The Worshipful Master.

The two young men had been attending the Lodge of Harmony , which was known as the Gentlemen ' s Lodge , in Gippingswick ; and Dr . Penhaligon had been duly nominated as a fit ancl proper person to become a Mason—to be ballotted for and , if approved , duly initiated into the mysteries of Antient Freemasonry at the next regular lodge meeting . Dr . Carlyon drily remarked that Bro . Jamiesonin proposing his friend

, , should be careful to give him his proper title , as he was not a Doctor at all , but only Bachelor of Medicine . Bro . Jamieson apologised , and said he thought he was a Doctor by courtesy ; and some one muttered in a perfectly audible whisper that , as Dr . Carlyon was only a Licentiate of the College of Physicians , he hacl no more right to be called Doctor than the gentleman whose claim to the title he had impugned .

The Master ' s gavel called the brethren to order ; the Secretary took a note of the nomination ; and the other business of the lodge having been disposed of , it was closed with solemn prayer and in ancient form , and the brethren adjourned to the banqueting room for the usual monthly symposium . Thus it was that Mr . Wroath came to the conclusion that the ballot possibly might not be clear the next lodge nightand as he hacl taken a great

, fancy to Dr . Penhaligon , to give him his courtesy title , he was naturally anxious that his advent into the town should not be signalised by his being black-balled at the lodge , which would probably have injured him very much in his professional career .

CHAPTEE II . THE FEAST OF ROSES . THE Lodge of Harmony met always on the Monday before full moon , and in the month of June , or about St . John ' s Day , was celebrated the Feast of Roses . No one could tell the ori gin of this feast . The lodge was a hundred years oldand the brethren wore with pride their centenary jewelsbut

, , whether for all those hundred years the Feast of Roses hacl been annually held , or whether it was an invention within the memory of the oldest inhabitant , no one knew . The old minute books hacl been ransacked by one or two learned brothers , but -without finding any evidence , except of the culpable neglect with which they had been kept towards the close of 1700—evidence which betrayed that

they had got into the hands of the butterman ; pages and pages of what might have been valuable Masonic records being torn out , greasy marks here and there , school-boy jargon scrawled across some of the minutes , ancl material evidence generally that they had certainly not been cared for ancl preserved as they ought to have been . Nothing of the Feast of Roses could be foundbut it was suggested that as

, a Knight Templar encampment had been held for over seventy years in connection with the lodge , and as the Rose Croix used to be given as an appendant degree , it was more than probable that its ori gin might be traced to the brethren of the Rosy Cross . However that mi ght be , the brethren of the Lodge of Harmony duly honoured the festival , and but few troubled themselves as to why or wherefore it was kept .

It was at this meeting Dr . Penhaligon was to be initiated , supposing him to be accepted ; ancl there was a large muster of the brethren . The Lodge of Harmony was a very exclusive lodge , and boasted that its members were the crsme de la areme of Masonry . Were not the Provincial Grand Master , the Earl of Mount Stuart and his Deputy , the Rev . Dr . Oldham , members ? and was not a noble Lord , son of the Marquis of Earsdon , to be initiated that very night ? The lodge room was handsome and well appointed , with two beautifully wrought pillars , in plaster of Paris , at the entrance , the mould of which had