"THY KINGDOM COME."
[CHAPTER I.]
A FIRST SORROW.
"I see a spirit by thy side,
Purple-winged and eagle-eyed,
Looking like a heavenly guide."
"If he bid thee bow before
Crowned mind and nothing more,
The great idol men adore—
Though his words seem true and wise,
Soul, I say to thee, Arise!
He is a demon in disguise."
"PRISCILLA! Priscilla!" The name was repeated again and again, and yet no response was given; indeed the person so addressed seemed not to hear the speaker, if one could judge by the far-away, absorbed look of her eyes, as she stood at an open window with her arm round a curly-headed boy of some three or four years old.
The name seemed as if it ought to have belonged to some grown-up lady, and was suggestive of a Puritan maiden. And so, when at last the one thus addressed was roused to attention, and turned round saying, "Yes, Miss Vernon; what is it?" One did feel surprised to see that the owner of the name was a young girl of only some fifteen years. She was dressed, as was also the child by her side, in deep mourning; and a close observer would have seen that her large, thoughtful, gray eyes were filled with tears, which she was striving to keep from falling.
Her brown hair—the sort of brown which seems always to catch and glisten between every ray of sunshine—was brushed off a finely-formed brow, and hung in natural curls round her neck. She stood now waiting to hear what the speaker required of her. The answer to her question was given in a somewhat querulous tone—