corrupted prefix of the original name implied, and he had gathered
from a constant study of the Sagas something of the philosophy which
lay behind the ideas of the Vikings.

This new stage of Harold's life made for quicker development than any
which had gone before. Hitherto he had not the same sense of
responsibility. To obey is in itself a relief; and as it is an
actual consolation to weak natures, so it is only a retarding of the
strong. Now he had another individuality to think of. There was in
his own nature a vein of anxiety of which the subconsciousness of his
own strength threw up the outcrop.

Little Stephen with the instinct of her sex discovered before long
this weakness. For it is a weakness when any quality can be assailed
or used. The using of a man's weakness is not always coquetry; but
it is something very like it. Many a time the little girl, who
looked up to and admired the big boy who could compel her to anything
when he was so minded, would, for her own ends, work on his sense of
responsibility, taking an elfin delight in his discomfiture.

The result of Stephen's harmless little coquetries was that Harold
had occasionally either to thwart some little plan of daring, or else
cover up its results. In either case her confidence in him grew, so
that before long he became an established fact in her life, a being
in whose power and discretion and loyalty she had absolute, blind
faith. And this feeling seemed to grow with her own growth. Indeed
at one time it came to be more than an ordinary faith. It happened
thus:

The old Church of St. Stephen, which was the parish church of