rushed into the burning building, groped through the stifling smoke
of the loft, and seizing the sleeping child, threw her out upon a
pile of straw. When he attempted to jump after her, a falling rafter
struck him to the earth, and left an honorable scar in attestation
of his heroism.

Had she yielded to the promptings of her heart, the stranger would
gladly have shaken hands with him, and thanked him, in the name of
those early years, when her mother's childish feet made music on the
wide mahogany railed stairs, that wound from the lower hall to the
one above; but the fear of being denied an audience, deterred her
from disclosing her name.

Educated in the belief that the utterance of the abhorred name of
Brentano, within the precincts of "Elm Bluff," would produce an
effect very similar to the ringing of some Tamil Pariah's bell,
before the door of a Brahman temple, Beryl wisely kept silent; and
soon forgot her forebodings, in the contemplation of the supreme
loveliness of the prospect before her.

The elevation was sufficient to command an extended view of the
surrounding country, and of the river, which crossed by the railroad
bridge north of the town, curved sharply to the east, whence she
could trace its course as it gradually wound southward, and
disappeared behind the house; where at the foot of a steep bluff, a
pretty boat and bath house nestled under ancient willow trees. At
her feet the foliage of the park stretched like some brilliant
carpet, before whose gorgeous tints, ustads of Karman would have
stood in despair; and beyond the sea-green, undulating line of pine
forest she saw the steeple of a church, with its gilt vane burning