THE NORTHCROFT LILIES.

 most of all-namely, a fishmonger's and a butcher's.
 Then theyclimbed the Steep Hill, and Gertrude thought
 it a pity that any one should condemn Lincolnshire as
 all fen, before trying the effect of its steep ascent.
 They saw all the gates and the beautiful ruins of the
 Bishop's Palace, and then they went into the Cathedral.
 Gertrude had tired her neck with looking up at the
 magnificent west front; but as she entered the small
 door at the west end a feeling of awe stole over her,
 and it was a very quiet companion that Mr. Layton
 took with him. From the beautiful clustered pillars
 in the nave, losing themselves in a marvellous fretwork
 of tracery above-like an avenue of grand old trees
 with interlacing branches-to the gorgeous light of
 the stained windows which fell in soft patches of colour
 on the pavement, all was grandly solemn; and when
 they entered onri of the side chapels, and gazed on the
 beautiful face of Bishop Kaye, so carved that the cold
 marble itself wears a chastened solemn expression,
 and the look of repose and peace speaks of that sleep
 which God giveth his beloved, Gertrude held her
 papa's hand very tightly, and whispered in his ear,
 "Papa, it seems like heaven."
 They went all round, and saw the Chapter-house,
and the Cloisters, and the Roman pavement, and then
the bells chimed for afternoon service. Soft and sweet
fell the mellow sounds on the stillness of the autumn
air, and when they ceased, softly and beautiful the
strains of the organ swept round the arches and through
the chapels, and floated in peaceful harmonies in the
beautiful nave. Something struck Gertrude in this
music with a marvellous force-the fulness and rich-
ness, the plaintiveness and repose, blended themselves,
and, though she deemed it a strange fancy, made her
think of the lilac bushes which, in the early spring at