tars, and yet were tender;
Her figure charmed me, like a windy stem,
Quivering, and drooped, and slender.
She measured measureless sorrow toward its length
And breadth, and depth, and height.'"

Salome looked up from the eyelet she was working, but Dr. Grey had
turned his head towards his sister who had fallen asleep in her chair,
and the orphan could not see his face.

"Mrs. Gerome must have been very young when she married, and--"

"Hush! Janet looks so weary that I want her to have a long nap, and
our voices might disturb her."

He took his hat and gloves and left the room, and Salome forgot her
embroidery and fell into a reverie that proved neither pleasant nor
profitable, and lasted until Miss Jane awoke.

In the afternoon of the following day, when the orphan returned
from her clandestine visit to the Italian musician, she saw an
unusual number of persons on the front gallery, and found that the
long-expected party from New York had arrived during her absence. Miss
Jane was talking to the governess--a meek-looking, but exceedingly
handsome woman, of twenty-seven or eight years, with fair hair and
quiet brown eyes; and every detail of her dress, speech, and bearing
averred that Edith Dexter was no humble scion of proletariat. Her
polished yet reserved manners bespoke high birth and aristocratic
associations; but something in the composed, sad countenance, in the
listless drooping of the pretty head, hinted that she had long since
spilt the rosy sparkling foam of her cup of life, and was patiently
drinking its muddy lees.

On the upper step sat Dr. Grey, with his arm encircling the form of
his ward, whose head rested very confidingly against his shoulder.
Muriel Manton was dressed in deep mourning, and had evidently been
weeping, for her guardian was tenderly wiping the tears from her cheek
when Salome came up the avenue; and, with a keen, jealous pang that
she had never felt before, the latter scanned the stranger's claims to
beauty.

Very black eyes, brilliant complexion, and fine teeth, she certainly
possessed; but her features were rather coarse; her mouth was much too
large for classic requirements; and Salome was rejoiced to find her
nose indisputably _retrousse_.

Years hence she would doubtless be a large, well-formed, commanding
woman, who could exhibit Lyons silk or Genoese velvet to the best
advantage, and would be considered a fine-looking, rosy, robust
personage; but at present t