the people--the Cannings,
Huskissons, Peels."

"Would you enter parliament? Sir Herbert asked me to-day if you ever
intended it. He said there was nothing you might not attain to if you
would give yourself up entirely to politics."

"No, Guy, no. Wisdom, like charity, begins at home. Let me learn to
rule in my own valley, among my own people, before I attempt to guide
the state. And that brings me back again to the pros and cons about
Beechwood Hall."

"Tell them, John; tell all out plainly to the children."

The reasons were--first, the advantage of the boys themselves; for John
Halifax was not one of those philanthropists who would benefit all the
world except their own household and their own kin. He wished--since
the higher a man rises, the wider and nobler grows his sphere of
usefulness--not only to lift himself, but his sons after him; lift them
high enough to help on the ever-advancing tide of human improvement,
among their own people first, and thence extending outward in the world
whithersoever their talents or circumstances might call them.

"I understand," cried the eldest son, his eyes sparkling; "you want to
found a family. And so it shall be--we will settle at Beechwood Hall;
all coming generations shall live to the honour and glory of your
name--our name--"

"My boy, there is only one Name to whose honour we should all live. One
Name 'in whom all the generations of the earth are blessed.' In thus
far only do I wish to 'found a family,' as you call it, that our light
may shine before men--that we may be a city set on a hill--that we may
say plainly unto all that ask us, 'For me and my house, we will serve
the Lord.'"

It was not often that John Halifax spoke thus; adopting solemnly the
literal language of the Book--his and our life's guide, no word of
which was ever used lightly in our family. We all listened, as in his
earnestness he rose, and, standing upright in the firelight, spoke on.

"I believe, with His blessing, that one may 'serve the Lord' as well in
wealth as in poverty, in a great house as in a cottage like this. I am
not doubtful, even though my possessions are increased. I am not
afraid of being a rich man. Nor a great man neither, if I were called
to such a destiny."

"It may be--who knows?" said Ursula, softly.

John caught his wife's eyes, and smiled.

"Love, you were a true prophet once, with a certain 'Yes, you will,'
but now--Children, you know when I married