her God's will in forbidden places, than lost the
clue to them for one moment in hankering after the powers of darkness.
Those days are long past; a future lies before thee. Think not of
witches or of being subject to the power of witchcraft. I did evil to
speak of it before thee. Let Lois come and sit by thee, and talk to
thee.'

Lois went to her cousin, grieved at heart for his depressed state of
mind, anxious to soothe and comfort him, and yet recoiling more than
ever from the idea of ultimately becoming his wife--an idea to which
she saw her aunt reconciling herself unconsciously day by day, as she
perceived the English girl's power of soothing and comforting her
cousin, even by the very tones of her sweet cooing voice.

He took Lois's hand.

'Let me hold it. It does me good,' said he. 'Ah, Lois, when I am by you
I forget all my troubles--will the day never come when you will listen
to the voice that speaks to me continually?'

'I never hear it, Cousin Manasseh,' she said, softly; 'but do not think
of the voices. Tell me of the land you hope to enclose from the
forest--what manner of trees grow on it?'

Thus, by simple questions on practical affairs, she led him back, in
her unconscious wisdom, to the subjects on which he had always shown
strong practical sense. He talked on these with all due discretion till
the hour for family prayer came round, which was early in those days.
It was Manasseh's place to conduct it, as head of the family; a post
which his mother had always been anxious to assign to him since her
husband's death. He prayed extempore; and to-night his supplications
wandered off into wild, unconnected fragments of prayer, which all
those kneeling around began, each according to her anxiety for the
speaker, to think would never end. Minutes elapsed, and grew to
quarters of an hour, and his words only became more emphatic and
wilder, praying for himself alone, and laying bare the recesses of his
heart. At length his mother rose, and took Lois by the hand, for she
had faith in Lois's power over her son, as being akin to that which the
shepherd David, playing on his harp, had over king Saul sitting on his
throne. She drew her towards him, where he knelt facing into the
circle, with his eyes upturned, and the tranced agony of his face
depicting the struggle of the troubled soul within.

'Here is Lois,' said Grace, almost tenderly; 'she would fain go to her
chamber.' (Down the girl's face the tears we