"In speaking of such a union as possible, my parents have shown their opinion of me. Good-night. I wish to be alone." "But did anything happen between you to set your father off so?" persisted Mrs. Mayhew. "Nothing unusual. I suppose father heard one of Mr. Sibley's compliments; and that was enough to disgust any sensible man. Good-night." "My gracious! You might as well turn me out of your room." "Mother, I wish to be alone," said Ida, passionately. "A pretty life I lead of it between you and your father," sobbed Mrs. Mayhew, retreating to her own apartment. "A hateful, wretched life we all three shall lead to the end of time, for aught that I can see," Ida groaned as she restlessly paced her room; "but I have no better resource than to follow father's example." She took an opiate, and so escaped from thought for a time in the deep lethargy it brought. Chapter XXV. Half-truths. A church bell was ringing in a neighboring village the following morning when Ida awoke. The sunlight streamed in at the open window through the half-closed blinds, flecking the floor with bars of light. Birds were singing in the trees without, and a southern breeze rustled through the foliage as a sweet low accompaniment. Surely it was a bright pleasant world on which her heavy eyes were opening. Poor child! she was fast learning now that the darkest clouds that shadow our paths are not the vapors that rise from the earth, but the thoughts and memories of an unhappy and a sinful heart. The sunlight mocked her; and her spirit was so out of tune that the sweet sounds of nature made jarring discord. But the church bell caught her attention. How natural and almost universal is the instinct which leads us when in trouble to seek the support of some Higher power. No matter how wayward the human child may have been, how hardened by years of wrong, or arrogantly entrenched in some phase of rational philosophy, when the darkness of danger or sorrow blots out the light of earthly hopes, or hides the path which was trodden so confidently, then, with the impulse of frightened children whom night has suddenly overtaken, there is a longing for the Father's hand and the Father's reassuring voice. If there is no God to love and help us, human nature is a lie.