for their only son, a boy of extraordinary parts, and his parents' delight, met his death suddenly through an accident while at college, and from that crushing blow they had never recovered.

"I was quite a child," Alice related, "when this occurred, but the sad remembrance of it has never left me. My father, whose fortitude and unfailing cheerfulness had supported him under all worries and misfortunes, seemed to break down under it, and my poor mother only survived the event a very short page 558time. Then we returned to England, and for many years we lived in the country, and gradually we made ourselves a happy home there, and were surrounded with friends and many cherished associations. But then came other troubles, monetary ones. My father sustained great losses through the dishonesty of a trusted agent, and he found himself well-nigh ruined at a time of life when with old age approaching, and his shattered health, he was quite unable to resume the practice of his profession or attempt to repair his broken fortunes. He decided to give up his home, to dispose of all his remaining property, and to emigrate to a new world, Where we might yet be able to live with decency. It was heartbreaking at the time, and I thought we should never get over it, although I never gave way, for it needed all my strength and care to support my father through that dreadful trial. But through God's mercy it has proved a blessing to us, for papa's health has greatly improved here; the climate has done wonders for him, and seems to have granted him a new lease of life. He has also recovered his former heartiness, and that kindly cheerfulness which gladdened our childhood and which was never quite obscured even in our darkest hour. It reminds me of old times, the dear old times before we knew what sorrow was. Then we have been for-page 559tunate here in other respects also; we were able to acquire this estate, and papa has turned it to good account, and takes a great interest in it. So we are settled again, and quite happy and contented, although poor and at times, perhaps—a little lonely."

"But you have numerous friends here, have you not?" inquired Raleigh.

"We have made a good many acquaintances of late, but for the first few years we hardly knew anybody. The fact is, we have lived in a very quiet way, very much attached to our new home, and all in all to one another. Then there was so much to do to make this little place even what it is, for it was a wilderness when we first came here. We did not run after our neighbours, and they, I suppose, were not impressed with our unpretentious style, so they kept rather aloof until lately, when we seem to have become"——

"All the rage," interjected Raleigh, still busy with his pencil.

Alice laughed. "It is merely a passing whim," she said, "and certainly not of our seeking; but just at present one would fancy that the country could not get on without us, which is very absurd. Papa also has been asked to allow himself to be nominated for the Legislative Council, but I am glad to say he has page 560declined. We are so happy as we are. As for myself, I don't much like gadding about, and those I care for are of another sort."

"And who are they?"

"Poor people," she muttered softly.

"Oh, I forgot!" exclaimed Raleigh, looking up from his drawing. "You are the Little Sister of the district, the organist of the church, the directress of the Sunday-school, the presiding spirit in all charitable works, a 'ministering angel' where"——

"Mr. Raleigh," drawing herself up and fixing her large and expressive eyes full upon him, "let me ask of you, let me entreat you, if we are to be friends, and I trust we shall be friends, not to flatter me with compliments. I do dislike them so."

"Upon my word!" replied the other, smiling, "I didn't mean any harm; I only repeated what I had heard, and I heard nothing but what was good."

"You shouldn't believe anything you hear," retorted the young lady demurely;" and besides, I am quite sure you never heard me called an angel."

"Well, not exactly; but that is the conclusion I arrived at, after having had the pleasure"——

But Miss Seymour stopped him short with uplifted finger. "No more of this," she cried, "else I shall page 561run away from you." And then she burst forth into a merry peal of laughter.

Raleigh laughed too; then to change the conversation he related some of his own experiences, and he laid special stress on the dark side of them. According to his rather melancholy version, his past life had been a wretched failure, his prospects had been blighted, his former ardent faith in all that was fair and great in the world had long since vanished, and now he only sought for repose and oblivion. Miss Seymour expressed her surprise at such sentiments; she was a practically-minded young person, and she could not understand the secret of his despair.

"Disenchantment," he murmured, with downcast look, while still working away assiduously with his pencil.

