occasion, it fairly thumped. He had excited himself, as well as his
listener; and the inconsiderate manner in which both had yielded up their
energies to these enticing images of wealth, contributed largely to
increase the evil. At length, exhaustion came to put an end to the scene,
which was getting to be dramatic as well as revolting.

So conscious was the deacon, on returning home that evening, that his mind
was not in such a condition as it behoved him to keep it in on the Lord's
Day, that he was afraid to encounter the placid eye of his devout and
single-minded niece. Instead of joining her, and uniting in the services
that were customary at that hour, he walked in the adjoining orchard until
near nine o'clock. Mammon was uppermost in the place of the Deity, and
habit offered too strong a barrier to permit him to bring, as it were, the
false god openly into the presence of the true.




Chapter IV.



"Oh! mourn not for them, their grief is o'er,
Oh! weep not for them, they weep no more;
For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillow may be in the old kirk-yard."

Bayly.