notably a dead mother who was French, and therefore responsible
for any later naughtiness in Golly,--but they have no purpose here.
They lived in the Isle of Man. Golly knew a good deal of Man, for
even at the age of twelve she was in love with John Gale--only son
of Lord Gale, who was connected with the Tempests. Gales, however,
were frequent and remarkable along the coast, so that it was not
singular that one day she found John "coming on" on a headland
where she was sitting. His dog had "pointed" her. "It's
exceedingly impolite to point to anything you want," said Golly.
Touched by this, and overcome by a strange emotion, John Gale
turned away and went to Canada. Slight as the incident was, it
showed that inborn chivalry to women, that desire for the Perfect
Life, that intense eagerness to incarnate Christianity in modern
society, which afterward distinguished him. Golly loved him! For
all that, she still remained a "tomboy" as she was,--robbing
orchards, mimicking tramps and policemen, buttering the stairs and
the steps of houses, tying kettles to dogs' tails, and marching in
a white jersey, with the curate's hat on, through the streets of
the village. "Gol dern my skin!" said the dear old clergyman, as
he tried to emerge from a surplice which Golly had stitched
together; "what spirits the child DO have!" Yet everybody loved
her! And when John Gale returned from Canada, and looked into her
big blue eyes one day at church, small wonder that he immediately
went off again to Paris, and an extended Continental sojourn, with
a serious leaning to theology! Golly bore his absence meekly but
characteristically; got a boat, disported like a duck in the water,
attempted to elope with a boy appropriately named Drake, but
encountered a half gale at sea and a whole Gale in John on a yacht,
who rescued them both. Convinced now that there was but one way to
escape from his Fate--Golly!--John Gale took holy orders and at