'Homer's _Iliad_ and _Plato_,--I told mamma you were intense--Hallam's _Middle Ages_ and Macaulay's _History of England_. I had no idea you had monarchical tendencies. I must take you to our little chapel, and show you the communion service that belonged to Charles the Second, or perhaps it was one of the Georges, I'm not very clear on that point. My dear Paul, you're delicious! To think of anybody voluntarily undertaking to scrape acquaintance with all these dry-as-dust worthies, and in summertime!' 'It is not easy for you to understand how hungry I am,' said Pauline, with a tremor in her voice. 'You have been going to school all your life.' 'Unfortunately, yes!' sighed Belle. 'But don't pine for the experience. You will soon have enough of it. May I inquire when you expect to find time for these exhilarating researches?' Pauline laughed. 'Between the hours of five and eight A.M.' 'Horrible!' She faced round upon her suddenly. 'I wonder what you think of us all? You are as demure as a fieldmouse, but I know those big eyes of yours have taken our measures by this time. Come, let us have it, "the whole truth," you know. Don't be Ananias and keep back part of the price. "Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us, to see oorsels as ithers see us." I delight in revelations. Show me myself, Paul.' Pauline hesitated for a moment, then she spoke out bravely. 'I love you all, dearly. You have been so kind! But, Belle, if I had your opportunities, I would make more of my life.' _Chapter V_ PAULINE'S BIRTHRIGHT 'Do you believe in altitudes?' It was Richard Everidge, Aunt Rutha's favourite nephew, who asked the question of Pauline, as they sat on the broad piazza after church waiting for lunch. 'How do you mean?' 'I mean that trilogy of exulting triumph over the trammels of circumstance that Mr Dunn gave us this morning. Don't you remember? "Life is what we make it--an anthem or a dirge, a psalm of hope or a lamentation of despair." Do you believe any one can live in such a rare atmosphere every day?' 'Of course she does,' and Belle laughed merrily. 'Anyone who has courage to stroll through the Middle Ages with old Mr Hallam before sunrise, must have plenty of altitude in her composition. It is my belief she lives on Mount Shasta, in a moral sense, and I shouldn't be surprised to hear of her taking out a building permit at the North Pole, if she thought duty called her. But, Dick, how can you be such an atrocious sceptic as to doubt the possibility of one's living above the clouds when you know my lady!' 'Ah, but she is Tryphosa, the blessed.' 'Tryphosa!' echoed Pauline in a mystified tone.