the emerald shore beyond: the dear familiar outlines of
that Fifth Avenue library, the frescoed walls, polished floor, mellow
gas lamps; and above all, the stately form, massive head, high brow,
so like a slab of marble, and blight black eyes of the dear master.

She was glad when Mr. Chesley came in, with an open book in his hand,
and stood near her.

"Is your mother asleep?"

"I hope so. She sent me away that she might get a nap."

"Just now I stumbled upon a passage which reminded me so vividly of
the imaginary home you last week painted for us, somewhere along the
Pacific shore, that I thought I would show it to you. That home,
where you hope to indulge your bucolic tastes, your childish fondness
for pets--doves, rabbits, pheasants--and similar rustic appendages to
our cottage--in--the--air. Here, read it, aloud if you will."

She glanced over the lines, smiled, and read:

"'Mong the green lanes of Kent stood an antique home
Within its orchard, rich with ruddy fruits;
For the full year was laughing in his prime.
Wealth of all flowers grew in that garden green,
And the old porch with its great oaken door
Was smothered in rose-blooms, while o'er the walls
The honeysuckle clung deliciously.
Before the door there lay a plot of grass
Snowed o'er with daisies,--flower by all beloved,
And famousest in song,--and in the midst
A carved fountain stood,...
On which a peacock perched and sunned itself;
Beneath, two petted rabbits, snowy white,
Squatted upon the sward.
A row of poplars darkly rose behind,
Around whose tops, and the old-fashioned vanes,
White pigeons fluttered; and over all was bent
The mighty sky, with sailing, sunny clouds."

"Thank you, Uncle Orme. The picture is as sweet as its honeysuckle
blooms, and some day we will frame it with California mountains, and
call it Home. I shall only want to add a gently sloping field,
wherein pearly short-horns stand ankle deep in clover, while my dear
old dog Hero basks upon the doorstep; and upon the lawn,--

'An almond tree
Pink with her blossom and alive with bees,
Standing against the azure.'"

"Yonder come the letters."

As he spoke, Mr. Chesley left the room, and soon after a servant
entered with a letter addressed to Regina.

It was from Olga,