presented his bride a miniature shield of silver, saying gal-lantly, " This shall thy heart from other love defend," a gleam of triumph on the countenance of William assured Matilda that Edwin was won. CHAPTER III. "Oh! the joy Of young ideas painted on the mind, In the warm glowing colors fancy spreads On objects not yet known, when all is new And all is lovely." HANNAH MORE. WHEN the spring deepened into summer, Edwin, exult-ing in the pride of his youthful elegance and princely alli-ance, returned loaded with honors to his restored domains. Agatha wept sore at his departure, but no tear trembled on the cheek of Maude. All external emotions were buried in the grave of hopeless love, and thenceforth in her pale, changeless beauty, she looked the ivory shrine, where the ashes of some holy thing were preserved,to work daily mira-cles upon the restless spirits by which she was surrounded. In her society the turbulent, and self-willed children of the Conqueror became calm and docile. Often in the long still twilight would she hold them a charmed circle, listen-ing with breathless awe to wild tales and ghostly legends of the terrible Vikings ; who drove their daring keels into unknown seas, and immured their wailing captives in sun-less dungeons of northern ice, or left them naked and shivering upon a barren coast, a prey to the wolfish winds, that lifted and tossed them ever on the red and bristling spears of Aurora's giant demons. The story of the Babe of Bethlehem—cradled among the beasts of the stall—heralded by angels, and worshiped by the eastern sages, passing, a holy presence that diffused joy and comfort to every heart, through the green vales of ADELA.