se I was tired," Louise went on in a dreamy tone, as if
thinking aloud to herself, "and because I was hungry."

"Your expressions begin to assume the old, quaint, humorous form," said
the aunt smiling. "I suppose you mean your soul was tired for want of
something on which to rest, and hungry for want of its proper
nourishment."

"That's what I mean, aunt; but then I do not seek excuse for the crime
of stealing to appease the cravings of my hunger."

"A famishing man has never yet been hung for stealing to sustain life."

"You draw a strong comparison, aunt," said Louise, laughing in spite of
herself.

"To meet a strong case," returned she. "It is a duty I owe you to use my
best efforts to destroy this morbid melancholy which is preying on your
spirits. I know nothing of the man you have loved. He may or may not be
worthy of your affections. It is not his cause I plead. But I would
divest you of the false glasses through which your sensitive brain,
wrought on by high excitement, and shocked by a sudden calamity, has
come to regard the events of your past life, and let you behold them
again with your own natural sight. If I can effect this, I confidently
trust to your good reasoning powers to set all right again."

Louise remained silent after her aunt ceased speaking, but her
countenance evinced far more energy and hopefulness than at the
commencement of the conversation. At length she rose and said, "Well,
aunt, I think I have as much logic as my weak brain can digest in one
night, so I'll retire to my bed-room, if you please."

In a few weeks, young Mrs. Edson, under the tuition of her
strong-minded, sensible aunt, regained a share of her former vivacity,
and declared she would be quite herself again were it not for that great
black jail in the adjoining yard, which frowned on her every morning and
loomed dismally in her dreams.

CHAPTER XLIII.

"Ah, why
Do you still keep apart, and walk alone,
And let such strong emotions stamp your brow,
As not betraying their full import, yet
Disclose too much!
Disclose too much!--of what?
What is there to disclose?
A heart so ill at ease."

The preparations for the nuptials of Florence Howard with Rufus Malcome
were rapidly progressing.

The services of Dilly Danforth were