dom! Teach Thou us,
O Master most divine,
To feel the deep significance
Of these wise words of Thine!

"The haughty eye shall seek in vain
What innocence beholds;
No cunning finds the key of heaven,
No strength its gate unfolds.

"Alone to guilelessness and love
That gate shall open fall;
The mind of pride is nothingness,
The childlike heart is all."

WHITTIER.

Six o'clock had chimed from the church tower, and already the sun's rays
were falling slantwise across the water, and tingeing the kingly heights
of Arran with a royal purple radiance.

On a bench, somewhat removed from the bustle and the hubbub, Major Dene
sat smoking and dreaming. He had come out a little while before to seek
the children, who, along with Perry, were enjoying the fresh sights and
novelties to the full. From where he lounged he could see them standing
on the fringe of a crowd that had rapidly collected on the road right in
front of one of the hotels.

It was not a safe stand for little people; not a fitting place for them
to be, either. Perry should have more sense and less curiosity, thought
Major Dene, as he sent the stump of his cigar hissing and sputtering
into the placid blue water at his feet, and rose to join the children
and accompany them home; for it was their tea-time, and going on quickly
for the dinner-hour at Westfield, the comfortable house where the family
from Firgrove had temporarily taken up their abode.

All this time the youngsters had been straining and tiptoeing to get a
glimpse at whatever was causing so much interest and excitement amongst
those of the pleasure-seekers who were fortunate enough to have a peep.
Just then the crowd swayed and split, so that through the opening they
had an uninterrupted view of the performers who had drawn about them so
many of the sightseers.

They numbered three--an ugly red-haired man, with coarse features and
squint eye, armed with a heavy-handled dog-whip; a tall, black-browed,
sad-faced woman; and a bear, big, brown, shaggy, and savage-looking.

For one long moment the children gazed at the group as if spellbound.
Then, with a ringing cry from Joan and a choking sob from Darby, they
instinctively clutched at each other's hands and fled in the direction
of the open ground beside the water, coming bang up against their father
just as he was sauntering slowly forward to join them.

"Dadd