Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the servants to alight. Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand. A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and impulsive. "Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper. "In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered. Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were. "Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This man is your father now, and he will be very good to you." It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes and answered: "I cannot call him father." "You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile. "Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother. Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire flashing in his eyes, answered: "Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!" "You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was trouble in the near future. CHAPTER IX. THE MOVING WORLD. If we could look down the long vista of ages, And witness the changes of time, Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages A key to this vision sublime; We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight, And all its magnificence trace, Give honor to man for his genius and might, And glory to God for his grace. --PAXTON.