The Wedding-Ring_ 3

_Messengers at the Window_ 25

_The Countersign of the Cradle_ 43

_The Key of the Tower_ 67

_The Ripening of the Fruit_ 73

_The King's Jewel_ 80

_The Music-Lover_ 87

_Humoreske_ 103

_An Old Game_ 139

_The Unruly Sprite_ 144

_A Change of Air_ 156

_The Night Call_ 167

_The Effectual Fervent Prayer_ 203

_The Return of the Charm_ 235

_Beggars Under the Bush_ 249

_Stronghold_ 257

_In the Odour of Sanctity_ 266

_The Sad Shepherd_ 287

_The Mansion_ 325

ILLUSTRATIONS

_It did people good to buy of her_ _Frontispiece_
_From a drawing by Charles S. Chapman._

Facing page

_The King's Jewel_ 82
_From a drawing by Garth Jones._

_The Music-Lover_ 90
_From a drawing by Sigismond de Ivanowski._

_The Unruly Sprite_ 154
_From a drawing by Garth Jones._

_She flung herself across his knees and put her
arms around him_ 230
_From a drawing by Paul Julien Meylan._

_Stronghold_ 258
_From a drawing by Garth Jones._

_So the sad shepherd thanked them for their
entertainment_ 314
_From a drawing by Blendon Campbell._

_Title-page, head and end pieces by Garth Jones_

THE WEDDING-RING

Before Toinette Girard made up her mind to marry Prosper Leclere,--you
remember the man at Abbeville who had such a brave heart that he was
not willing to fight with an old friend,--before Toinette perceived
and understood how brave Prosper was, it seemed as if she were very
much in doubt whether she did not love some one else more than she
loved him, whether he and she really were made for each other,
whether, in short, she cared for him enough to give herself entirely
to him.

But after they had been married six weeks there was no doubt left in
her mind. He was the one man in the world for her. He satisfied