hers and gave her a lump of sugar. Then putting
her foot into Harold's ready hand she sprang lightly into the saddle.
Harold swung himself into his saddle with the dexterity of an
accomplished rider.

As the two rode up the road, keeping on the shady side under the trees,
Stephen said quietly, half to herself, as if the sentence had impressed
itself on her mind:

'To be God and able to do things!'

Harold rode on in silence. The chill of some vague fear was upon him.

CHAPTER I--STEPHEN

Stephen Norman of Normanstand had remained a bachelor until close on
middle age, when the fact took hold of him that there was no immediate
heir to his great estate. Whereupon, with his wonted decision, he set
about looking for a wife.

He had been a close friend of his next neighbour, Squire Rowly, ever
since their college days. They had, of course, been often in each
other's houses, and Rowly's young sister--almost a generation younger
than himself, and the sole fruit of his father's second marriage--had
been like a little sister to him too. She had, in the twenty years which
had elapsed, grown to be a sweet and beautiful young woman. In all the
past years, with the constant opportunity which friendship gave of close
companionship, the feeling never altered. Squire Norman would have been
surprised had he been asked to describe Margaret Rowly and found himself
compelled to present the picture of a woman, not a child.

Now, however, when his thoughts went womanward and wifeward, he awoke to
the fact that Margaret came within the category of those he sought. His
usual decision ran its course. Semi-brotherly feeling gave place to a
stronger and perhaps more selfish feeling. Before he even knew it, he
was head over ears in love with his pretty neighbour.

Norman was a fine man, stalwart and handsome; his forty years sat so
lightly on him that his age never seemed to come into question in a
woman's mind. Margaret had always liked him and trusted him; he was the
big brother who had no duty in the way of scolding to do. His presence
had always been a gladness; and the sex of the girl, first unconsciously
then consciously, answered to the man's overtures, and her consent was
soon obtained.

When in the fulness of time it was known that an heir was expected,
Squire Norman took for granted that the child would be a boy, and held
the idea so tenaciously that his wife, who loved him deeply, gave up
warning and remon