them on to divers miseries. But when the great Name of Him who
died upon the Cross is acknowledged, then it is found to be of
that transfiguring nature which turns evil to good, and sometimes
makes angels out of fiends. Nevertheless, for the hardened
reprobate and unbeliever the old laws suffice."

Gervase had stopped the quick movement of his "fusin," and looked
at her curiously.

"What old laws?" he asked.

"Stern justice without mercy!" she answered; then in lighter
accents she added: "Have you finished your first outline?"

In reply, he turned his canvas round to her, showing her a head
and profile boldly presented in black and white. She smiled.

"It is clever; but it is not like me," she said. "When you begin
the coloring you will find that your picture and I have no
resemblance to each other."

He flushed with a sense of wounded amour propre.

"Pardon, madame!--I am no novice at the art of painting," he said;
"and much as your charms dazzle and ensnare me, they do not
disqualify my brain and hand from perfectly delineating them upon
my canvas. I love you to distraction; but my passion shall not
hinder me from making your picture a masterpiece."

She laughed.