me; and told me not to fear, for that He
would compass me about; and taught me my
message: and now, Father, dear Father, you
will meet mother in Heaven, won't you—and
not be separate for ever and ever? " She
clung to my knees, and pleaded once more in
her mother's words. I took her up in my
arms, and turned homewards.
" Is yon man there, on the kitchen floor?"
asked I.
" Yes! " she answered. At any rate, my
vengeance was not out of my power yet.
When we got home I passed him, dead asleep!

In our room, to which my child guided me,
was Nelly. She sat up in bed, a most
unusual attitude for her, and one of which I
thought she had been incapable of attaining
to without help. She had her hands clasped,
and her face rapt, as if in prayer; and when
she saw me, she lay back with a sweet
ineffable smile. She could not speak at first;
but when I came near, she took my hand, and
kissed it, and then she called Grace to her,
and made her take off her cloak and her wet
things, and, dressed in her short scanty
nightgown, she slipped in to her mother's warm
side, and all this time my Nelly never told
me why she summoned me; it seemed enough
that she should hold my hand, and feel that I
was there. I believed she had read my
heart; and yet I durst not speak to ask her.
At last she looked up. " My husband," said
she, " God has saved you and me from a great
sorrow this night." I would not understand,
and I felt her look die away into
disappointment.
" That poor wanderer in the house-place is
Richard Jackson, is it not ?"
I made no answer. Her face grew white
and wan.
"Oh," said she, "this is hard to bear.
Speak what is in your mind, I beg of you. I
will not thwart you harshly; dearest John,
only speak to me."
" Why need I speak? You seem to know
all."
" I do know that his is a voice I can never
forget; and I do know the awful prayers you
have prayed; and I know how I have lain
awake, to pray that your words might never
be heard; and I am a powerless cripple. I
put my cause in God's hands. You shall not
do the man any harm. What you have it
in your thoughts to do I cannot tell. But I
know that you can not do it. My eyes are
dim with a strange mist, but some voice tells
me that you will forgive even Richard Jackson.
Dear husband dearest John, it is so
dark, I cannot see you; but speak once
to me."

I moved the candle but when I saw her
face, I saw what was drawing the mist over
those loving eyes—how strange and woeful
that she could die! Her little girl lying by
her side looked in my face, and then at
her; and the wild knowledge of death shot
through her young heart, and she screamed
aloud.

Nelly opened her eyes once more. They
fell upon the gaunt, sorrow-worn man who
was the cause of all. He roused him from
his sleep, at that child's piercing cry, and
stood at the door-way looking in. He knew
Nelly, and understood where the storm had
driven him to shelter. He came towards her:

"Oh, woman—dying woman—you have
haunted me in the loneliness of the Bush far
away—you have been in my dreams for ever
—the hunting of men has not been so terrible
as the hunting of your Spirit,—that stone—
that stone! "—he fell down by her bedside in
an agony—above which her saint-like face
looked on us all, for the last time, glorious
with the coming light of heaven. She spoke
once again:—

"It was a moment of passion—I never
bore you malice for it. I forgive you—and so
does John, I trust."

Could I keep my purpose there? It faded
into nothing. But above my choking tears,
I strove to speak clear and distinct, for her
dying ear to hear, and her sinking heart to be
gladdened.
" I forgive you, Richard; I will befriend
you in your trouble."
She could not see; but instead of the dim
shadow of death stealing over her face, a
quiet light came over it, which we knew was
the look of a soul at rest.

That night I listened to his tale for her
sake; and I learnt that it is better to be
sinned against than to sin. In the storm of
the night mine enemy came to me; in the
calm of the grey morning I let him forth, and
bade him " God speed." And a woe had
come upon me, but the burning burden of a
sinful, angry heart was taken off. I am old
now, and my daughter is married. I try to
go about preaching and teaching in my rough,
rude way; and what I teach is how Christ
lived and died, and what was Nelly's faith of
love.

THE CHORDS OF LOVE.

The heart's best treasures lie in secret mines,
As precious gems of earth are buried deepest;
The basest metal on the surface shines,
And quick-moved feelings are least worth and
cheapest.

The chords of love cannot be swept by all;
Some strike them rudely, and the sound is
hollow;
Whilst, if a gentler touch upon them fall,
The sweetest music will as surely follow.

A low-breathed whisper may ignite the spark
That lies concealed in the bosom's keeping,
And kindle brightness where all once was dark,
Wakening affection which before was sleeping.

How sweet to know that when our bodies die,
And with the damp cold earth are slowly blending,
Embalm'd in Memory's sacred depths they lie,
Cherish'd by Love unspeakable, unending.