hed Belle. 'But don't pine for the experience.
You will soon have enough of it. May I inquire when you expect to find
time for these exhilarating researches?'

Pauline laughed.

'Between the hours of five and eight A.M.'

'Horrible!'

She faced round upon her suddenly.

'I wonder what you think of us all? You are as demure as a fieldmouse,
but I know those big eyes of yours have taken our measures by this time.
Come, let us have it, "the whole truth," you know. Don't be Ananias and
keep back part of the price. "Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us, to
see oorsels as ithers see us." I delight in revelations. Show me myself,
Paul.'

Pauline hesitated for a moment, then she spoke out bravely.

'I love you all, dearly. You have been so kind! But, Belle, if I had
your opportunities, I would make more of my life.'

_Chapter V_

PAULINE'S BIRTHRIGHT

'Do you believe in altitudes?' It was Richard Everidge, Aunt Rutha's
favourite nephew, who asked the question of Pauline, as they sat on the
broad piazza after church waiting for lunch.

'How do you mean?'

'I mean that trilogy of exulting triumph over the trammels of
circumstance that Mr Dunn gave us this morning. Don't you remember?
"Life is what we make it--an anthem or a dirge, a psalm of hope or a
lamentation of despair." Do you believe any one can live in such a rare
atmosphere every day?'

'Of course she does,' and Belle laughed merrily. 'Anyone who has
courage to stroll through the Middle Ages with old Mr Hallam before
sunrise, must have plenty of altitude in her composition. It is my
belief she lives on Mount Shasta, in a moral sense, and I shouldn't be
surprised to hear of her taking out a building permit at the North Pole,
if she thought duty called her. But, Dick, how can you be such an
atrocious sceptic as to doubt the possibility of one's living above the
clouds when you know my lady!'

'Ah, but she is Tryphosa, the blessed.'

'Tryphosa!' echoed Pauline in a mystified tone.

'That is her name,' said Richard Everidge, with a tender reverence in
his voice, 'and she deserves it, for she is among the aristocracy of the
elect. I never see her without feeling envious, and yet she has been a
sufferer for years. I am amazed that Belle has let all this time pass
without taking you to call at the threshold of the Palace Beautiful.'

'There have been so many other things,' said Belle, 'tennis, you know,
and canoe practice and tandem parties.'

H