Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ST. ELMO BY AUGUSTA J. EVANS Author of "Beulah," "Macaria," "At the Mercy of Tiberius" "Infelice" Etc., Etc. "Ah! the true rule is--a true wife in her husband's house is his servant; it is in his heart that she is queen. Whatever of the best he can conceive, it is her part to be; whatever of the highest he can hope, it is hers to promise; all that is dark in him she must purge into purity, all that is failing in him she must strengthen into truth; from her, through all the world's clamor, he must win his praise; in her, through all the world's warfare, he must find his peace."--JOHN RUSKIN. TO J. C. DERBY, IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF MANY YEARS OF KIND AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIP, THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. "Ah! the true rule is--a true wife in her husband's house is his servant; it is in his heart that she is queen. Whatever of the best he can conceive, it is her part to be; whatever of the highest he can hope, it is hers to promise; all that is dark in him she must purge into purity; all that is failing in him she must strengthen into truth; from her, through all the world's clamor, he must win his praise; in her, through all the world's warfare, he must find his peace."--JOHN RUSKIN. ST. ELMO. CHAPTER I. "He stood and measured the earth: and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow." These words of the prophet upon Shigionoth were sung by a sweet, happy, childish voice, and to a strange, wild, anomalous tune--solemn as the Hebrew chant of Deborah, and fully as triumphant.