CHAPTER XXI. SUNDAY AND MONDAY. "Will not that joyful be, When we share his smile of love, "Will not that joyful be, When we hear what none can tell, And the ringing chorus swell, When we join their songs of praise, Will not that joyful be?" H. C. VON SCHWEINITZ. AGAIN Lilian was left alone, and the repose which, from the time of Alice's death, had insensibly stolen over her was roughly broken. She had thought that her principal trial would be the loss of her husband's affections; she had expected to meet with coolness, indifference, and it might be with contempt, but she was not prepared to find that husband abasing himself, and acting the part of the prodigal son, without his contrition, Stormy days were before her-difficulties were encompassing her path. The "roughing it," of which Mr. Brookes had spoken, seemed near at hand; the sobering process which she herself had predicted, appeared likely to be realized in its fullest sense; and Lilian felt that all her courage, all her constancy, would be required in the struggle that lay before her. All the while that Basil was away at Hopelands "The days were dark and dreary, It rained, and the wind was never weary." It was cold, too, and Lilian was glad to draw her chair to the fire, and turn away from the window, where she saw only the inky storm-swept sky, the deluged street, and the opposite houses, black and dripping with the interminable rain. Sunday came, and she could not go to church, and the bells sounded drearily through the thick, chilly air, as they summoned together the scanty worshippers who dared to brave the fury of the elements; but, notwithstanding that she was hindered from going up to the courts of the Lord -notwithstanding that she spent the long dismal day with no other companion than Alice's little Bible, the hours glided by, and Lilian's humbled heart was lifted in loving confidence to Him who heareth prayer, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. She was not gathered with the great congregation; she was not joining with two or three met together in their Master's name; but she knew that the single sighing of a contrite soul would rise up from the careladen world, and find entrance into the presence-chamber of the King of kings. And as in her solitude she prayed, she felt herself drawn towards all those who, on sea or shore, in sanctuary or alone, beneath old minster roofs, or in unadorned simplicity, without ritual or outward beauty, lifted up clean hands and fervent hearts, to the great Head of the Holy Catholic Church. She had often repeated that clause of the beautiful Nicene Creed; now it came with new meaning, new force and sublimity. "I believe in the holy Catholic Church!" the Church militant here upon earth, gathered from all climes, and from all the corners of the earth, and numbering among its members all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; and the Church triumphant, wearing her spotless garments, and joining in the eternal song of thanksgiving, on the other side the narrow river of death. And all one, all united in One! Some fighting the good fight, and keeping the faith-some wearing their crowns of victory, and resting from their labours-some dwelling in palaces, and walking in the high places of the earth, and clothed in fine linen and purple-some toiling in dismal alleys and dark courts for their scanty meal and insufficient raiment-some, wise and learned, burning with poetic fire, and filled with the glorious light of genius, and some plain in speech, rude in manners, and ignorant of all but the one great knowledge that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; but all treading one path, holding one faith, rejoicing in one hope, and made perfect in one love!-all members of one Head, and inheritors of one kingdom; for He, who, in his infinite love and mercy, gathered and still gathers the Church of the firstborn, even from the foundation of the world, said to his Father on the eve of mortal separation from his little flock, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me.' And so, as Lilian prayed and read these blessed words, she realized how she, too, had become one of the Church; the Church that stands upon the Rock of Ages, the Church that will tower above all the wrecks of time, when sun and moon, and all that this world contains shall have passed away for ever. She felt not alone in her solitary worship, and as she laid down her Bible towards the close of the afternoon, two sweet verses from "The Dove on the Cross" came into her mind. She had liked the beauty of the ideas they expressed, but she had never till now fully understood She repeated them slowly to herself: them. "Not within Thy house alone Is the footstool of Thy throne; May bow down and worship Thee. "They who, in communion here To Thy glory and Thy praise : Who is left alone with Thee!" The bells began to toll for evening service, and when the last sounds of their iron tongues died away, the wind lulled and the rain ceased. One bright gleam gilded the western sky; the sun had gone down, but a soft crimson light flushed, for a few minutes, the domes and spires of the mighty city-a lovely type of the light that God has promised to his children when they come to "evening-time." "At evening-time there shall be light," said Lilian, as she stood at her window and watched the beautiful radiance slowly fade. "What matters the day of storms and rain, so that the evening is calm and bright. Oh, if I may but endure to the end!" That aspiration was a prayer, and with its unuttered ascent came the full blessedness of the promise, "My grace is sufficient for thee.". Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." And so passed that happy, solitary Sunday. The next day brought its cares and perplexities. About one o'clock Basil came back, but not alone, for his father was with him. Lilian saw that her husband was fearfully incensed, and that he did not even pretend to treat Mr. Hope with any show of deference and civility. He scarcely spoke to his wife, scolded the servants for having disarranged his letters, and finally shut himself up in his study, and haughtily desired, in a tone loud enough to reach Mr. Hope and Lilian in the drawing-room, that no one, on any pretence, should disturb him. "Lilian," said Mr. Hope, gravely, "do you know why I am here ?" Of course she did not. "I must tell you, then; but it will be painful to you to hear, and to me to speak it. Basil has deeply, irremediably offended me; if I could, if Hopelands were not entailed, I would disown him for ever; not one shilling of mine should he ever possess. He has been living for some months a life of extreme dissipation; the liberal allowance I made him has been long squandered; he has had recourse to Jews, to infamous usurers; he has given post-obit bonds; he has raised money at fifty per cent. interest on the little money that will come to him from his mother; and, added to this, he has been insolent to the last degree. Had he been humble, had he owned his faults, and shown any desire to lead a new life, I might, I don't quite know, but I think I might have forgiven him; he is my son, my only one. But as I tell you, he defied me; he told over his debts, his engagements, and his entanglements with a coolness I never saw surpassed. Why, Lilian, the interest he has to pay for his borrowed money is more than his |