gave back
a trumpet note of defiance, and was himself defied from heathery brows
which quivered far away above, half seen through the veil of eastern
mist. And close at home, upon the terrace before the house, amid romping
spaniels and golden-haired children, sat Lady Grenville herself, the
beautiful St. Leger of Annery, the central jewel of all that glorious
place, and looked down at her noble children, and then up at her more
noble husband, and round at that broad paradise of the West, till life
seemed too full of happiness, and heaven of light.

And all the while up and down paced Amyas and Sir Richard, talking long,
earnestly, and slow; for they both knew that the turning point of the
boy's life was come.

"Yes," said Sir Richard, after Amyas, in his blunt simple way, had told
him the whole story about Rose Salterne and his brother,--"yes, sweet
lad, thou hast chosen the better part, thou and thy brother also, and it
shall not be taken from you. Only be strong, lad, and trust in God that
He will make a man of you."

"I do trust," said Amyas.

"Thank God," said Sir Richard, "that you have yourself taken from my
heart that which was my great anxiety for you, from the day that your
good father, who sleeps in peace, committed you to my hands. For all
best things, Amyas, become, when misused, the very worst; and the love
of woman, because it is able to lift man's soul to the heavens, is also
able to drag him down to hell. But you have learnt better, Amyas; and
know, with our old German forefathers, that, as Tacitus saith, Sera
juvenum Venus, ideoque inexhausta pubertas. And not only that, Amyas;
but trust me, that silly fashion of the French and Italians, to be
hanging ever at some woman's apron string, so that no boy shall count
himself a man unless he can vagghezziare le donne, whether maids or
wives, alas! matters little; that fashion, I say, is little less hurtful
to the soul than open sin; for by it are bred vanity and expense, envy
and heart-burning, yea, hatred and murder often; and even if that be
escaped, yet the rich treasure of a manly worship, which should be kept
for one alone, is squandered and parted upon many, and the bride at last
comes in for nothing but the very last leavings and caput mortuum of
her bridegroom's heart, and becomes a mere ornament for his table, and
a means whereby he may obtain a progeny. May God, who has saved me from
that death in life, save you also!" And as he spoke, he looke