The hush of a Sabbath was upon the land.

The sounds of life and industry were no longer heard around Chad.

Within and without the house a calm stillness prevailed, and the hot summer sunshine lay broad upon the quiet fields and the garden upon which so much loving care had of late years been spent.
The white and red roses, no longer the symbols of party strife, were blooming in their midsummer glory.

The air was sweet with their fragrance, and bees hummed drowsily from flower to flower.

In the deep shadow cast by a huge cedar tree, that reared its stately head as high as the battlements of the turret, a small group had gathered this hot afternoon.