A Mason's Story.

A MASON'S STORY .

( Continued from page 371 ) . A MONG the visitors at Mr . Morton ' s was a young man named Pelliam . He _ Ci _ was nofc a person in whose favour one would be prepossessed . He had a very plausible manner with him ; he could talk very g libly on a great many subjects ; and if you were inclined to be pious , he could and would string scripture texts together in a way which was most alarming . And yet , as I

have said , under this charming exterior there was something absolutely forbidding . When you came in contact with him , you shrank instinctively from him . In fact , he was a very personification of a Uriah Heep , so flattering and so fawning and so very deferential . It was the old humble-jumble of mock " ' nmbleness " and striving for the mastery over you . He would insinuate himself little b y little into your confidence ; ancl if you reposed anything in his

keeping which you would not care to have repeated , he was just the one to hold it over your head , suspended like the sword of Damocles , by a hair , read y to descend if you once gave him any provocation . Those with whom he was connected in every-day life hated him ; and I am not at , all surprised at their doing so either . He was just the one to go cringing and sneaking round to a person ' s employer , and regale him with a story of that person ' s doings , exaggerated to a most mischievous extent . He could weave a net round , those whom he disliked so subtle and so complete that they found it impossible to break from it .

A lie which is half a lie is ever the blackest of lies , For that which is oil a lie may be met with and fought outright ; But a lie which is half a lie is a harder matter to fight . Pelliam ' s lies were of the first-mentioned character . . Mary Morton shrank intuitively from this man . He was the first who had , under the guise of friendship , put her father on his guard against Penrhyn

Falconer , and informed him of his unbelief . As schoolboys they had been connected , and Penrhyn had noticed the petty actions of his companion , actions from which his own nobler self would have revolted . When he knew that Pelliam was in the habit of going to Mr . Morton ' s , he had contrived to warn Mary against him , merely saying that he was " not of such a nature as to do anybody good b y his friendship . "

One bright May morning Mary was working alone in the garden . Her thoughts were far away , as they often were , wondering what Penrhyn was doing , etc . I dare say his thoughts were also engaged in the same way . She was very busy tending her flowers , which were a paragon of beaut y and colour .

Gorgeous flowerets in the sunlight shining , Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day , Tremulous leaves , with soft and silver lining , Buds that open only to decay . There were all sorts of blossoms there . Looking along the beds , your eyes would rest on a glowing mass of variegated hues . There was the Naiad-like lilof the vale

y , Whom youth makes so fair and passion so pale , That the light of its tremulous bolls is seen Through their pavilions of tender green . Aud the hyacinth , purple and white and blue , Which flung from its bells a sweet peal auew Of music so delicate , soft , and intense , It was felt like an odour within the sense .