This great controversy, then, is not all through this pilgrimage of life as we are matter of regret. There was lurking in walking, with feet sore with travel, with a the minds of many people a vague belief heart oppressed by misapprehension. And that if records were ransacked much might when truth wanes moral activity declines be found that had assisted in producing the We have been forced, by rude shocks no teaching of the Lord; that He was far be- doubt, to look at His true human side yond all that was before Him, but that again. They say that M. Renan's book has much of His teaching was a natural growth, caused a great demand for copies of the the product of the age, its cultivation, Gospels in a country where these were not its inherited beliefs. Criticism has said its so accessible as they are to us. We may last word upon the subject, and the impres- do well to return to our Gospels, and know sion, brought to the proof, turns out to be in Christ the true human friend and guide, unfounded. The more exact the research leader, pattern. We should hear His disthe more remarkable the contrast between courses as new teaching, we should watch the riches of Christ, His precious doctrine Him tried with all kinds of hate and stupid and character, and the sheer bareness, lit- misunderstanding, we should stand very tleness, narrowness, of the Judæan culture out of which He came. Moreover, the true human nature of Christ was somewhat lost sight of in the Church. Gazing up into heaven upon the risen Lord, with the glory of eternity and of the Divine presence about His head, we have a little forgotten that our Master was one who walked

near the cross. If suffering is human, if love and pity are human, then His sacred history is intensely human. Nevertheless, when we turn the last page and let our honest conviction speak, we shall find the human has revealed to us the divine, Truly this man was the Son of God.'

AMERICAN COLONY IN PALESTINE. The Telegraph notices the curious fact that the ship Hetty Helen, from New York, brought over to Jaffa a whole assorted cargo of Yankee emigrants, who, of all places in the world, had pitched upon the plains of Sharon for a settlement. There is really something very odd and striking in this importation of the newest people into one of the most ancient localities and populations of history. A greater contrast than that between New York and Jaffa could not be found in all the world. Everybody knows what the American city is; that of Syria is a gray Arab town perched upon a little hill, with no harbor, no life, no bustle, nothing to care about, nothing to take up the attention Save coffee and pipes, and the occasional swindling of Nazarene dogs who land there on the way to Jerusalem. Jaffa sits blinking in the sun atop of its hillock, with the Mediterranean waves fussing into froth against its tumble-down quay, just as if it were dreaming of the antique times, when it was, in the language of these new visitors, 'quite a place. For only to remember what Jaffa used to be makes these Yankees, as Jaffaists would say, 'sons of yesterday.'

"Let no one, however, doubt that these 'cute New Englanders know what they are doing. Jaffa is of little account for business, beauty. or anything else except melons and ancient history; but outside and behind the city lies a plain unsurpassed for richness. It is the plain of

Sharon, whose roses blossom and shed fragrance
through the religious literature of half the
world, and which boast the very finest orange
and lemon gardens in all the earth.
The soil
that can produce such fruit ought, with Yankee
culture, to do almost anything; and, indeed, the
plain of Sharon never wanted much more than
water, and a little scratching with the crooked
stick called the Syrian plough, to produce what-
ever is wanted. Our Transatlantic friends
always had a sharp eye for 'water privileges'
and almighty fine locations'; but what a
scent they must have had for them to find out
this fat and likely place from the other side of
the globe! Doubtless, they will 'prospect' the
country, now they are there; and should they
go north to the plain of Esdraelon, under the
hills of Nazareth, they will see a still more pro-
mising site for enterprising Yankees, if they
can only manage the Bedouins and bribe the
Turks. The fattest and richest corn ground in
the world, flat as a billiard table, and close to
the sea, is to be found by the hundreds of thou-
sands of acres; but it is untilled, and yields only
the mandrake, the great Syrian thistle, and the
Palestine lilies, for the Turks have no power
or will to keep Arabs from turning their mares
into the barley of the peasants when it comes up.
The Yankee and the roses of Sharon or the
lilies of Jezreel come oddly enough together;
but we should not grudge the contrast if it could
do something for sad and fair Syria. — Pall
Mall Gazette.

