Mary's promise to him. But it is always hard to feel in the evening that
our day's work has been unsuccessful, and that resignation, and not
success, must make the best of the hours remaining.

As he mused the storm, which had threatened all the afternoon, broke. The
swash and patter of the rain against the windows, and the moaning of the
trees on the lawn, made a dreary accompaniment to his melancholy musings.
It grew chill, and a footman entered, put a match to the laid fuel, and
lighted the gas. Then John Campbell made an effort to shake off the
influence which oppressed him. He laid down the ivory paper knife, which
he had been turning mechanically in his fingers, rose, and went to the
window. How dark it was! The dripping outlook made him shiver, and he
turned back to the slowly burning fire. But solitude and inaction became
unbearable. "Regretting never mended wrong; if I cannot get the best, I
can try for the second best. And perhaps the lad is not beyond reasoning
with." Then he rose, and with a decided air and step went straight to
Allan's room.



CHAPTER VII

MAGGIE.


"O, Love! let this my lady's picture glow
Under my hand to praise her name, and show
Even of her inner self a perfect whole
That he who seeks her beauty's furthest goal,
Beyond the light that the sweet glances throw