has at length prevailed on him to resign all idea of again seeking the arduous charge of tutor, but, with that honest pride which I so much admire and esteem, he has refused all papa’s offers of advancement, only consenting to accept the living on Eugene’s estate, when Louis shall require his services no longer.  I trust the healthy air of Cornwall and the quiet of his parish will restore him to health, for the care which preserved that of Louis has, I fear, ruined his own.  He goes to London to-morrow to see Herbert; the society of your cousins cannot fail to do him good.  Louis joins the army in a few months, and then Mr. Myrvin will take possession of his living; but you will in all probability see them before, as Lord and Lady St. Eval have sent a pressing invitation for them to come down to Castle Terryn, and as soon as Mr. Myrvin returns from London, Louis intends doing so.  I want to hear Herbert’s opinion of his friend, as my dismal fancies concerning him may, after all, be only a woman’s fancy, yet looking ill he decidedly is.”

So wrote Lady Florence, and very soon Herbert and Percy’s letters home confirmed all she had said.  Either the air of Germany had not been congenial, or some other cause had so changed his outward appearance and tinged his manner, that Herbert could not look on him without pain; but the restless irritation, the haughty indifference which had been his before he left Oakwood, no longer existed.  There was a quiet dignity about him that prevented all intrusive sympathy, a mild, steady lustre in his dark grey eye, which so clearly said conscience was at peace, that Herbert instinctively felt the bonds of friendship stronger than they had ever been before; he was no longer anxious, for he felt assured the errors of Arthur’s former life were conquered, and he wrote to his father concerning his friend with all his native eloquence.

Emmeline made no observation; her young soul was absorbed in an intense feeling of thanksgiving, that her prayers had been heard.  Strength had been granted him, and he had done his duty; he was esteemed, beloved; his character was pure and bright; and if the gulf between them remained impassable, should she murmur, when all for which she had prayed had been vouchsafed her?  But a sterner call of obedience appeared about to hover over her, from which her young spirit shrunk back appalled.

Herbert’s anxious wishes were accomplished; there was no longer any barrier to his earnest prayers to become a servant of his God, and of service to his fellow-creatures.  The six years in which he had laboured unceasingly, untiringly, to prepare himself for the life which from his boyhood he had chosen, now appeared but as a passing dream, and as he knelt before the venerable bishop, his feelings became almost overpowering.  Tears rose in his eyes, and he drooped his head upon his hands to conceal them.  He felt this was no common life on which he entered, no mere profession, in which he would be at liberty to think and act as he pleased.  Herbert felt that he had vowed himself to do the work of God; that in it was comprised the good of his fellow-creatures.  The stern conquest of his own rebellious will; that his actions, not his language only, should uphold the glory of his Maker.