character of one who was full of good impulses--who erred through
ignorance, and who wished to be led and helped to better things--she
was nearer the truth, and could act her part more successfully.

But what could Frank Hemstead, coming from a home in which he
had breathed the very atmosphere of truth and purity, know of all
this? To him Lottie was the most beautiful creature he had ever
seen, and in his crystal integrity he would have deemed it a foul
insult to her to doubt that she was just what she seemed. To his
straightforward nature, believing a woman the opposite of what she
seemed was like saying to her, "Madam, you are a liar."

The world would be better if women did more to preserve this
chivalric trust.

"Past praying for!" His creed taught him to pray for all the world,
and already a subtile, unrecognized impulse of his heart led him
to plead before the Divine Father for one who seemed, in outward
grace, already fitted for heavenly surroundings.

When a block of unusually perfect marble falls under the eye of
a true sculptor, he is conscious of a strong impulse to bring out
the exquisite statue that is distinctly visible to his mind. Hemstead
was an enthusiast in the highest form of art and human effort, and
was developing, as the ruling motive of his life, a passion for
moulding the more enduring material of character into moral symmetry
and loveliness. Humanity in its most forbidding guise interested
him, for his heart was warm and large and overflowed with a great
pity for the victims of evil. In this respect he was like his
Master, who had "compassion on the multitude." His anticipation