d
blackbird fill the woods with melody--through many flowering pastures,
where cattle browse and lambkins skip on the sunny braes. Wild-fowl
breed on its reedy lochs, and moor-fowl dwell on its heather hills. Its
waters teem with the spotted trout and the royal salmon. Temperate
breezes fan its cheeks, and beauty, in form and colour, revels
everywhere. Its sons are lovers of their native land, and its daughters
are wondrous fair."

"And yet it would seem," said Bertha, "that not one is fair enough for
you?"

"Nay, Bertha, thy speech is hardly fair. The heart cannot command its
affection," said Hake, with a smile, "but I regret it not."

"And where does Emma dwell?" asked Bertha.

"Beside my father, near the shores of Forth, not far from a noted town
and castle that stand on the summit of a rocky ridge. It is named after
Edwin, a Northumbrian king. A sweet romantic spot--my own dear native
town. Beside it stands a mountain, which, those who have travelled in
far southern lands tell us, bears some resemblance to a couching lion.
But I never saw a lion, and know not what truth there is in that."

"You almost make me wish to see that land," said Bertha, with a sigh.

"I would you might see it and that it were my fortune to show it to
you."

"That is not likely," said Bertha, with a little laugh.

"I know not. The most unlikely things happen, and often those that seem
most likely do not come to pass. What more unlikely than that Karlsefin
should forsake the religion of his fathers? Yet Karlsefin is now a
Christian."

"Do you know, Hake, much about the nature of this new religion that has
come amongst us, and made so many people change?" asked Bertha, with
sudden earnestness.

"To say truth I don't know much about it. Only this do I know, that
Karlsefin says the foundation of it is God and man united in Jesus
Christ, and that the guiding principle of it is _love_. If so, it must
be a sweet religion, and, as far as Karlsefin is concerned, it seems
both good and true; but there are some of its professors whom I know
whose guiding star is self--not love--which goes rather against it,
methinks."

"You do not reason well, Hake; that is against the professors, not
against the religion."

"True; but this religion is said to change those who profess it--what if
they are not changed?"

"Why, then, they are _false_ professors," said Bertha, with a smile.

"It may be so; I know not. But if you would have