She seems pleased with the scene, and I am sure she well may be; for it is always a pleasant and a heart-cheering sight to see folks happy and enjoying themselves; and I cannot think that the beneficent Power above ever intended we should make ourselves miserable on earth, in order to win a place in heaven.

I am an old man, Sir; and feeling this to be true, I have ever inculcated my opinions upon my children and grandchildren.

Yet I confess I am surprised--knowing what I do of her father's character--that Mistress Aveline should indulge herself with beholding this profane spectacle, which ought, by rights, to be odious in her eyes." The latter part of this speech was uttered with a sly chuckle on the part of the old farmer, not altogether agreeable to Jocelyn.

The growing interest he felt in the fair Puritan rendered him susceptible.

The eyes of the two young persons had met again more than once, and were not quite so quickly withdrawn on either side as before; perhaps, because Aveline was less alarmed by the young man's appearance, or more attracted by it; and perhaps, on his part, because he had grown a little bolder.