Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. [Illustration: Helen and her class in Sabbath School.] THE BREACH OF TRUST; OR, THE _Professor and Possessor of Piety._ BY [Madeline Leslie] "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." "Ye shall know them by their fruits." [Illustration] BOSTON D LOTHROP COMPANY Entered for the Author according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by ANDREW F. GRAVES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CONTENTS. ———— CHAPTER I. THE PROFESSOR OF RELIGION CHAPTER II. THE POSSESSOR OF PIETY CHAPTER III. RETROSPECTION CHAPTER IV. THE BROTHER AND SISTER CHAPTER V. HELEN'S SECRET CHAPTER VI. THE PASTOR'S STUDY CHAPTER VII. THE FEIGNED AND THE REAL CHAPTER VIII. THE SUBSCRIPTION PAPER CHAPTER IX. THE PROFESSOR'S DEFEAT CHAPTER X. THE REVELATION CHAPTER XI. THE GUARDIAN AND HIS WARD CHAPTER XII. A NARROW ESCAPE CHAPTER XIII. SYBIL'S VISITS CHAPTER XIV. THE YOUNG MISSIONARY CHAPTER XV. EXPLANATIONS CHAPTER XVI. A DISCOVERY CHAPTER XVII. THE DELICATE TITBIT CHAPTER XVIII. MR. TRACY'S SANCTUM CHAPTER XIX. MORRISVILLE CHAPTER XX. THE ANONYMOUS GIFT CHAPTER XXI. THE FRENCH CHATEAU CHAPTER XXII. THE CRASH AT LAST CHAPTER XXIII. THE BRIDAL PAIR CHAPTER XXIV. MONSON P. TRACY CHAPTER XXV. DEATH OF A POSSESSOR CHAPTER XXVI. END OF THE MERE PROFESSOR Breach of Trust. —————— CHAPTER I. THE PROFESSOR OF RELIGION. MONSON P. TRACY was a self-made man, and he had perfect confidence in himself. His own opinions, and his own judgment, were the only laws to which he succumbed. Those who honestly differed from him, he pronounced bigoted, self-willed. And where the difference referred to personal subjects, he called his opponents blind and prejudiced, treating them with a contempt intended to crush them.