rely some remember hearing it long before that!"

"Nothing is more treacherous than a memory confronted with a general
belief," said the earl, and took his leave.

The next morning Arctura went to see the alteration. She opened the
door of the little room: it was twice its former size, and two bureaus
were standing against the wall! She peeped into the cupboard at the end
of it, but saw nothing there.

That same morning she made up her mind that she would go no farther at
present in regard to the chapel: it would be to break with her uncle!

In the evening, she acquainted Donal with her resolve, and he could not
say she was wrong. There was no necessity for opposing her uncle--there
might soon come one! He told her how he had entered the closet from
behind, and of the noise he had made the night before, which had
perhaps led to the opening of the place; but he did not tell her of
what he had found on the bureau. The time might come when he must do
so, but now he dared not render her relations with her uncle yet more
uncomfortable; neither was it likely such a woman would consent to
marry such a man as her cousin had shown himself; when that danger
appeared, it would be time to interpose; for the mere succession to an
empty title, he was not sure that he was bound to speak. The branch
which could produce such scions, might well be itself a false graft on
the true stem of the family!--if not, what was the family worth? He
must at all events be sure it was his business before he moved in the
matter!

CHAPTER LXVI.

PROGRESS AND CHANGE.

Things went on very quietly for a time. Arctura grew better, resumed
her studies, and made excellent progress. She would have worked harder,
but Donal would not let her. He hated forcing--even with the good will
of the plant itself. He believed in a holy, unhasting growth. God's
ways want God's time.

Long after, people would sometimes say to him--

"That is very well in the abstract; but in these days of hurry a young
fellow would that way be left ages behind!"

"With God," would Donal say.

"Tut, tut! the thing would never work!"

"For your ends," Donal would answer, "it certainly would never work;
but your ends are not those of the universe!"

"I do not pretend they are; but they are the success of the boy."

"That is one of the ends of the universe; and your reward will be to
thwart it for a season. I decline to make one in a conspiracy against
the design of our