122

VIII.--HOW THEY LIVED ON THE CLOUD 126

IX.--THE SICK AND THE DEAD 136

X.--A LIGHT-GIVING WORD 141

XI.--THE LADY'S HUSBAND 149

XII.--THE MAIDEN INVENTED 155

XIII.--WHITE BIRDS; WHITE SNOW; WHITE THOUGHTS 166

XIV.--THE MARRIAGE SCENE 173

BOOK III.

I.--HOW WE HUNTED THE SEALS 183

II.--ONCE MORE THE VISION 188

III.--"LOVE, I SPEAK TO THY FACE" 193

IV.--HOPE BORN OF SPRING 201

V.--TO THE HIGHER COURT 208

VI.--"THE NIGHT IS DARK" 216

VII.--THE WILD WAVES WHIST 227

VIII.--"GOD'S IN HIS HEAVEN" 236

IX.--"GOD'S PUPPETS, BEST AND WORST" 249

X.--"DEATH SHRIVE THY SOUL!" 254

XI.--THE RIDDLE OF LIFE 263

XII.--TO CALL A SPIRIT FROM THE VASTY DEEP 271

XIII.--THE EVENING AND THE MORNING 283

THE MERMAID.

_BOOK I._

CHAPTER I.

THE BENT TWIG.

Caius Simpson was the only son of a farmer who lived on the north-west
coast of Prince Edward's Island. The farmer was very well-to-do, for he
was a hard-working man, and his land produced richly. The father was a
man of good understanding, and the son had been born with brains; there
were traditions of education in the family, hence the name Caius; it was
no plan of the elder man that his son should also be a farmer. The boy
was first sent to learn in what was called an "Academy," a school in the
largest town of the island. Caius loved his books, and became a youthful
scholar. In the summer he did light work on the farm; the work was of a
quiet, monotonous sort, for his parents were no friends to frivolity or
excitement.

Caius was strictly brought up. The method of his training was that which
relies for strength of character chiefly upon the absence of temptation.
The father was under the impression that he could, without any laborious
effort and consideration, draw a line between good and evil, and keep
his son on one side of it. He was not austere--but his view of
righteousness was derived from puritan tradition.

A boy, if kindly treated, usually begins early to approve the only
teaching o