exists. There are many ways in which we parents may bring a curse upon our children, and upon our children's children; they may inherit from us much that is too terrible to dwell upon; but if they serve God, and strive to glorify His name, the natural curse will be turned into a spiritual blessing; out of evil, our heavenly Father derives good; and He has promised that all things, without exception, shall work together for good to them who love Him, and submit themselves to His will and guidance." "You and I do not agree upon these subjects," said Mrs. Denham, stiffly. "I know we do not, and therefore we will not argue; but I think you must own that my creed is the fairer and the sweeter." "It may be so to outward seeming; but there are many poisons sweet to the taste and alluring to the senses. It is in vain to wrap ourselves about with comfortable doctrines which, at the same time, will not stand the test of truth." "Quite vain! No one can be more sensible of it than myself," replied Lady Ashburner, mildly. She knew that it was worse than useless to carry on any theological argument with Mrs. Denham, and she really did not wish Agnes and Elizabeth to hear some of the very startling theories her friend occasionally propounded. She therefore changed the subject, and referred to Mrs. Erskine's expected visit to Forest Range, and proposed that Mrs. Denham, Cyril, and Sally Hawkes should also be among the guests then assembled. "Cyril of course pleases himself," replied the lady, making unconsciously a most erroneous statement; for, generally speaking, he was not permitted to please himself: "but I am not sure that I can leave home the week after next. Sally and I talked of going through the linen.” "Oh, put the linen off a little longer, and let Sally have a holiday." "My daughter Lucretia will not probably care tude, I fear he never knew its meaning. From that time the family fortunes gradually declined; the estates were not restored in full; several emoluments. which for centuries had appertained to the Monkswood Denhams, passed away for ever; and misfortune seemed to become the lineal inheritance of our luckless race." "It was God's judgment on a godless family, who had disobeyed His laws," said Mrs. Denham, sternly. "The Denhams were ever an evil race! they were men of blood, and men of sin; they slew with the sword, and they perished with the sword; they revelled with their paramours, and their paramours were a blight upon them,-body, soul, and fortune; they have sinned and suffered, and they will do so to the end." A dark shade passed over Cyril's face, as his mother spoke; he had listened to her denunciations all his life, and in spite of himself, he attached to them a certain credence. "Nay," said Lady Ashburner, "but God is our Father; and He will not punish the innocent for the guilty." 666 I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,'" said Mrs. Denham, in a tone of triumph. 666 'And I will show mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments,"" replied Lady Ashburner. "Dear Mrs. Denham, it is written, 'The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.' 'Because the fathers have eaten sour grapes, the children's teeth are not set on edge. The word of the Lord has spoken it.' Still it is declared that the iniquities of the father shall be visited on succeeding generations!" "Yes, and in a sense visited they must be, because evil-doing entails so many consequences on that which is to come, as well as on that which at the time exists. There are many ways in which we parents may bring a curse upon our children, and upon our children's children; they may inherit from us much that is too terrible to dwell upon; but if they serve God, and strive to glorify His name, the natural curse will be turned into a spiritual blessing; out of evil, our heavenly Father derives good; and He has promised that all things, without exception, shall work together for good to them who love Him, and submit themselves to His will and guidance." "You and I do not agree upon these subjects," said Mrs. Denham, stiffly. "I know we do not, and therefore we will not argue; but I think you must own that my creed is the fairer and the sweeter." "It may be so to outward seeming; but there are many poisons sweet to the taste and alluring to the senses. It is in vain to wrap ourselves about with comfortable doctrines which, at the same time, will not stand the test of truth." Quite vain! No one can be more sensible of it than myself," replied Lady Ashburner, mildly. She knew that it was worse than useless to carry on any theological argument with Mrs. Denham, and she really did not wish Agnes and Elizabeth to hear some of the very startling theories her friend occasionally propounded. She therefore changed the subject, and referred to Mrs. Erskine's expected visit to Forest Range, and proposed that Mrs. Denham, Cyril, and Sally Hawkes should also be among the guests then assembled. "Cyril of course pleases himself," replied the lady, making unconsciously a most erroneous statement; for, generally speaking, he was not permitted to please himself: "but I am not sure that I can leave home the week after next. Sally and I talked of going through the linen." Oh, put the linen off a little longer, and let Sally have a holiday." "My daughter Lucretia will not probably care I am sorry to much to avail herself of my society. say, she and I have little in common. I am most unfortunate in my children. As for Mr. Erskine, I hold him to be a very dangerous person; his religious opinions are decidedly unscriptural." "My dear mother!" interposed Cyril, "I really think Erskine has not any particular opinions of his own: he holds Lucretia's views, whatever they may be." "I will thank you, Cyril, not to interrupt me; I was also going to observe that I do not approve of the way in which my grand-daughter is being educated. I will reflect upon the matter, Lady Ashburner, and let you know my decision; but probably I shall decline your invitation." And, after that, we had a lecture from Mrs. Denham, on the first principles of education; and then Sally received a lengthy repimand for not having arranged certain volumes of sermons in their proper order on the shelves; and Elizabeth and Agnes were catechised as to their ability in shirtmaking and plain sewing generally, and were found wofully deficient. After that it was getting near train-time, and we had to put on our bonnets, and say "good-bye!" 55 CHAPTER VII "MY FRIEND!" CYRIL came again to Forest Range before the day appointed for his sister's arrival, and, somewhat to our surprise, he brought word that his mother would. accompany him on the following Tuesday, and remain with us for a week of Mrs. Erskine's visit. Sally Hawkes would also be our guest. I believe Lady Ashburner was better pleased to receive Sally under her roof than any other of her expected friends, for she knew Sally well, and esteemed her accordingly; and it pleased her to give the poor little lady a passing taste of this world's happiness, and to make her very comfortable, and cater for her pleasures so far as her grim patroness would permit. But, as a rule, Mrs. Denham objected to visible enjoyment in any shape whatever, and she had checked Sally so long and so perseveringly that she had nearly succeeded in teaching her to repress every manifestation of hilarity that she might temporarily enjoy. "What kind of religion does Mrs. Denham profess?" asked Miss Craven of Elizabeth, the day after we had dined at Monkswood. "I mean to what denomination does she belong? She handled the Book of Common Prayer so severely last night that I need not ask if she belongs to the Established Church." "Of course she does not; she would just as soon ally herself with Popery or Mohammedanism as the Anglican Church. I always call her a double Dissenter, because she dissents from the State Church, and from all other sects as well. She is not an Independent, or a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Quaker, |