iginally
composed to the words, "When I was a bachelor fine and brave:"--

"Harold, the minstrel, was blithe and young;
Many and strange were the lays he sung;
But Harold neither had gold nor fee--
His wealth was his harp o' the forest tree;
And little he reck'd, as he troll'd his lay--
'Clouds come over the brightest day.'

"On him young Ella, the maiden, smiled;
Never were notes like his wood-notes wild,
Till the baron's broad lands and glittering store
Dazzled her eye, and her love was o'er;
Gold hushed the praise of the minstrel lay--
'Clouds come over the brightest day.'

"From the old church-tower the joy bells rung,
Flowering wreaths were before her flung;
Youth was gay, but the aged sighed--
'She had better been the minstrel's bride;
And Harold wept as he troll'd his lay--
'Clouds come over the brightest day.'

"Years have fled, and the moonbeams fall
On the roofless towers of the baron's hall;
The owl hath built in the chapel aisle,
And the bat in the silent campanile,
And the whispering ivy seems to say--
'Clouds come over the brightest day.'

"Years have fled, and that soft light shines
On a quiet cot where the woodbine twines.
A lonely heart, in a distant clime,
On that sweet cot thinks, and the warning rhyme,
Treasures of earth will fade away--
'Clouds come over the brightest day.'"

The next morning the sea was calm enough for to make it safe for the
visitors to cross over, and they prepared to leave the island-home in
which they had been so kindly and hospitably entertained. They did so
with some reluctance, being sorry to lose the friends whom they had
found. The parting was especially hard to Grace, who had been living
in a new world during the last two days; but Miss Dudley comforted her,
by expressing a hope that they would meet again.

"Will you come and stay with us, Grace, before we leave Tynemouth," she
asked. "I should like to do so very much," said Grace, "if father and
mother will consent."

"I will get the permission of Mr. and Mrs. Darling before I go,"
replied Miss Dudley.

She did so; and though the anticipations of the girls were not to be
realised, the hope made the parting more easy than it would otherwise
have been.

Mrs. Darling and Grace both went down to the beach to see the last of
their friends, and it was not until after many loving farewells, that
Miss Dudley could break away.

The two young