she longs to retire from all this; she is sick of fashionable
folly, and will come to us to be all our own. Gradually the charming
circle of cultivated families which form our society will elevate her
taste, and form her mind.

"Love is woman's inspiration, and love will lead her to all that is
noble and good. My dear sister, think not that any new ties are going
to make you any less to me, or touch your place in my heart. I have
already spoken of you to Lillie, and she longs to know you. You must
be to her what you have always been to me,--guide, philosopher, and
friend.

"I am sure I never felt better impulses, more humble, more thankful,
more religious, than I do now. That the happiness of this soft,
gentle, fragile creature is to be henceforth in my hands is to me
a solemn and inspiring thought. What man is worthy of a refined,
delicate woman? I feel my unworthiness of her every hour; but, so help
me God, I shall try to be all to her that a husband should; and you,
my sister, I know, will help me to make happy the future which she so
confidingly trusts to me.

"Believe me, dear sister, I never was so much your affectionate
brother,

"John SEYMOUR.

"P.S.--I forgot to tell you that Lillie remarkably resembles the ivory
miniature of our dear sainted mother. She was very much affected
when I told her of it. I think naturally Lillie has very much such a
character as our mother; though circumstances, in her case, have been
unfavorable to the development of it."

Whether the charming vision was realized; whether the little sovereign
now enthroned will be a just and clement one; what immunities and
privileges she will allow to her slaves,--is yet to be seen in this
story.

CHAPTER II.

_WHAT SHE THINKS OF IT_.

Springdale was one of those beautiful rural towns whose flourishing
aspect is a striking exponent of the peculiarities of New-England
life. The ride through it presents a refreshing picture of wide, cool,
grassy streets, overhung with green arches of elm, with rows of large,
handsome houses on either side, each standing back from the street
in its own retired square of gardens, green turf, shady trees, and
flowering shrubs. It was, so to speak, a little city of country-seats.
It spoke of wealth, thrift, leisure, cultivation, quiet, thoughtful
habits, and moral tastes.

Some of these mansions were of ancestral reputation, and had been in
the family whose name they bore for generations back; a