is no hope for me."

"There is always hope for the truly penitent," replied Mrs. Sidney,
through her tears--"hope in a Saviour--hope in our Maker's mercy."

The dying man turned upon his pillow, for a few minutes he was silent,
though it is believed he joined in the fervent prayers which arose from
the lips of his mother and cousin; and let us hope, though tardy his
repentance, it was accepted. It was evident he was sinking fast, and
before sunrise he expired.

Almost his last words were, "William, yes, William will atone with the
money for the wrong I have done. Yet he does not seem so glad as I was
when I became a lord!"

It was all over, and William, the next heir, was indeed the lord of that
wide domain, and of his cousin's accumulated riches; but _his_ first act
was a fervent prayer for divine assistance. Knowing, as he did, that at
no time is it more needed than, as our Litany beautifully expresses it,
"in all time of our wealth."

That he did make amends for his cousin's avarice by a wise as well as
generous use of his wealth, my young readers will readily believe; and
William, Lord Sereton, was as much beloved as his cousin had been
disliked. And Mrs. Sidney, grieving as she did, notwithstanding his
faults, for the loss of her only child, found no small consolation in the
affection of that family, whom his death had raised from many cares to
rank and affluence.

THE TRIAL OF ADVERSITY.

"Blessed are the meek."--ST. MATTHEW v. 5.

"He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." ST. LUKE xviii. 14.

"You are quite a contradiction, that you are!" was the exclamation of
Harriet Mannering to her sister. And she continued, "You are not too
proud to wear a cotton dress and coarse straw bonnet, and even to be seen
in them by the very persons who knew us when we had a carriage; and yet
you will not accept these presents from Mrs. Somerton."

"I do not accept these fine clothes, Harriet," replied her sister Mary,
"because, however kind the gift, Mrs. Somerton only provides me with
them, that I might visit at her house in a suitable manner; and I do not
think it would be my duty to leave poor papa, even for one day, in his
present helpless state. You are the elder, Harriet, and must act for
yourself, but I have decided."

Mr. Mannering had been a wealthy merchant; but from one of those sudden
reverses of which we so often hear, he had lost his whole fortune. To
add to his affliction, his eyesi