The Volume Of The Sacred Law.

THE VOLUME OF THE SACRED LAW .

P . V HERBERT O'GRADY .

CHAPTER I . Being your slave , what should I do but tend Upon the hours and times of your desire ? I have no precious time at all to spend , Nor services to do , till you require .

, ' { H l | l 8 || k \ t ICHARD is coming " * jj yK % T # - tolcl me at least ' «? ft \ P- a mindred times since

- jffA ^ Tuesday . I v . llhlpv really think , Ger-¦ < f '¦ trude , you get more in love with your husband every time he leaves you . "

It was a sad little body that came up from behind , and laid its flushed cheek against that of Mrs . Oakhurst . It was sad because it hated to be reminded of the absence of the only

man who had ever caused its eyes to sparkle and its cheeks to grow crimson , but it soon lost its pained expression and was laughing the next moment as gaily and as heartily as ever .

" How long is he to stay this time ?" asked Mrs . Oakhurst , when Gertrude had done kissing and hugging her to

death . WSSBBSBttl " He says a week in his letter . But o ^&™ B £ SffiPMBSKKl ! l I'" M ¦ ¦ , W ^^^^ - ^^ y ^ xt . let me read it to you , mother " : —¦ &' 1 . ¦ J ^^ M ^ -- *^^^ MaS 8 " I shall not , however , be able to . f ^ PisSl leave London darlingmuch before ^ .. ?

, my , ^ ^ epa the early part of the afternoon , and will ' - . M ~ ^ % dine in town . A cup of tea will give us . j £ s I " greater leisure than dinner would , to tell all ^ 1 ^ ^ we have to tell each other , and you know how much I enjoy tea of your brewing . I left my people in Rome ,

after having nearly exhausted my ingenuity in pitching upon a feasible excuse to return to England ; but I am on my way to you , my dear , dear wife , and let my first glimpse of you be had standing at the garden-gate you have made so charming with your flowers , so that I may know you arc waiting for me , even as I am waiting to meet you again . " It was only just twelve , and four long hours must be got through

before Richard would arrive . Gertrude was a very happy woman , for her husband , though always away from home , was very good to her . He had bought her this sweet little cottage at Chertsey two years ago , and had furnished it quite luxuriously . With a couple of well-behaved domestics , a full-grown boy to look after "

Spinaway "—a dark chestnut pony—a liberal quarterly allowance paid in to her account at the local bank , and the companionship of her dear mother , Gertrude could not have wished for another gratification . She had met Richard Rawlinson in Devonshire , when she was staying with her mother at a little seaside fishing village on the

' *^^ f | i ||| k ; . „ ' * " " > southern coast , trying to ^* *& ^ Bli & si *&__ paint pictures of the swarthy 1 # P ^«§« jg ^^> = ^__^ fisherfolk , and help the little sea urchins to read and write . It was just that old story that never has a beginning . She was seated one morning on the

beach , making a study of the bleak rocks and chalk cliffs that climbed up out of the rolling sea , just where the local civilisation gave place to the rugged nature of the coast , when a gentleman she had not seen before in the village approached her easel , and politely asked her for some information of the locality . For what

reason should the details of this maturing affection be given ? Some weeks after , three persons drove up to the ivy-covered church at Nethersea , a neighboring village ; and two of them were made man and wife . A happy honeymoon among the fishers and their families was spent , as if the whole world did not contain a more suitahle

place for the young couple , and then , after a few weeks' absence , Richard Rawlinson went again into Devonshire to fetch his wife B