thus:

EXCEPT THE LORD BUILD THE HOUSE THEY
LABOR IN VAIN THAT BUILD IT

The idea of such a decoration doubtless originated with the desire of
some pious Presbyterian ancestor of the present owners to emphasize the
fact that the ancient builders had not made pure Gospel teaching their
sure foundation. But, by the irony of fate, the text had become a
striking commentary upon the fortunes of later possessors of sacrilegious
spoils; for it was a tradition--upon which the family kept a discreet
silence--that three male heirs in direct succession had never lived to
inherit the property. At the very time of which I am writing, Colonel
Ashol's only son was suffering from what doctors had pronounced to be
incipient spinal disease, which, should it develop, would render him a
helpless cripple for life--should life be granted to him.

I was rather more keen than usual about that particular visit, as I
expected to meet a young Catholic priest, who was to stay with the Ashols
for a day or two in company with his mother, an old friend of the
hostess. For that reason Val would have accompanied me that evening, in
spite of his aversion to such "inanities," as he chose to call dinner
parties, had he not been otherwise engaged. He had already made an
appointment to interview for the first time a girl who lived some
distance away and could not be easily postponed; moreover, the occasion
was important, being the commencement of a series of instructions
preparatory to her reception into the Church. For the lassie in
question--to use the terminology of Ardmuirland--"had gotten a Catholic
man"; in other words, was engaged to be married to a Catholic, who had
inspired her with the desire of sharing his faith as well as his worldly