he Lower Glen was a
poor place, meant for poor people.

Very different was the Upper Glen. It was beyond doubt a most
beautiful region, and as Edinburgh and Glasgow were only some fifty
miles away, in these days of motor-cars it was easy to drive there for
the good things of life. The Glen was sheltered from the worst storms
by vast mountains, and was in itself both broad and flat, with a great
inrush of fresh air, a mighty river, and three lakes of various sizes.
So beautiful was it, so delightful were its soft and yet at times keen
breezes, that it might have been called 'The Home of Health.' But no
one thought of giving the Glen this title, for the simple reason that
no one thought of health in the Glen; every one was enjoying that
blessed privilege to the utmost.

At the time when this story opens, two families lived in the Upper
Glen. There was a widowed lady, Mrs Constable, who resided at a lovely
home called The Paddock; and there was her brother, a widower, who
lived in a house equally beautiful, named The Garden.

The Hon. George Lennox had five young daughters, whom he called not by
their baptismal names, but by flower names. Mrs Constable, again,
called her five boys after precious stones.

The names of the girls were Jasmine, otherwise Lucy; Gentian, otherwise
Margaret; Hollyhock, whose baptismal name was Jacqueline; Rose of the
Garden, who was really Rose; and Delphinium, whose real name was
Dorothy.

The boys, sons of gentle Mrs Constable, were Jasper, otherwise John;
Sapphire, whose real name was Robert; Garnet, baptised Wallace; Opal,
whose name was Andrew; and Emerald, christened Ronald.

These happy children scarcely ever heard their baptismal names. The
flower names and the precious stones names clung to them until the day
when pretty Jasmine and manly Jasper were fifteen years of age. On
that day there came a very great change in the lives of the Flower
Girls and the Precious Stones. On that very day their real story
began. They little guessed it, for few of us do believe in sudden
changes in a very peaceful--perhaps too peaceful--life.

Nevertheless, a very great change was at hand, and the news which
heralded that tremendous change reached them on the evening of the
birthday of Jasmine and Jasper. It was the custom of these two most
united families to spend their evenings together--one evening at The
Garden, the Flower Girls' home, and the next at The Paddock, Mrs
Constable's hou