ie, she will be
dreadfully late.'

"Margaret gave me a wistful smile.

"'The carriage is here already,' she answered, quietly, 'and Mrs.
Montague is waiting. Crystal is not going to the ball, Raby.'

"'Not going?' He turned and looked at me, our eyes met, and then he
understood.

"'Does not Margaret look lovely,' I asked in assumed carelessness,
when the hall door had closed, and he came back to the room.

"For answer he took me in his arms.

"'Not half so fair as my Esther,' he said, tenderly, 'though she is
not wearing her regal dress. I thank God,' and here his voice grew low
and solemn. 'I thank God, Crystal, that my darling has chosen the
better part that shall not be taken away from her.'"

CHAPTER XXV.

GO BACK TO RABY.

O calm grand eyes, extinguished in a storm,
Blown out like lights o'er melancholy seas,
Though shriek'd for by the shipwrecked.
O my dark!
My Cloud,--to go before me every day,
While I go ever toward the wilderness,
I would that you could see me bare to the soul.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

"Things went on very happily for a long time after this. The church at
Sandycliffe was finished; Raby gave up his curacy, and read himself
in; and then came the day when Margaret and I heard him preach.

"Shall I ever forget that day--it was Eastertide--and all that
belonged to it? the last unclouded Sunday that was ever to rise upon
me; the tiny flower-decked church already crowded with worshipers, the
memorial window that Raby and Margaret had put in, sacred to the
memory of their father, with its glorious colors reflected on the
pavement in stains of ruby and violet; and lastly, the grave beautiful
face of the young vicar as he looked round upon his little flock for
the first time, his eyes resting for a moment as though in silent
benediction on the vicarage seat.

"Were I to tell you what I thought of that sermon, you might think my
praise partial, but there were many there, Hugh Redmond among them,
who commented afterward on the eloquence and vivid power of the
preacher. Hugh Redmond had accompanied us to church, for he and
Margaret had been engaged some months, and they were always together.
He declared that that sermon had made a deep impression on him.

"Many were affected that day by Raby's deep searching eloquence, but
none more so than a lady who sat alone under the pulpit, and who drew