Four Gates

"I said, 'These painful shoes, I cannot see Why any longer they should cumber me. ' So left I them behind, and for a while The change seemed pleasant, and did me beguile. " ROSE'S DIARY.

SHE sat huddled up in a shawl over the dying embers of her fire. It was past midnight, but Honor did not attempt to go to bed. For over two hours she had been revolving things in her mind, and she was unsettled and doubtful still. All the instincts of her early training warned her against taking this sudden and precipitate step. She was a deeply religious girl at heart, and through all her troubles and difficulties had had an unswerving trust in God. But life had been becoming more difficult to her of late. She never could get over the bitterness of her short time at home, when she realised how quickly her place had been filled up. Even her father seemed too delighted and engrossed with the new organist to take much notice of his eldest daughter. His farewell words still rang in her ears: