



Produced by Charles Aldarondo










The Works of E. P. ROE

FROM JEST TO EARNEST







DEDICATION.





This book is dedicated in fraternal affection to the friend of my
youth and maturer years--the REV. A. MOSS MERWIN, who, with every
avenue of earthly ambition open to him at home, and with every
motive urged upon him to remain at home, has been for years, and
is now, a faithful missionary in a foreign land.






CONTENTS





CHAPTER I. A PRACTICAL JOKE

CHAPTER II. THE VICTIM

CHAPTER III. PUZZLED AND INTERESTED

CHAPTER IV. A LITTLE PAGAN

CHAPTER V. PLAIN TALK

CHAPTER VI. A SLEIGH-RIDE AND SOMETHING MORE

CHAPTER VII. ANOTHER SPELL THAN BEAUTY'S

CHAPTER VIII. FINDING ONE'S LEVEL

CHAPTER IX. "THE OTHER SET"

CHAPTER X. HUMAN NATURE

CHAPTER XI. A POSSIBLE TRAGEDY

CHAPTER XII. MISS MARSDEN ASKS SOMBRE QUESTIONS

CHAPTER XIII. A LOVER QUENCHED

CHAPTER XIV. LOTTIE A MYSTERIOUS PROBLEM

CHAPTER XV. HEMSTEAD SEES "OUR SET"

CHAPTER XVI. HOW WOMAN MAKES OR MARS

CHAPTER XVII. MIDNIGHT VIGILS

CHAPTER XVIII. HEMSTEAD'S HEAVY GUN AND ITS RECOIL

CHAPTER XIX. THE PREACHER TAUGHT BY THE PAGAN

CHAPTER XX. THE DAWNING LIGHT

CHAPTER XXI. MISUNDERSTOOD

CHAPTER XXII. "YOU MUST WAIT AND SEE"

CHAPTER XXIII. A RATIONALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL

CHAPTER XXIV. THE TERROR OF A GREAT FEAR

CHAPTER XXV. A TRUE KNIGHT

CHAPTER XXVI. ON A CRUMBLING ICE-FLOE

CHAPTER XXVII. THE MEETING AND GREETING

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE TRIAL OF LOVE

CHAPTER XXIX. HEMSTEAD'S ADVICE, AND LOTTIE'S COLORS

CHAPTER XXX. AROUND THE YULE-LOG

CHAPTER XXXI. UNDER THE MISTLETOE

CHAPTER XXXII. THE CHRISTMAS SUNDAY

CHAPTER XXXIII. THE END OF THE "JEST"

CHAPTER XXXIV. LOYAL

CHAPTER XXXV. MR. DIMMERLY CONCLUDES TO "MEDDLE"

CHAPTER XXXVI. A NIGHT IN THE SNOW

CHAPTER XXXVII. IN EARNEST






FROM JEST TO EARNEST.

CHAPTER I.

A PRACTICAL JOKE.





On a cloudy December morning a gentleman, two ladies, and a boy
stepped down from the express train at a station just above the
Highlands on the Hudson. A double sleigh, overflowing with luxurious
robes, stood near, and a portly coachman with difficulty restrained
his spirited horses while the little party arranged themselves for
a winter ride.  Both the ladies were young, and the gentleman's
anxious and almost tender solicitude for one of them seemed hardly
warranted by her blooming cheeks and sprightly movements.  A close
observer might soon suspect that his assiduous attentions  were
caused by a malady of his own rather than by indisposition on her
part.

The other young lady received but scant politeness, though seemingly
in greater need of it. But the words of Scripture applied to
her beautiful companion, "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given,
and he shall have more abundance." She had been surfeited all her
life with attention, and though she would certainly have felt its
absence, as she would the loss of wealth, life-long familiarity
with both led her to place no special value upon them.

Therefore during the half-hour's ride her spirits rose with the
rapid motion, and even the leaden sky and winter's bleakness could
not prevent the shifting landscape from being a source of pleasure
to her city eyes, while the devotion  of her admirer or lover was
received as a matter of course.

The frosty air brought color into her companion's usually pale
face, but not of an attractive kind, for the north-east wind that
deepened the vermilion in the beauty's cheek could only tinge that
of the other with a ghastly blue. The delicate creature shivered
and sighed.

"I wish we were there."

"Really, Bel, I sometimes think your veins are filled with water
instead of blood. It's not cold to-day, is it, Mr. De Forrest?"

"Well, all I can say with certainty," he replied, "is