op never suffered merit to
pass unrecognised; and for talent and industry, no body of rectors could
be compared to those whom Bishop Morris had chosen from the most
deserving of the curates who were under his pastoral care.

Mr Home, after five years' hard work, had been promoted by the bishop
to a small living, where he soon succeeded in winning the warmest
affection of all his parishioners, and among others, of his squire and
church-warden, the Earl of Raynes, who, from a feeling of sincere
gratitude, procured for him, on the first opportunity, the rectory of
Ildown.

Here, at the age of thirty, he settled down, with every intention of
making it his home for life; and here he shortly after wooed and won the
daughter of a neighbouring clergyman, whose only dower was the beauty of
a countenance which but dimly reflected the inner beauty of her heart.

Very tranquil was their wedded life; very perfect was the peacefulness
of their home. Under her hands the rectory garden became a
many-coloured Eden, and the eye could rest delightedly on its lawns and
flower-beds, even amid that glorious environment of woods and cliffs,
free moors and open sea, which gave to the vicinity of Ildown such a
nameless charm. But the beauty without was surpassed by the rarer
sunshine of the life within and when children were born to them--when
little steps began to patter along the hall, and young faces to shine
beside the fire, and little strains of silvery laughter to ring through
every room--there was a happiness in that bright family, for the sake of
which an emperor might have been content to abdicate his throne. Oh
that the river of human life could flow on for ever with such sparkling
waters, and its margin be embroidered for ever with flowers like these.

Julian was their eldest son, and it added to the intensity of each
parent's love for him to find that he seemed to have inherited the best
qualities of them both. Their next child was Violet, and then, after
two years' interval, came Cyril and Frank. The four children were
educated at home, without even the assistance of tutor or governess,
until Julian was thirteen years old; and during all that time scarcely
one domestic sorrow occurred to chequer the unclouded serenity of their
peace. Even without the esteem and respect of all their neighbours,
rich and poor, the love of parents and children, brothers and sister,
was enough for each heart there.

But the day of separation