Lad

not much to tell, but the little that

angel of hope did not pull with her. But as the sun shot its first yellow rays through the little skin-covered windows, a child was born to Rachel, and it was a boy. Litt

at the old mother came to her. She had been out sear

" she cried. "He sailed last nig

white face over the bed, and raised

"May you lose your son, even a

re allowed to do with the children they did not wish to rear-expose it to its death before it had yet touched food. But in the throes, as she thought, of its extremity, the love of the mother prevailed over the hate of the wife, a

nd asked her the name. She did not answer, and he asked again. Once more, havi

y," said the

g his fingers into the water; but at the so

oor soul," whispered the woman;

an again; and again Rachel cried, "No,

to God's throne with the badge of no man's cruelty; and if it is to live,

what she was doing in her blind passion and pain, severed her son from kith and kin. But

after, as the babe lay cooing at Rachel's breast, and she in her own despite was tas

p shelter over your head no longer. You must

reme west of the fishing quarter, where a fisherman had lately died, leaving the little that he had to the Church. There she betook herself with her child as soon as the days of her lying-in were over.

the down of the eider duck, by passing it through a sieve made of yarn stretched over a hoop. By a deft hand, with extreme labor, something equal to sixpence a day could be made in t

the strength of her arms and the courage of her soul, her summons to labor and her desire for rest. Call her wretched no longer, for now she had her child to love. Happy little dingy cabin in the fishing quarter, amid the vats for

land of the sea that had been her mother's English home, where men were good to women and women were true to men. Until then she must live where she was, a prisoner chained to a cruel rock; but she would not repine, she could wait, for the time of her deliverance was ne

lamber up the rocks of the island of Engy outside the harbor, to take the eggs of the eider duck from the steep places where she built her nest; and from the beginning of May to the end of June he found his mother in the eider down that she cleaned for the English traders. People whispered to Rachel that he favored his father, both in sta

chel had brought up her boy to speak the tongue of her mother-the English tongue. Her purpose failed her, for Jason learned Icelandic on the beach as fast as English in the house; he heard the story of his mot

is own wife? No, no, no. It had been only the hot word of a moment of anger, and it was gone. Stephen was staying away in fear of the brother of Patricksen. When that man was dead, or out of the way, he would return. Then he would see their boy, and remember his duty towards him,

t the brother of Patricksen did indeed disappear. Rumor whispered that he had returned to

er he is, he will learn that there is no lo

ould carry the word as Noah waited for the settling

d at length under the turmoil of a heart that f

tephen Orry was on the little Island of Man, far away south, in the Irish Sea. He ha

he sun that had been so soon to rise on her wasted life was shot over with an inky

of wonderment; for life like that of an untamed colt was in his own warm limbs, and death was very strange to him. A sudden hemorrhage brought the end, and one day darker than the rest, when Jason hastened home from the boats, the pain and panting of death were there before him. His mother's pallid face lay on her arm, her great dark eyes were glazed already, she was breathing hard and every breath was a spasm. Jason ran for the prie

face in the gloom. Never a word came from him, never a sign, never a tear

red, and ca

she said, feebly, and

cold hand in both his hands, and then her

, and the world is kind to them that can fight it. Only to the weak it is cruel-only to the we

love, her loyalty, her life. In twe

forgot me with another woman. Listen-listen-closer still-still closer," she whisp

ther has borne from him. If you should never meet him, but should meet his son, remember what your mother

oat was choking, an

d after that there was a lull, a pause, a sigh, a long-drawn breath, another sigh, a

now surging hot and athirst; never a sound in his ears, save a dull hum of words like the plash of a breaker that was coming-coming-coming from afar. She was gone who h

oist eyes with his red handkerchief. "Come away, m

turned with a dazed look and said, like one who sp

say that," sa

ly; "not in a day, or an hour, or

son," the old

"and hear my vow." And still he held the cold hand i

il I find that man, and when I

saying?" cri

e should never meet, I will hunt the world over until I find his so

lence," crie

me God!"

e is His. What are we tha

deafening him, blinding him, choking him, seemed all at once to break. He pushed the

peal between matins and morning service. Happy little girls in bright new gowns, with primroses on their breasts yellowing their round chins, went skippin

re the mast on an Irish schooner homeward bound for Belfast, with libe