among those who stood beside the
elder woman, and Dr. Nesbit answered it. Strength--the power that came
from a habit of forty years of dominating situations--came to him and he
stepped to his wife's side. The two stood together, facing the younger
pair. The Doctor spoke, not as an arbiter, but as an advocate:

"Laura, your mother has her right to be considered here. All three of
you; Kenyon himself, and you and Lila--she has reared. She has made you
all what you are. Her wishes must be regarded now." Mrs. Nesbit rose
while the Doctor was speaking. He took her hand as was his wont and
turned to her, saying: "Mother, how will this do: Let's do nothing now,
not to-day at any rate. You must all adjust yourselves to the facts that
reveal this new relation before you can make an honest decision. When we
have done that, let Laura and her mother tell Lila the truth, and let
each tell the child exactly how she feels; and then, if you can bring
yourself to it, leave it to her; if she will wait for a time until she
understands her grandmother's point of view--very well. If not--"

"If not, mother, Lila's decision must stand." This came from Laura, who
stepped over and kissed her mother's hand. The father looked tenderly at
his daughter and shook his head as he answered softly: "If not--no, I
shall stand with mother--she has her right--the realest right of all!"

And so it came to pass that the course of true love in the hearts of
Lila Van Dorn and Kenyon Adams had its first sharp turning. And all the
world was overclouded for two souls. But they were only two souls and
the world is full of light. And the light falls upon men and women
without much respect for class or station, for good deeds or bad deeds,
for the weak or for the strong, for saints or sinners. For know well,
truly beloved, that chance and circumstance fall out of the great
machine of life upon us, hodge podge and helter skelter; good is not
rewarded by prizes from the wheel of fortune nor bad punished by its
calamities. Only as our hearts react on life, do we get happiness or
misery, not from the events that follow the procession of the days.

Now for a moment let us peep through the clouds that lowered over the
young souls aforesaid. Clouds in youth are vastly black; but they are
never thick. And peering through those clouds, one may see the lovers,
groping in the umbrage. It does not matter much to us, and far less does
it matter to them how they have made thei