PART XI. -CHAPTER XLI.

protectedness, with only Aunt Agatha to stand between her and the world, while she still had a husband in the world, between whom and herself there stood no deadly shame nor fatal obstacle, and whose presence would shield her from all such intrusions as that she had just suffered from. He had sinned against her, but that a woman can forgive and she had not sinned against him, not to such an extent as is unpardonable in a woman. Perhaps there might even be something in the fact that Winnie had found Kirtell and quiet not the medicine suited to her mind, and that even Mary's flight into the world had brought a tingling into her wings, a longing to mount into freer air, and rush back to her fate. Thus a host of contradictory feelings joined in one great flame of excitement, which rose higher and higher all through the night. To fly forth upon him, and controvert his wicked plans, and save the sister who was being sacrificed for her sake; and yet to take possession of

her shield and buckler against the world; and at the same time to get out and break lose from this flowery cage, and rush back into the big world, where there would be air and space to move in such were Winnie's thoughts. In the morning, when she came down-stairs, which was an hour earlier than usual, to Aunt Agatha's great amazement, she wore her travelling dress, and had an air of life and movement in her, which startled Miss Seton, and which, since her return to Kirtell, had never been seen in Winnie's looks before.

WHEN Mary went away, she left the two ladies at the Cottage in a singular excitement and perplexity. They were tingling with the blows which they had themselves received, and yet at the same time they were hushed and put to shame, as it were, for any secondary pang they might be feeling, by the look in Mrs. Ochterlony's face, and by her sudden departure. Aunt Agatha, who knew of few mysteries in life, and thought that where neither sickness nor death was, nor any despairs of blighted love or disappointed hope, there could not be anything very serious to suffer, would have got over it, and set it down as one of Mary's ways, had she been by herself. But Winnie was not so easily satisfied; her mind was possessed by the thought, in which no doubt there was a considerable mingling of vanity, that her husband would strike her through her friends. It seemed as if he had done so now; Win-him back again, and set him up before her, nie did not know precisely what it was that Percival knew about her sister, but only that it was something discreditable, something that would bring Mary down from her pinnacle of honour and purity. And now he had done it, and driven Mrs. Ochterlony to despair; but what was it about Will? Or was Will a mere pretence on the part of the outraged and terrified woman to get away? Something she had known for years! This was the thought which had chiefly moved Winnie, going to her heart. She herself had lived a stormy life; she had done a great many things which she ought not to have done; she had never been absolutely wicked or false, nor forfeited her reputation; but she knew in her heart that her life had not been a fair and spotless life; and when she thought of its strivings, and impatience, and self-will, and bitter discontent, and of the serene course of existence which her sister had led in the quietness, her heart smote her. Perhaps it was for her sake that this blow, which Mary had known of for years, had at last descended upon her head. All the years of her own stormy career her sister had been living in Kirtell, "Oh, my darling, you were always so doing no harm, doing good, serving God, generous," cried Aunt Agatha, in amaze; bringing up her children, covering her sins," but you must not do it. She might say if she had sinned, with repentance and good things to you, or you might meet people". deeds; and yet for Winnie's sake, for her petulance, and fury, and hotheadedness, the angel (or was it the demon ?) had lifted his fiery sword and driven Mary out of Paradise. All this moved Winnie strangely; and along with these were other thoughts - Aunt Agatha was struck dumb. Terror thoughts of her own strange miserable un-seized her, as she looked at the kindling

"It is very kind of you to come down. Winnie, my darling, when you knew I was alone," said Aunt Agatha, giving her a tender embrace.

"I don't think it is kind in me," said Winnie; and then she sat down, and took her sister's office upon her, to Miss Seton's still greater bewilderment, and made the tea, without quite knowing what she was doing. "I suppose Mary has been travelling all night," she said; "I am going in to Carlisle, Aunt Agatha, to that woman, to know what it is all about."

"If I did meet people, I hope I know how to take care of myself," said Winnie; and that flush came to her face, and that light to her eye, like the neigh of the war-horse when he hears the sound of battle.

