irs for the comfort of his father and aunt. He
thanked her warmly, and hoped that she would pursue her kind task
another day,--a permission which she justly esteemed a great testimony
to her having avoided annoying him. It was a great amusement to him to
watch the surprised and pleased looks of his various nurses as each
came in, and a real gratification to see his father settle himself with
an air of comfort, observing that 'they were under great obligations to
Mary.' Still, the sight of the arrangements had left a dreary,
dissatisfied feeling with Louis: it might have been caught from Mary's
involuntary look of disappointment at each incomplete commencement that
she encountered,--the multitude of undertakings hastily begun, laid
aside and neglected--nothing properly carried out. It seemed a mere
waste of life, and dwelt on his spirits, with a weariness of himself
and his own want of steadfastness--a sense of having disappointed her
and disappointed himself, and he sighed so heavily several times, that
his aunt anxiously asked whether he were in pain. He was, however, so
much better, that no one was to sit up with him at night--only his
father would sleep on a bed on the floor. As he bade him good night,
Louis, for the first time, made the request that he might have his
Bible given to him, as well as his little book; and on his father
advising him not to attempt the effort of reading, he said, 'Thank you;
I think I can read my two verses: I want to take up my old habits.'

'Have you really kept up this habit constantly?' asked his father, with
wonder that Louis did not understand.

'Aunt Catharine taught it to us, he said. 'I neglected it one
half-year at school; but I grew so uncomfortable, that I began again.'

The Earl gave the little worn volume, saying, 'Yes, Louis, there has
been a thread running through your life.'

'Has there been one thread?' sadly mused Louis, as he found the weight
of the thick book too much for his weak hands, and his eyes and head
too dizzy and confused for more than one verse:--

'I am come that they might have life,
And that they might have it more abundantly.''

The Bible sank in his hands, and he fell into a slumber so sound and
refreshing, that when he opened his eyes in early morning, he did not
at first realize that he was not awakening to health and activity, nor
why he had an instinctive dread of moving. He turned his eyes towards
the window, uncurtained,