OTHO’S REVENGE 277 XXV. IN THE ANTE-ROOM 287 XXVI. HER HEART’S DESIRE 296 XXVII. RECRIMINATION 306 XXVIII. AT THE MILLS 316 XXIX. A FALSE STEP IN GOOD FAITH 327 XXX. SERMON, BY A SINNER 343 XXXI. BRASS POTS AND EARTHENWARE PIPKINS 359 XXXII. FIRST ALARM 375 XXXIII. BROKEN OFF 383 XXXIV. HOW CRACKPOT WAS SCRATCHED 391 XXXV. ‘CARELESSE CONTENTE’ 400 XXXVI. THE SHADOW 409 XXXVII. THE RETURN 418 XXXVIII. ADA 432 XXXIX. THE BROTHERS 440 XL. ‘AMIDST THE BLAZE OF NOON’ 449 XLI. ‘LET ME ALONE’ 460 XLII. HOW ADA SOLVED HER PROBLEM 465 XLIII. MAGDALEN. IN VALEDICTION 474 BORDERLAND IN CHILDHOOD One summer, which in point of date now lies many years behind us, four boys used to play together, and to quarrel and make it up again with one another—to live together through the long, golden days, that vivid, eager life peculiar to children, in a curious, old-fashioned garden on the bank of the river Tees, and on the Durham side of that stream. The garden belonged to a great house, not very old, though it was the abode of an old family, solemn, not to say gloomy, in its dulness and stateliness of appearance, and standing out in rather sombre contrast to the woods which were behind it, and the terraces which sloped down from its front to the river-side. The name of the house was Thorsgarth; many a spot hereabouts bore some name reminiscent of long-past Danish occupation and Scandinavian paganism. It was a characteristic giving a peculiar flavour to the language and nomenclature of the whole country-side, and one, too, which has been sweetly sung by at least one of our English poets. With this fact, these four particular boys were probably unacquainted, and it is more than probable that if they had known all about it they would have cared less than nothing for the circumstance. What could it matter to them that, a little farther down the stream, that sweet spot where they loved to wade in the shallows, and not far from which noisy Greta came tumbling and laughing into the arms of sedater Tees—where the numerous wasps’ nests were to be found under the bank, to destroy which nests they had gone through such