Out of the depths: or, The Rector's trial

IT was the close of a lovely day in October, in the year of our Lord—but no matter what year. The morning king had been heralded by a rich display of fireworks: and now his departure caused a gorgeous illumination of the whole western sky. Purple and orange and amber and scarlet, rose bank upon bank, each color vying with the others in its endeavor to do honor to the departing monarch. The place was Canterbury, a thriving village in the suburbs of the large city of —. In a room with a pretty bay window looking towards the West, and which was obviously used as a study or library, a man of grave, earnest countenance, sat gazing upon the gorgeous scene. "Wondrous beauty!" he murmured. "The work of thy fingers, O God. Thou hast prepared the light and the sun." "Shall I tell you, Henry?" inquired a soft voice at his side. "Of what I was thinking as I looked upon that display of splendor? These precious words flashed into my mind: "'For the Lord God is a sun and shield.' "Surely a Being who can paint the heavens like that before us, with the sun as a centre from which all those gorgeous hues radiate,—who likens himself to a sun, has power to throw light upon the darkest paths. Believe me, Henry, according to his promise, He will be a shield to us in the coming storm." A profound sigh was for a moment the only answer. Then the man, trying to infuse a tone of hopefulness into his voice, said: "Thank you, Mary, and I thank God continually, that in the midst of my trials, I have a hopeful wife. But," he added, sighing again, "I am heavily burdened. I feel strangely desponding to-night. The adversary of souls has been busy with me. I am ready to sink. If it were not for you and our children, I would like to flee and hide myself from the face of man." "Oh, Henry! Oh, my husband! You have indeed been tempted. That would look like guilt, and you are as innocent of this crime as a new born babe." "In intention, I certainly am." "Well, isn't that enough to make us thankful all our lives? Suppose now, that you had violated your trust, you might then talk of hiding yourself from man: and I should want to take…