ted the old man's garrulity, but receiving no reply, he finally
retreated, leaving the front door open. By the aid of a disfiguring
scar on his furrowed cheek, Beryl recognized him as the brave,
faithful, family coachman, Abednego, (abbreviated to "Bedney")--who had
once saved his mother's life at the risk of his own. Mrs. Brentano had
often related to her children, an episode in her childhood, when having
gone to play with her dolls in the loft of the stable, she fell asleep
on the hay; and two hours later, Bedney remembering that he had heard
her singing there to her dolls, rushed into the burning building,
groped through the stifling smoke of the loft, and seizing the sleeping
child, threw her out upon a pile of straw. When he attempted to jump
after her, a falling rafter struck him to the earth, and left an
honorable scar in attestation of his heroism.

Had she yielded to the promptings of her heart, the stranger would
gladly have shaken hands with him, and thanked him, in the name of
those early years, when her mother's childish feet made music on the
wide mahogany railed stairs, that wound from the lower hall to the one
above; but the fear of being denied an audience, deterred her from
disclosing her name.

Educated in the belief that the utterance of the abhorred name of
Brentano, within the precincts of "Elm Bluff," would produce an effect
very similar to the ringing of some Tamil Pariah's bell, before the
door of a Brahman temple, Beryl wisely kept silent; and soon forgot her
forebodings, in the contemplation of the supreme loveliness of the
prospect before her.

The elevation was sufficient to command an extended view of the
surrounding country, and of the river, which crossed by the railroad
bridge north of the town, curved sharply to the east, whence she could
trace its course as it gradually wound southward, and disappeared
behind the house; where at the foot of a steep bluff, a pretty boat and
bath house nestled under ancient willow trees. At her feet the foliage
of the park stretched like some brilliant carpet, before whose gorgeous
tints, ustads of Karman would have stood in despair; and beyond the
sea-green, undulating line of pine forest she saw the steeple of a
church, with its gilt vane burning in the sunshine, and the red brick
dome of the ante bellum court house.

Time seemed to have fallen asleep on that hot, still afternoon, and
Beryl was roused from her reverie by the sound of hearty laughte