PHEMIE KELLER. A Novel. BY F. G. TRAFFORD, AUTHOR OF “GEORGE GEITH,” “CITY AND SUBURB,” “MAXWELL DREWITT,” “TOO MUCH ALONE,” “WORLD AND THE CHURCH,” “RACE FOR WEALTH.” IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1866. [_The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved._] LONDON: BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I.— AMONG THE HILLS 1 II.— TORDALE 21 III.— IN DANGER 35 IV.— PHEMIE 47 V.— A COMPACT 57 VI.— BY STRAMMER TARN 71 VII.— THE AGGLAND INTERIOR 90 VIII.— ALL THE DIFFERENCE 118 IX.— RETROSPECTIVE 147 X.— YES OR NO 175 XI.— SATISFIED 202 XII.— FOR LIFE 222 XIII.— DISAPPOINTED 242 XIV.— ON VIEW 259 XV.— FIVE YEARS LATER 284 PHEMIE KELLER. CHAPTER I. AMONG THE HILLS. He had been toiling under the noontide heat up the narrow defile which led from Grassenfel to Tordale. He had grown weary of the way, of the rough path, of the rugged scenery. He had looked to his right hand and to his left, and behold on the one side stormy Skillanscar met his view, whilst on the other the peaks of Helbeck rose towering to the summer sky. He had looked straightforward, and there were mountains still—mountains that seemed to hem him in, and make him a prisoner in their rocky fastnesses. Toiling onward, he had been thinking how long was the road; how great the distance; when all at once the path bore sharply round the base of a projecting rock, and brought him suddenly within view of Tordale Church. With the everlasting hills overshadowing it, with the murmuring waterfall singing ever and always beside it; the sweet melody to which so few came to listen—with the larches and the pines waving their branches gently over the grassy mounds in the graveyard, with the August sun pouring his beams down the mountains on the dancing rivulet, on the smooth velvety turf, Tordale Church stood on a little mound commanding a view of the valley, that broke like a revelation of beauty on the traveller.