mind, though not to Arthur's. The cousin was of course the only one to carry her. This he intimated by telling Arthur to bring her on, while he went to fetch the carriage. Directly he was gone, Lady Eda made less positive resistance; and yielding to her fate, was raised in the powerful arms of her cousin, who walked away with her as if he had been carrying a six-inch doll.

When they reached Mona, Lady Eda was immediately put to bed; and his lordship with the whole household were for the next three days in a state of uproar and excitement, such as the old castle rarely witnessed, except on occasions of mighty importance, like the present.

During the time Eda was kept a prisoner in her room, a general dullness pervaded the company down-stairs. Arthur and his friend daily went to the moors; but Pierce was, according to Arthur's account, anything but a keen shot. "He moved

about," said that young gentleman, “with his tail between his legs, for all the world like old Ponto when his hide is peppered for running in to a point."

CHAPTER II.

THE greatest consolation Pierce found, in the absence of the mistress of his heart, was in the society of Mr. Gregory. The benevolent intelligence of this old gentleman, the cheerfulness of his manner, which Pierce more than once suspected concealed some secret cause of melancholy, and his genuine sympathy, backed by experience and research, rendered him, in spite of the discrepancy of their ages, a valuable friend and an excellent counsellor. Without inquisitiveness, Mr. Gregory's manner inspired confidence. He listened with interest to the past history

of his young friend's life. Pierce confided to him the unsettled state of his mind upon subjects of religion, which, as we have before seen, had so perplexed him. He was surprised at the forbearance of the old man who so patiently heard his objections before attempting to refute them.

The fact was, Mr. Gregory perceived how the errors of More's scepticism originated partly from contact with minds whose conclusions had been based on false assumptions, and partly from an organization whose tendency was to rely too implicitly on the infallibility of its own reasoning powers. In order to contend successfully with such a case, Mr. Gregory knew the surest remedy was to be found in grappling with the cause of the evil itself. The errings of mere speculative reason were alone to be redirected by a truer induction and better reason.

As to metaphysical speculations, Mr. Gregory laboured to convince him, that “since

no depth of inquiry could ever reveal the smallest ray of light upon mysteries, placed by God beyond the range of the most exalted human intelligence-so the knowledge or ignorance of such mysteries in nowise affected the unalterable truths of religion, or the principles of moral rectitude. When finite powers attempted to fathom the designs of an an infinite Being, they were necessarily doomed to disappointment. Yet, since the limits of the reasoning faculties were undefined, man would ever speculate on the nature of that scheme, in which his destiny was involved. Questions apparently unanswerable forced themselves upon him; and such questions as not only mystify, but suggest doubts of the most painful character.

"The foremost of these, and which constituted the corner-stone, and stumbling-block of sceptical philosophy, had ever been-firstly, the existence of sin, and secondly, the punish