would love to the end.

This God is our God for ever

and ever, He will be our guide unto death.

With holy and happy thoughts for his companions, Fontonore wandered to the little bridge. It struck him,

before he set his foot upon it, that it looked decayed and injured by the weather. He stooped down to examine the rough timber, between the chinks of which he could see the stream flowing darkly and rapidly by. A very brief survey strengthened his suspicion that the bridge was in a dangerous state.

I

"I will not attempt to cross it," said Ernest to himself, "though it is the nearest way to Silvermere. must speak to Mr. Searle, and have it repaired. I think that the property belongs to him. The long winter has made the wood decay; and yet, from a little distance, it looks safe and beautiful as ever. To rest our hopes of heaven upon our works, however fair in man's eyes they might appear, would be like trusting our safety to that frail timber, and first learning our danger by our fall."

Before he quitted the spot, Ernest wished to climb to the top of the highest crag that rose above the cataract, as he from thence would command a view over Silvermere perhaps he might even see Mr. Ewart in the distance. The path which led to the height was very narrow and winding, encumbered with thicket and difficult of access, but the prospect from the summit more than repaid all the trouble of the ascent.

An expanse

of beautiful country spread around: here cattle were grazing in hedge-bordered fields of emerald velvet spangled with buttercups and daisies; there stretched woods, clad in the light garb of spring, whence the note of the cuckoo rose musical and soft; hills, blue in the distance, were seen to the north; and pretty hamlets, or farm-houses, embosomed in trees, with a little church spire pointing towards heaven, gave the interest of life to the scene.

Ernest looked down from his lofty crag, clothed with shrubs and wild rock-creepers almost to its summit, upon the fair prospect below. The Castle of Fontonore looked so small in the distance that it was almost hidden from view by a hovel that stood on a hill between. The banner on the flag-staff seemed a mere blue speck which the eye could hardly distinguish.

""Tis thus," thought its possessor, "that, from the heights of heaven, we may look down upon what we most prize below. How small will our honours appear to us then how little all that here we most valued!" He gazed down on the churchyard, which was not far from the rocks, and thought how glorious a scene would that quiet green spot present, when the seeds there sown in corruption should spring forth into life, and the Lord come to gather in the harvest of His redeemed.

Presently Ernest saw beneath him some one approaching the bridge. His elevation, though considerable, was not so great but that he recognized the face and figure

of Jack Lawless. It would take some time to reach him by descending the path. Ernest adopted a shorter way of warning him of danger, and, leaning over the crag, shouted loudly and repeatedly, "Do not try the bridge; it is not safe!" Jack could not help hearing the voice, and looked up;-his only reply was his own audacious smile. Ernest had warned him before of dangers of another kind: he had disregarded the warning then, he disregarded it now. As if he wished to show that he despised any caution given to him by one whom he hated, or, perhaps, led only by the foolish daring of a boy, he set his foot upon the rotten plank, and the next moment was precipitated into the water!

Ernest heard the sharp cry, saw the sudden fall; he knew that the wretched boy could not swim, and that in a few moments he must be hurried over the cataract, and dashed to pieces on the rocks below! Ernest never paused to consider how slight was the chance of saving him-how great that of losing his own life in the attempt; still less did he stop to recollect that the miserable Lawless was one who had treated him with insult and hate; he only saw that a fellow-creature was perishing before him, on the brink of destruction, and unprepared! If he descended by the path, his aid must come too late: Ernest took a shorter and more perilous way. Springing from the edge of the crag, swinging himself down by the shrubs that grew on the rock, cling

ing, leaping, clambering, falling, he descended from the height as never human being had descended before. Twice he dashed himself against the crags in his desperate descent; a thrill of sharp agony shot across his frame, but now it was impossible to stop. Down he plunged into the water, almost at the head of the fall, at the moment that the current was carrying Lawless over the edge. The left hand of Ernest still grasped the bough of a willow which he had caught as he first struck the stream; the right, hastily extended, grasped the hair of the drowning boy, and held him back from the fatal brink, But the fearful effort could not last, though it was an effort for life. Ernest felt both his strength and his senses failing him-the exhausted fingers must relax their clasp-both must perish ! No! no! there is a loud shout heard-help is near, an eager hand is stretched out to savea firm hold is laid on the arm of Fontonore -he is dragged to the shore in a senseless state, his livid hand still unconsciously wreathed in the locks of the boy whom he has saved!

"Thank God! oh, thank God!" exclaimed Mr. Ewart, as he laid the two boys side by side on the turf, dripping, ghastly, insensible, but living still. He hastened for the aid which was speedily afforded. Ernest and Lawless were removed to the nearest cottage, where every means was used to restore them. A messenger was hastily despatched for a doctor, but before he arrived

both of the sufferers had sufficiently recovered to be taken back to the castle. Lawless felt no further effect from his accident than a slight chill and a sense of exhaustion; but it was far otherwise with his youthful preserver, who had sustained very severe injury in his dangerous descent, and who awoke to consciousness in a state of such suffering as excited alarm in the minds of his friends.