guilty of the folly of leaving home. If, instead of doing his duty
by them, he comes mooning after me here, when he knows it is of
no use, I shall lose my respect for him utterly." There seemed so
much downright common-sense in this view of the affair that even
Belle found no words in reply. Her reason took Mildred's part, but
her warm little heart led her to shake her head ominously at her
sister, and then sleepily she sought the rest her long, tiresome
day required.




CHAPTER XX

SEVERAL QUIET FORCES AT WORK.


Precipitous ascents and descents do not constitute the greater part
of life's journey. In the experience of very many they occur more
or less frequently, but they conduct to long intervals where the
way is comparatively level, although it may be flinty, rough, and
hedged with thorns. More often the upward trend or the decline of
our paths is so slight as not to be noticed as we pass on, but at
the end of years we can know well whether we are gaining or losing.

The Jocelyns, in common with thousands of others, had made a swift
descent from a position of comparative affluence to one of real,
though not repulsive, poverty. There was nothing, however, in their
fall that cast a shadow upon them in the eyes of the world except
as the unfortunate are always "under a cloud" to the common herd