at brightened Elsie's grave. He thought that only the slow, heavy
rolling of years could have worn those lines about her faded lips, and
those dark purplish hollows under the steady, undimmed eyes. That
composed, frigid Salome, watching him from across the corpse and
coffin, seemed a mere chill shadow of the fiery, impetuous, radiant
girl, whose passionate waywardness had so often annoyed and grieved
him. The alabaster vase was still perfect in form, but the lamp that
had hitherto burned within, lending a rosy glow to clay, had fluttered
and expired, and the change was painful indeed.

His attention was so riveted upon the extraordinary alteration in her
appearance, that her words fell on his ear, as empty, as meaningless,
as the echoes heard in dreams, and when she ceased speaking, he looked
perplexed, and sighed heavily.

"What did you say? I do not think I understand you; my mind was
abstracted when you spoke."

"True; you never will understand me. Only the dead sleeping here
between us fully comprehended me, and even unto the end of my
life-chapter I must walk on misapprehended. When the coffin-lid is
screwed down over that dear, kind face, I shall have bidden adieu to
my sole and last friend; for in the Hereafter she will not know me.
Ah, Miss Jane! you tried hard to teach me Christianity, but it was
like geometry, I had no talent for it,--could not take hold of
it,--and it all slipped through my fingers. If there is indeed an
inexorable and incorruptible Justice reigning behind the stars, you
will be so happy that I and my sins, and my desolation will not
trouble you. Good-by, dear Miss Jane; it is not your fault that I
missed my chance of being coaxed into the celestial fold with the
elect sheep, and find myself scourged out with the despised goats. God
grant you His everlasting rest."

She turned, but Dr. Grey stretched his arm across his sister's body,
and caught the orphan's dress.

"Salome, God has called my own sister to her blessed rest in Christ,
but my adopted sister He has left to comfort, to sympathize with me.
Here, in the sacred presence of my dear dead, I ask you to take her
place, and be to me throughout life the true, loving, faithful friend
whom nothing can alienate, and of whom only death can deprive me. My
little sister, let the future ripen and sanctify our confidence,
affection, and friendship."

"No, sir; sinners can not fill the niches of the saints; and to-day we
are more completely