An Ambitious Man

Joy's religious nature found expression in her music, and so

something more than a harmony of beautiful sounds impressed her

hearers.

The first severe blow to her faith in the church as a divine

institution, was when her rector and her lover left her alone in the

hour of her darkest trials, because he knew the story of her mother's

life. His hesitancy to make her his wife she understood, but his

absolute desertion of her at such a time, seemed inconsistent with

his calling as a disciple of the Christ.

The second blow came in her dismissal from the position of organist

at the Beryngford Church, after the presence of the Baroness in the

town.

A disgust for human laws, and a bitter resentment towards society

took possession of her. When a gentle and loving nature is roused to

anger and indignation, it is often capable of extremes of action; and

Arthur Stuart had made his proposition of flight to Joy Irving in an

hour when her high-wrought emotions and intensely strung nerves made

any desperate act possible to her. The sight of his face, with its

evidences of severe suffering, awoke all her smouldering passion for

the man; and the thought that he was ready to tread his creed under

his feet and to defy society for her sake, stirred her with a wild

joy. God had seemed very far away, and human love was very precious;

too precious to be thrown away in obedience to any man-made law.

But somehow this morning God seemed nearer, and the consciousness of

what she had promised to do terrified her. Disturbed by her

thoughts, she turned towards her toilet-table and caught sight of the

letter of dismissal from the church committee. It acted upon her

like an electric shock. Resentment and indignation re-enthroned

themselves in her bosom.

"Is it to cater to the opinions and prejudices of people like THESE

that I hesitate to take the happiness offered me?" she cried, as she

tore the letter in bits and cast it beneath her feet. Arthur Stuart

appeared to her once more, in the light of a delivering angel. Yes,

she would go with him to the ends of the earth. It was her

inheritance to lead a lawless life. Nothing else was possible for

her. God must see how she had been hemmed in by circumstances, how

she had been goaded and driven from the paths of peace and purity

where she had wished to dwell. God was not a man, and He would be

merciful in judging her.

She sent her landlady two months' rent in advance, and notice of her

departure, and set hurriedly about her preparations.