"Disenchantment?" repeated the young lady musingly; "I hardly know what it means; perhaps it is because I never was enchanted."

"I began my career," he went on to say, "with some high aspirations, and I cherished a laudable ambition to achieve some distinction, either in literature or art, but failure and disappointment have dogged my steps, and I have lived to abandon all such hopes. A very modest competence will suffice for my wants and satisfy all my wishes now. I am page 562resigned to poverty and seclusion, and I shall be quite content if allowed to enjoy that humble lot in peace."

She turned to look full at him, with a critical but not unkindly eye. Assuredly the young artist by her side, with his slender but hardy figure, his pensive and amiable look, and the long brown locks which he brushed back with an impatient movement of the hand from his intelligent forehead, had nothing sourvisaged or splenetic about him. There was something almost comical in the contrast between the lugubrious language and that complacent countenance. At first she felt inclined to laugh; then after a few moments, having recovered her composure, she remarked quietly, "Why should you consider mediocrity contemptible, and hold your career a failure because at the first bound you did not outstrip all competitors? Surely there is a nobler purpose in men's lives than the selfish ambition to shine, or even to gain fame and fortune. Every one cannot be destined to command, and it is no disgrace to be an honest worker or to fight in the ranks."

"Of course," he replied, "we cannot all be foremost, and greatness is reserved for the favoured few; yet without the keen emulation and the prizes of the race, what is there in life worth striving for?"

"To be good," she answered, with a happy look.

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Raleigh paused in his drawing, and turned towards her with a pleasant smile. "You are right," he said; "I had forgotten that."

The sketch was soon finished, and was voted a great success. It was in truth a very pretty drawing, done with a free hand, but conveying in a few touches the sentiment of the landscape. Through a dark and tangled foreground it gave a glimpse of the sunny garden, and the house standing in shady seclusion, and with a soft and hazy outline of Mount Pleasance in the distance.

"Now," said Raleigh, "that I have filled a leaf in your album, I shall expect you to place some slight memento in mine."

"I would never think of such a thing as placing one of my daubs in such good company," cried Alice.

"Write me then some poetry—something of your own making preferred."

"I never composed a verse in my life, nor much prose either. Indeed, I hardly ever write at all, except in account books, unless it is when papa sets me, as a penance, to correspond with some old maiden aunt; and that is an infliction. I would sooner churn six pounds of butter."

"Some dried flowers, with an appropriate motto underneath, or even a bunch of seaweed, will do."

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"My sister does all that sort of fancy work, while I mend stockings."

"Well, then, write down something you know by heart."

Alice paused for a moment, as if in thought; then she looked up and said innocently, "I have a dreadful memory for everything but facts and figures, but I could give you a recipe for a pudding—such a nice one." Another laugh.

Then, as she noticed his look of annoyance, she rose up and went off into her father's library, returning with a musty old volume—a translation from the Spanish—under her arm. "I was reading this story by the great Cervantes, the other day," she said. "It is very romantic, full of high-flown sentiment, and not at all in my style, but I love the author, as a noble specimen of a man whom no adversity could daunt, and who remained contented and cheerful under the bitterest sufferings and neglect. He was no pessimist, sir." Then in a bold round hand, she copied out the following stanzas:—

'Let not thine efforts fail,
Even though hopeless seem
  The distant haven;
Nor once remit thy toil,
Nor ever slacken sail.
page 565 True love can never change,
  And only he,
Will prosp'rous be,
Who firm and true remains,
Nor ever seeks to range.'

"The sentiment is most appropriate, and I will take it to heart," remarked Raleigh seriously, as he folded up the album.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent very pleasantly, but, being Christmas, perhaps not as noisily as usual, for the Miss Seymours were a frolicsome pair, and when they got together at the piano they generally succeeded in making a considerable row, while their father was the last person in the world to check their merriment.

