stay here and keep me with her; and it's my home, you
know, the dear home where everything reminds me of--papa, Will you let me
stay?"

"Do you really wish it, Evelyn? do you not desire to carry out the dying
wishes of the father you loved so dearly?"

"Yes, uncle," she said, the tears stealing down her cheeks, "but--perhaps
he wouldn't care now, and mamma is so sorely distressed at the thought of
separation; and--and it hurts me too; for she is my mother, and I have no
father now--or brother, or sister."

"You must let me be a father to you, my poor, dear child," he said in
moved tones, and drawing her closer; "I will do my utmost to fill his
place to you, and I hope you will come to me always with your troubles
and perplexities, feeling the same assurance of finding sympathy and help
that you did in carrying them to him."

"Oh, thank you!" she responded. "I think you are a dear, kind uncle, and
very much like papa; you remind me of him very often in your looks, and
words and ways."

"I am glad to hear you say so," he answered. "I had a great admiration
for that dear brother, and for his sake as well as her own, I am very
fond of his little daughter. And now about this question. I shall not
compel your obedience to your father's wishes--at least not for the
present--but shall leave the decision to your own heart and conscience.
Take a day or two to think over the matter, and then let me hear your
decision.

"In the meantime, if you can persuade your mamma to go with us to
Fairview, that will make it all smooth and easy for you."

"Thank you, dear uncle," she said, as he released her and turned to his
work again, "I will go now and try what I can do to induce mamma to
accept your kind invitation. And please excuse me for interrupting you
when you were so busy."

"I am never too busy to attend to you, Evelyn," he returned in a kindly
tone; "come freely to me whenever you will."

Crossing the hall, Evelyn noticed the carriage of an intimate friend of
her mother drawn up before the entrance.

"Mrs. Lang must be calling on mamma," she said to herself; and pausing
near the half-open parlor door, she saw them sitting side by side on a
sofa, conversing in earnest, through subdued tones.

The call proved a long one. Evelyn waited with what patience she might,
vainly trying to interest herself in a book; her thoughts much too full
of her own near future to admit of her doing so.

At last Mrs. Lang took her departu