m the kitchen to see what was going on. Veronica looked
up at the visitor and asked earnestly,

"Cousin Judith, what is fortune?"

"Ah, you are always asking some strange question that no one else ever
thought of asking;" said Cousin Judith, "where on earth did you ever hear
of fortune?"

"Here," said Veronica, holding up the rose with the golden verse in the
centre. "Shall I read it to you?"

"Yes, do, child."

Veronica read--

"Fortune stands ready, full in sight;
He wins who knows to grasp it right."

"Well, it means this--I should say--fortune is whatever anyone wants the
most."

"Fortune is a horse, then," said Dietrich quickly.

Veronica sat thinking. "But, Cousin Judith," she said presently, "how can
any one 'grasp fortune'?"

"With your hands," replied Cousin Judith unhesitatingly, "You see, our
hands are given us to work with, and if we use them diligently and do our
work well, as it ought to be done, then fortune comes to us; so don't you
see we 'grasp it' with our hands?"

The verse had now become endued with life, and meant something real and
attractive to Veronica. She did not lay her rose out of her hand for a
long time, that evening, notwithstanding that Dietrich cast threatening
glances upon it, and finally broke out in vexation,

"I will tear off the spring some time, and spoil the thing altogether."

The rose was not put into the book and the book into the cup-board, until
the time came for the children to say their evening prayers. This was the
closing act of every day; and it was so fixed and regular a habit, that
the children never needed to be bidden to fold their hands, and kneel to
ask God's blessing before they slept.

CHAPTER III.

NINE YEARS LATER.

A sunshiny Easter morning shone over hill and valley. A crowd of
holiday-making people poured out of the little church at Tannenegg, and
scattered in every direction. A long row of blooming lads and lassies came
in close ranks, moving slowly towards the parsonage. They were the
newly-confirmed young people of the parish, who had that day partaken of
the Communion for the first time. They were going to the house of their
pastor, to express their gratitude for his careful and tender teaching and
guidance, before they went out into the world. Among these were Dietrich
and Veronica. Gertrude stood at a little distance from the church, and
watched the procession as it passed by. Her eyes were filled with tears of
p