maiden would be once more claimed by her own invisible people, and vanish from his side as suddenly as she had come! Alas, it was but too soon that she was now indeed to vanish, though for a season only, from his sight! And it was with a feeling of vague disquietude mingled with his pain that he parted from her some days after the confirmation, and sent her forth under the care of the gay-hearted Lady Rosamond and her trusty suite into the great world, which seemed very far away from the peaceful Gwynnon Valley. [1] The author has taken the liberty of spelling this name according to its sound as expressed by English spelling. CHAPTER XII. A GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD. "To have an ideal is in some sort to ennoble life. Nothing ... can be more dreary or more debasing than to drift through life without one."--KNOX-LITTLE. "And indeed He seems to me Scarce other than my own ideal knight, Who reverenced his conscience as his king; Whose glory was, redressing human wrong; Who spake no slander, no, nor listen'd to it; Who loved one only, and who clave to her." --TENNYSON. Long and dreary seemed the winter months to Jack the boatman in his lonely cottage by the river, with no bright young voice or light sound of bounding footsteps to break the stillness of the long hours--no sweet and loving companion to cheer his daily rambles when work was done, or to share the peaceful warmth and comfort of the fireside, when the dark days crept on apace, and the long evenings must needs be spent within doors. And scarcely less was the loss felt by the old vicar, who had so long been used to the merry voice and quick girlish tread which had been wont almost daily to wake the echoes in the long ghostly passages of the old Monastery Vicarage; and many a time, weary of the unaccustomed silence within his walls, did good old Master Rhys sally forth to seek the company of his friend the boatman, often meeting him half-way down the narrow road between Cwmfelin and the river, bound on the same errand, equally in need of consolation. The first letter sent by Primrose after her departure was hailed with great joy by her faithful guardian, and gave such proof of her happiness and enjoyment that he could but rejoice in her good fortune. She told him of her journey towards London in the care of the Lady Rosamond and the Black Horseman, and of the warm welcome given her on her arrival by the Lady Bryn Afon, and also by the earl himself, who had commended his wife to her care with many amusing sayings and pretty compliments. And she told of all the wonders of the great city--of the fine shops, where such beautiful attire as she had never dreamed of had been purchased for her; of the theatre, where the earl himself had more than once insisted on taking her, to see some of the renowned plays of the great Master Shakespeare; and of the Court, where she had, in spite