In order to avoid the chilly night air, which was injurious to the Doctor's delicate state of health, the two friends took their departure before dark, receiving from their host at parting the most cordial invitation to return, and at all times to consider his house as their home. His daughters declared that they should enjoy a stroll in the soft twilight, and they proposed to accompany their guests to the farthest gate of the plantation.

Mary and Valentine walked on in front, and judging from the girl's ringing peals of laughter one might page 566conclude that the Doctor was entertaining her with his irresistibly comic vein.

Alice and Raleigh followed leisurely, and the latter was in a more serious mood.

"I wish," he said, "that I had my friend's good spirits."

"And he, poor fellow," replied Alice, "might with more reason envy your good health. Men are never satisfied. For my part, I am delighted beyond measure."

"What at?" asked the other, rather dolefully.

"What at? Why, at having made your acquaintance, to be sure," and the young lady went off into one of her merry laughing fits.

"You appear to be very easily pleased," observed the philosopher dryly.

"Now, don't expect me to pay you any compliments," she went on merrily, "although it would only be paying you back in your own coin, but I mean it. We saw you for the first time a week ago, and this is your first visit here, and yet I feel as if we were quite old acquaintances already. I am sure we shall be friends, and I know that my father will dearly appreciate your society. He is a man of cultured taste and a most sociable disposition, nor does he ever complain, yet he cannot but feel the great want page 567of intellectual resources in this place. Your congenial company will be a great boon to us, so we shall hope to see you often—very often."

"Your father is a distinguished man, Miss Seymour; he has a mind stored with varied knowledge and observation, and I consider him delightful company. Nothing will give me greater happiness than to cultivate his friendship, but I must warn you not to expect any cheerful companionship from me."

"Why not, pray?"

"Because I am naturally reserved, morose, misanthropical."

"I thought," she replied archly, "that you were only—philosophical."

"I have tried to be, but I fear I have failed in that, as in most other things; for true philosophy would raise one above the paltry worries and vicissitudes of life, and render one equally independent of its pleasures."

"Indeed! Then I should be sorry to be a philosopher on these terms; and if I were you I should give it up and try something else."

"Can you suggest anything better?"

"Certainly; to enjoy in thankfulness the blessings which God has vouchsafed to us, and to make the most of them; to be resigned to the inevitable ills and trials of life, to do our duty, and to say our prayers."

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"And what is your theory of happiness?"

"I have no theories about anything, but I try to be happy in making others so."

"The sublime speculations and all the transcendental philosophy of Hegel could lead to no finer conclusion," remarked Raleigh gravely; "but it is not within every one's power to carry it into effect."

"Not the way you went about it, I admit," answered Alice, with a sympathetic smile; "to bury yourself in a wilderness, and eat your heart in solitude and wretchedness. Who could be happy under such circumstances? But now that you are settled amongst us you must turn over a new leaf."

"I am prepared," exclaimed the other good-humouredly, "to start a fresh volume, if I only knew how to begin. What would you have me do first?"

"Shall I tell you what I think?"

"Yes, do."

"And you won't be offended?"

"Certainly not."

"Well, then," said Alice in affected seriousness, but with a laughing expression in her eyes, "the first thing I should do, if I were you, would be to go—and have my hair cut!" And with that she went off into one of her merry peals, and the philosopher joined heartily in the laugh.

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By this time they had arrived at the gate, where they found their companions waiting for them.

"I have been advising Mr. Raleigh," exclaimed Alice, "to give up his high notions and æsthetic style, and just to fall into the common groove, and learn to think and act like an ordinary mortal."

"What a shame!" cried Mary. "Don't you do it sir. We have too many commonplace individuals already, and it is something to be original."

"I think Miss Seymour is right," said the Doctor, "I have always had a horror of dull conventionality; and yet I have come to the conclusion that it affords most happiness, and I am sure that it pays best. Raleigh, my child, we shall have to tame you down to the ordinary standard. You shall become a respectable member of the community, and be no longer Philosopher Dick."

The End.