ue to one another.
I have often admired them for that."

Raby examined the blood-stained interior of the chest, and could not
help agreeing with the sagacious doctor.

"Yes," said he, sadly; "if we had been sharp, we might have caught the
blackguard. But I was in a hurry to leave the scene of sacrilege. Look
here; the tomb of a good knight defiled into an oven, and the pews
mutilated--and all for the base uses of trade." And in this strain he
continued for a long time so eloquently that, at last, he roused Grace
Carden's ire.

"Mr. Raby," said she, firmly, "please add to those base uses one more.
One dismal night, two poor creatures, a man and a woman, lost their
way in the snow; and, after many a hard struggle, the cold and the snow
overpowered them, and death was upon them. But, just at her last gasp,
the girl saw a light, and heard the tinkling of a hammer. She tottered
toward it; and it was a church. She just managed to strike the door with
her benumbed hands, and then fell insensible. When she came to herself,
gentle hands had laid her before two glorious fires in that cold tomb
there. Then the same gentle hands gave her food and wine, and words
of comfort, and did everything for her that brave men do for poor weak
suffering women. Yes, sir, it was my life he saved, and Mr. Coventry's
too; and I can't bear to hear a word against him, especially while I
stand looking at his poor forge, and his grates, that you abuse; but
I adore them, and bless them; and so would you, if they had saved
your life, as they did mine. You don't love me one bit; and it is very
cruel."

Raby stood astonished and silent. At last he said, in a very altered
tone, quite mild and deprecating, "Why did you not tell me this before?"

"Because he made us promise not. Would you have had me betray my
benefactor?"

"No. You are a brave girl, an honest girl. I love you more than a bit,
and, for your sake, I forgive him the whole thing. I will never call
it sacrilege again, since its effect was to save an angel's life. Come,
now, you have shown a proper spirit, and stood up for the absent, and
brought me to submission by your impetuosity, so don't spoil it all by
crying."

"No, I won't," said Grace, with a gulp. But her tears would not cease
all in a moment. She had evoked that tender scene, in which words and
tears of true and passionate love had rained upon her. They were an era
in her life; had swept forever out of her heart all the puny v