"I?" said Winnie. There was scorn in the tone, and yet what was chiefly in it was a bitter affectation of humility. "It will be time enough to fear my going, when any one wants me to go."

Miss Seton was a simple woman, and yet she saw that there lay more meaning under these words than the plain meaning they bore. She clasped her hands, and lifted her appealing eyes to Winnie's face and she was about to speak, to question, to remonstrate, to importune, when her companion suddenly seized her hands tight, and silenced her by the sight of an emotion more earnest and violent than anything Aunt Agatha knew.

"Don't speak to me," she said, with her eyes blazing, and clasped the soft old hands in hers till she hurt them. "Don't speak to me; I don't know what I am going to do but don't talk to me, don't look at me, Aunt Agatha. Perhaps my life—and Mary'smay be fixed to-day."

cheeks and rapid gesture, and saw the Win- herself, she who had been shielded from nie of old, all impatient and triumphant, every stranger's eye; and yet there was a dawning out from under the cloud. sense of freedom in it freedom, and dan"Oh, Winnie, you are not going away," ger, and exhilaration, which was sweet to she cried, with a thrill of presentiment. Winnie. She went rushing in to Carlisle Mary has gone, and they have all gone. in the express train, flying as it were on the You are not going to leave me all by myself wings of the wind. But Mrs. Kirkman was here?" not at home. She was either working in her district, or she was teaching in the infant school, or giving out work to the poor women, or perhaps at the mothers' meeting, which she always said was the most precious opportunity of all; or possibly she might be making calls. which, however, was an hypothesis which her maid rejected as unworthy of her. Mrs. Percival found herself brought to a sudden standstill when she heard this. The sole audible motive which she had proposed to herself for her expedi tion was to see Mrs. Kirkman, and for the moment she did not know what to do. After a while, however, she turned and went slowly yet eagerly in another direction. She concluded she would go to the Askells, who might know something about it. They were Percival's friends; they might be in the secret of his plans - they might convey to him the echo of her indignation and disdain; possibly even he might himself- But Winnie would not let herself consider that thought. Captain Askell's house was not Oh, Winnie, I don't understand you," the same cold and neglected place where cried Aunt Agatha, trembling, and freeing Mary had first seen Emma after their repoor little crushed soft hands. turn. They had a little more money "And I don't understand myself," said and that was something; and Nelly was Winnie. "Don't let us say a word more." older-which was a great deal more; but What did it mean, that flush in her face, even Nelly could not altogether abrogate that thrill of purpose and meaning in her the character which her mother gave to her words, and her step, and her whole figure? house. The maid who opened the door had -and what had Mary to do with it? and bright ribbons in her cap, but yet was a how could their fate be fixed one way or sloven, half-suppressed; and the carpets on other? Aunt Agatha asked herself these the stair were badly fitted and threatened questions vainly, and could make nothing of here and there to entangle the unwary foot. them. But after breakfast she went to her And there were a bewildering multiplicity room and said her prayers which was the of sounds in the house. You could hear the best thing to do; and in that moment Win-maids in the kitchen, and the children in the nie, poor Winnie, whose prayers were few though her wants were countless, took a rose from the trellis, and pinned it in with her brooch, and went softly away. I don't know what connection there was between the rose and Aunt Agatha's prayers, but somehow the faint perfume softened the wild, agitated, stormy heart, and suggested to it that sacrifice was being made and supplications offered somewhere for its sins and struggles. Thus, when his sons and daughters went out to their toils and pleasures, Job drew near the altar lest some of them might curse God in their hearts.

