Erastus looked at her in astonishment. " What ?
Have you not turned your heart from him, though he
has brought misery on us all ?"

" Ask thb flower why it follows the course of the
sun ?" said Lydia. " It cannot do otherwise."

" But how can you prefer this gloomy priest, this
pale-faced man with his broken health, to the upright,
blithe young artist ?"

" I don't know," replied the young girl thoughtfully.
" Love has deeper roots than any motives drawn from
reason. In what does it consist? In the very fact
that I do love him, that I cannot break the bond be-
tween us. I am not his because he is handsomer,
wiser, better than others, but because I cannot live
without him, because he is my sun without whom I
should wither as this flower does in winter," and she
quietly wiped away the tears that filled her eyes.
" He has suffered too severely in our behalf for me
to say no," replied Erastus after a few moments* reflection.
" God has so ordained it. His will be done."



CLYTIA. ^SS



CHAPTER XXVIII.
The sick man in the gable-house had slowly re-
gained his consciousness. His wounds still ached and
every movement caused him fresh suflfering, but he en-
dured all his pain with the calmest patience, answering
all his brother's enquiries with a pleasant glance and
the words " sta bener Clytia too, who continued to
nurse him though with a slight shade of embarrassment
in her manner, he greeted with friendly, grateful
looks.
