sinner, but pitied him; in short, that He felt toward me as my mother felt toward me, to whose eyes my wrong-doing brought tears, who never pressed me so close to her as when I had done wrong, and who would fain with her yearning heart lift me out of trouble.’ And the change was as beautiful as sudden. All earth seemed fresher to Wentworth, the sun more bright, the earth more green, the flowers more fair, the songs of birds more musical, and life infinitely more great and grand. How hard and distasteful seemed his old idea of religion! how cold and dry and apart from ordinary life and daily duty! A mere matter of words, a performance to be carried on on Sunday, and chiefly by unpleasant men and women who held that the world was a waste, howling wilderness given over to the devil, and that heaven was only for the elect, as they deemed themselves to be. They said God would set aside the laws of nature—the laws He had made—and work miracles on their behalf; that they would prosper and become fat if they made a profession of religion. It was their intense selfishness which alienated him. Hell-fire was the lot of the sinners, and they became religious, not that they had the least idea of a God of mercy and love, but that they might not be sent to hell. Their religion was a kind of fire-escape, that was all. He hated such blasphemy and such selfishness. When they sang, ‘Lord, what a wretched land this is That yields us no supplies!’ or, ‘My thoughts on awful subjects roll, Damnation and the soul;’ or, ‘Lord, we’re a garden walled around, Planted and made peculiar ground,’ he was alike distressed and shocked. Once upon a time an old divine met Dr. Doddridge, of pious memory, as he was going to preach. ‘I wish for you the presence of God in the chapel,’ said the good doctor in his unctuous style. ‘My dear doctor,’ said the old divine, ‘we have always the presence of God everywhere.’ That was the feeling that came at length to Wentworth—that God is everywhere present with us as a Father and a Friend. It was that that filled his heart with joy. It was enough for him that he was there to pity and succour and bless. It was in a similar spirit that the actress had learned to realize the Divine presence and power. And once more they are under the stars as he sees her to her comfortable home, where an aged mother with a bright smile awaits her coming. That walk of theirs under the stars had been the turning-point of their lives. It was the girl trembling and sorrowful by his side who had helped to recall him to his better self. She had achieved success, and so had he. Outcasts as they were in the eyes of the Church, they were children crying, and not in vain, for the light. * * * * * END OF VOL. I * * * * * * * * * * BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.