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her

It was strange to see her sallying forth by

-

nursery — and even as Winnie approached the drawing-room she could hear voices thrilling with an excitement which did not become that calm retreat. There was a sound as of a sob, and there was a broken voice a little loud in its accents. Winnie went on with a quicker throb of her heart

perhaps he himself- But when the door opened it was upon a scene she had not thought of. Mrs. Kirkman was there, seated high as on a throne, looking with a sad but touching resignation upon the disturbed household. And it was Emma who was sobbing-sobbing and crying out, and launching a furious little soft incapable

clenched band into the air-while Nelly, all glowing red, eyes lit up with indignation, soft lips quivering with distress, stood by, with a gaze of horror and fury and disgust fixed on the visitor's face. Winnie went in, and they all stopped short and stared at her, as if she had dropped from the skies. Her appearance startled and dismayed them, and yet it was evidently in perfect accordance with the spirit of the scene. She could see that at the first glance. She saw they were already discussing this event, whatever it might be. Therefore Winnie did not hesitate. She offered no ordinary civilities herself, nor required any. She went straight up to where Mrs. Kirkman sat, not looking at the others. "I have come to ask you what it means," she said; and Winnie felt that they all stopped and gave way to her as to one who had a right to know.

right and eager before Mrs. Kirkman's chair. It was not from incivility that they offered her no place among them. No one thought of it, and neither did she. The conflict around her had sobered Winnie's thoughts. There was no trace of her husband in it, nor of that striking her through her friends which had excited and exhilarated her mind; but the family instinct of mutual defence awoke in her. "My sister has heard something which has which has had a singular effect upon her," said Winnie, pausing instinctively, as if she had been about to betray something. "And it is you who have done it; I want to know what it means."

"Oh, she must be ill!" wailed poor Emma; "I knew she would be ill. If she dies it will be your fault. Oh, let me get up and go to her. I knew she must be ill."

"That is what I am asking," cried Emma, As for Mrs. Kirkman, she shook her head "what does it mean? We have all known and her long curls, and looked compassionit for ages, and none of us said a word. ately upon her agitated audience. And And she that sets up for being a Christian! then Winnie heard all the long-hoarded As if there was no honour left in the regi- well-remembered tale. The only difference ment, and as if we were to talk of every-made in it was that by this time all confithing that happens! Ask her, Mrs. Perci- dence in the Gretna Green marriage, which val. I don't believe half nor a quarter what had once been allowed, at least as a matter they say of any one. When they dare to of courtesy, had faded out of the story. raise up a scandal about Madonna Mary, Even Mrs. Askell no longer thought of that. none of us are safe. And a thing that we When the charm of something to tell began have all known for a hundred years!" to work, the Captain's wife chimed in with the narrative of her superior officer. All the circumstances of that long-past event were revealed to the wonder-stricken hearers. Mary's distress, and Major Ochterlony's anxiety, and the consultations he had with everybody, and the wonderful indulgence and goodness of the ladies at the station, who never made any difference, and all their benevolent hopes that so uncomfortable an incident was buried in the past, and could now have no painful results;all this was told to Winnie in detail; and in the confidential committee thus formed, her own possible deficiencies and shortcomings were all passed over. "Nothing would have induced me to say a syllable on the subject if you had not been dear Mary's sister," Mrs. Kirkman said; and then she relieved her mind and told it all.

"Oh mamma!" said Nelly, softly under her breath. The child knew everything about everybody, as was to have been expected; every sort of tale had been told in her presence. But what moved her to shame was her mother's share. It was a murmured compunction, a vicarious acknowledgment of sin. "Oh mamma!"

"It is not I that am saying it," cried Emma, again resuming her sob. "I would have been torn to pieces first. Me to harm her that was always a jewel! Oh, ask her, ask her! What is going to come of it, and what does it mean?"

"My dear, perhaps Nelly had better retire before we speak of it any more," said Mrs. Kirkman, meekly. "I am not one that thinks it right to encourage delusions in the youthful mind, but still, if there is much more to be said".

