enjoyments: her tender bud, which she had often feared
would never live to unfold its beauty, her little Charlotte, she saw here
as joyous and as active as her sister. New hopes and anticipations
brightened the future. How does returning health change the prospect of
external circumstances! The cough was much less constant, and Charlotte,
who professed to have wonderful skill in curing diseases, had undertaken
to eradicate it. She did not approve of late slumbers, and every morning
she brought her patient a tumbler of new milk, and challenged her to come
out and breathe the fresh air. "Do not wait," said she, "till its wings
are clogged by the smoke of the city; come and win an appetite for our
country breakfast, our new-laid eggs: the children are hunting for them
amongst the hay, and here comes my little namesake with her prize: she
has brought hers for your breakfast."

Mr. Draper did not arrive at the time he appointed, and Frances often
felt the sickness of hope delayed. "Deliver me from such excellent
husbands," said Charlotte to Howard, "who are wasting the best years of
their lives in acquiring wealth for their families, and yet never think
themselves _rich enough_. Here is poor Frances, kept in a state of
feverish anxiety, when rest and tranquillity are absolutely necessary for
the restoration of her health."

The Saturday evening following, Mr. Draper arrived. He was delighted to
see his wife and children, and thought they looked remarkably well. On
Sunday morning, he walked with his brother over the farm, and calculated
the probable receipts of the year. Away from the atmosphere of business,
his mind seemed to recover its former freshness. "How beautiful this
stillness is!" said he: "it reminds me of the mythology of the heathen
world; the ancients used to say that when Pan slept, all nature held its
breath, lest it should awake him. You have made an enthusiast of
Frances; nothing will do for her now but the country."

"My wife is anxious about the health of yours," said Howard; "she thinks
her cough an indication of weak lungs."

"I know," said Mr. Draper, stopping short, "she is subject to a cough;
ours is a miserable climate; I hope the warm weather will entirely banish
it. I have a bad cough myself;"--and he coughed with energy.

"I wish, brother," said Howard, "that period had arrived, at which you
have so long been aiming, that you thought yourself _rich enough_ to
devote more time to y