Plurom Polwarth ...

Every body in Glaston knew Polwarth the gatekeeper.

"How is the asthma to-night, Mr. Polwarth?" said the pastor.

"I am ast a little surprised to hear you use suchexpress yourself so, Mr. Polwarth," said the minister.

" "I am at a loss to understand you, Mr. Polwarth," said the minister.

Then Polwarth seldom went to a place of worship, and when he did, went to church!

In reality, little Polwarth could have carried big Drake to the top of any hill Difficulty, up which, in his spiritual pilgrimage, he had yet had to go panting and groaningand to the top of many another besides, within sight even of which the minister would never come in this world.

" Now Polwarth was not in the habit of airing his religious experiences; but all Glaston could see that the minister was in trouble, and he caught at the first opportunity he had of showing his sympathy with him, offering him a share of the comfort he had just been receiving himself.

Dorothy took little interest in Polwarth, little therefore in her father's judgment of him.

Upon occasions when most would seek refuge from the dark sky and gusty weather of trouble, by hiding from the messengers of Satan in the deepest cellar of their hearts, there to sit grumbling, Polwarth always went out into the open air.

But Polwarth was right about himas he went home he pondered the passage to which he had referred him, wondering whether he was to regard the fortune sent him as a messenger of Satan given to buffet him.

Except that his outward insignificance was so great as to pass the extreme, he was not one to attract attention; but those who knew Wingfold well, heard him speak of Mr. Polwarth, the gate-keeper, oftener than of any other; and from what she heard him say, Dorothy had come to have a great reverence for the man, although she knew him very little.

When they reached Polwarth's gate, she had, as a matter of course, pulled up, that they might have a talk with the keeper.

Polwarth and his niece Ruth rose late, for neither had slept well.

"I think I like the older reading betterthat is, without the My," said Polwarth: "'Strength is made perfect in weakness.'

Polwarth kneeled beside her, and said: "O Father of life, we praise Thee that one day Thou wilt take Thy poor crooked creatures, and give them bodies like Christ's, perfect as His, and full of Thy light.

Her brain reeled; for a moment she gazed paralyzed with horror, then turned from the window, and, with almost the conviction that the fiend of her vision was pursuing her, fled from the house, and across the park, through the sheets of rain, to the gate-lodge, nor stopped until, all unaware of having once thought of him in her terror, she stood at the door of Polwarth's cottage.

Then Polwarth went up to Juliet, who stood trembling, unable to utter a word, and said, with perfect old-fashioned courtesy, "You are heartily welcome, ma'am.

" "The lady will help you with her own room," said Polwarth.

It was only as if she had come a day sooner than she was expectedwhich indeed was very much the case, for Polwarth had been looking forward to the possibility, and latterly to the likelihood of her becoming their guest.

The flood left her no choice but go by the high road to Polwarth's gate, and then she had often to wade through mud and water.

But the compassionate smile on the face of Polwarth, who had just entered, and had heard the last article of the conversation, at once set her right.

When Wingfold read the letter of which I have thus given the substanceit was not until a long time after, in Polwarth's roomhe folded it softly together and said: "When he wrote that letter, Paul Faber was already becoming not merely a man to love, but a man to revere."

He had put a question or two to Polwarth, but at that time he knew nothing of her, and did not feel bound to disclose his suspicions.

When he had swallowed a third teaspoonful, he lifted his eyelids in a dreary kind of way, saw Polwarth, and remembered that he had something to attend toa patient at the moment on his hands, probablyhe could not tell.