Winnie, for her part, sat dumb and lisAnd then it was Nelly's turn to speak. tened. She was more than struck dumb "You have talked about everything in the she was stupefied by the news. She had world without sending me away," cried the thought that Mary might have been "foolgirl, "till I wondered and wondered you ish," as she herself had been "foolish; did not die of shame. But I'll stay now. even that Mary might have gone further, One is safe," said Nelly, with a little cry of and compromised herself; but of a dishonindignation and youthful rage, "when you our which involved such consequences she so much as name Mrs. Ochterlony's name." had never dreamed. She sat and heard it All this time Winnie was standing up-all in a bewildered horror, with the faces of

Hugh and Will floating like spectres before | blood rushed into her faded cheek, and her eyes. A woman gone astray from her light came to her eyes. She could not duty as a wife was not, Heaven help her! speak at first, so overwhelming was the tide so extraordinary an object in poor Winnie's of energy and new life that seemed to pour eyes but, good heavens! Mary's marriage, into her veins. After all, she had been a Mary's boys, the very foundation and begin- true prophet. It was all for her sake. He ning of her life! The room went round had struck at her through her friends, and and round with her as she sat and listened. she could not be angry with him. It was a A public trial, a great talk in the papers, way like another of showing love, a way one brother against another, and Mary, hard upon other people, no doubt, but carMary, the chief figure in all! Winnie put rying a certain poignant sweetness to her her hands up to her ears, not to shut out the for whose sake the blow had fallen. But sound of this incredible story, but to deaden Winnie knew she was in the presence of the noises in her head, the throbbing of all keen observers, and put restraint upon herher pulses, and stringing of all her nerves. self. She was so stupefied that she could make no sort of stand against it, no opposition to the evidence, which, indeed, was crushing, and left no opening for unbelief. She accepted it all, or rather was carried away by the bewildering, overwhelming tide. And even Emma Askell got excited, and woke up out of her crying and added her contribution of details. Poor little Nelly, who had heard it all before, had retired to a corner and taken up her work, and might be seen in the distance working furiously, with a hot flush on her cheek, and now and then wiping a furtive tear from her eye. Nelly did not know what to say nor how to meet it - but there was in her little woman's soul a conviction that something unknown must lie behind, and that the inference at least was not true.

"And you told Will?" said Winnie, rousing up at last. "You knew all the horrible harm it might do, and you told Will." "It was not I who told him," said Mrs. Kirkman; and then there was a pause, and the two ladies looked at each other, and a soft, almost imperceptible flutter, visible only to a female eye, revealed that there might be something else to say.

"Who told him?" said Winnie, perceiving the indications, and feeling her heart thrill and beat high once more.

are aware that

"Where is Major Percival to be found?” she said, with a measured voice, which she thought concealed her excitement, but which was overdone, and made it visible. They thought she was meditating something desperate when she spoke in that unnatural voice, and drew her shawl round her in that rigid way. She might have been going to stab him, the bystanders thought, or do him some grievous harm.

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"You would not go to him for that?" said Emma, with a little anxiety, stopping short at once in her tears and in her talk. They never will let you talk to them about what they have done; and then they always say you take part with your own friends."

Mrs. Kirkman, too, showed a sudden change of interest, and turned to the new subject with zeal and zest: "If you are really seeking a reconciliation with your husband". - she began; but this was more than Winnie could bear.

"I asked where Major Percival was to be found," she said; "I was not discussing my own affairs; but Nelly will tell me. If that is all about Mary, I will go away."

"I will go with you," cried Emma; "only wait till I get my things. I knew she would be ill; and she must not think that we are going to forsake her now. As if it could make any difference to us that have known it for ever so long! Only wait till I get my things."

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"I am very sorry to say anything, I am sure, to make it worse," said Mrs. Kirkman. "It was not I who told him. I suppose you that Major Percival is Poor Mary! she is not in a state of here. He was present at the marriage as mind to be benefited by any visit," said well as I. I wonder he never told you. It Mrs. Kirkman, solemnly. "If it were not was he who told Will. He only came to get for that, I would go." the explanations from me."

They thought she would very probably faint, or make some demonstration of distress, not knowing that this was what poor Winnie had been waiting, almost hoping for; and, on the contrary, it seemed to put new force into her, and a kind of beauty, at which her companions gazed aghast. The

As for Winnie, she was trembling with impatience, eager to be free and to be gone, and yet not content to go until she had left a sting behind her, like a true woman. "How you all talk!" she cried; "as if your making any difference could matter. You can set it going, but all you can do will never stop it. Mary has gone to Will,