Paul felt happy in the society of his new sister, as he called her--the happiness of an aspiring mind in the presence of its superior; and Arthur Phillips, with his grand thoughts and his quiet manner, was a welcome guest at the old Lincolnshire house. Mrs. Somerton was not a happy woman, though she evidently made a constant effort to appear so; but Luke was full of life and spirits. He was the leading man of the district, and rapidly becoming the most popular. It was like reading a book, his Lincolnshire friends said, to hear him talk about farming, and the newspapers reported his speeches in full when he presided at the District Agricultural Society. After a time the Lieutenant rejoined his regiment, and left England for the Cape of Good Hope, a wiser and a better, though not a happier, man, for his adventure with the barrister’s mysterious daughter. He kept his secret all the time in the Lincolnshire fens and marshes, and carried it with him to Kaffir-land. May we hope to hear of him before our story closes, that he found consolation in the love of some other woman more worthy his devotion. The lacerations of young hearts often heal with astonishing rapidity. CHAPTER X. “FROM GRAVE TO GAY.” Joy and grief, how they alternate! What a busy, sorrowing, cheerful, merry, sad, wicked, virtuous world it is! Births, marriages, and deaths!--a text for all preachers--a safe guide for novelist and story teller. Births, marriages, and deaths! The same story every day told by every newspaper. What then can a true history of life be but a story of births, marriages, and deaths? Unroof yon street, friend Asmodeo, and let the reader judge for himself. Here a child is born; there a bridegroom has just brought home his newly-married wife; yonder lies a dead man with sorrow weeping by his side. Carry us away to that village in the soft, sunny country. The same story still. Births, marriages, and deaths--joy and grief alternating! What bells are those that ring so merrily? What bell is that which groans, and sobs, and wails?