back to a country home, with which, as the haughty Evelyn Verne
said, "you could associate hayseed." But did that fact lesson the
reputation of this gifted scholar?

Nay; the sons of the soil are in reality the "lords of creation."
They have the first and highest calling, and ere the proud beauty
had passed through all the ordeals of life, she hastily repented of
the bitter and sarcastic words.




CHAPTER VII.

ADVERSITY.

As our legal friend occupies a prominent part in our story we will
endeavor to give such explanation as will enable the reader to form
a true estimate of his character.

Phillip Lawson was indeed the son of a farmer--a man who had, by
honest industry and untiring perseverance, made a comfortable home
for his family in one of the frontier settlements of Carleton
County--that truly agricultural locality where nature has done so
much to assist the sons of toil--that county where the crops are
almost spontaneous, and where none need be ill off, unless through
misfortune or mismanagement.

"The Lawson farm" was the abode of comfort and happiness. Thrift
greeted the eye on every side--from the well-filled barns to the