ed.

"You!"

"Yes. You can be of the greatest use to me--you shall hear how."

He told her of the founding of his Home and of the good it had done.
"You are the very person," he resumed, "to be the good sister-friend
that I want for my poor girls: _you_ can say for them what they cannot
always say to me for themselves."

The tears rose in Sydney's eyes. "It is hard to see such a prospect as
that," she said, "and to give it up as soon as it is seen."

"Why give it up?"

"Because I am not fit for it. You are as good as a father to those lost
daughters of yours. If you give them a sister-friend she ought to have
set them a good example. Have I done that? Will they listen to a girl
who is no better than themselves?"

"Gladly! _Your_ sympathy will find its way to their hearts, because it
is animated by something that they can all feel in common--something
nearer and dearer to them than a sense of duty. You won't consent,
Sydney, for their sakes? Will you do what I ask of you, for my sake?"

She looked at him, hardly able to understand--or, as it might have been,
perhaps afraid to understand him. He spoke to her more plainly.

"I have kept it concealed from you," he continued--"for why should I lay
my load of suffering on a friend so young as you are, so cruelly tried
already? Let me only say that I am in great distress. If you were with
me, my child, I might be better able to bear it."

He held out his hand. Even a happy woman could hardly have found it in
her heart to resist him. In silent sympathy and respect, Sydney kissed
the hand that he had offered to her. It was the one way in which she
could trust herself to answer him.

Still encouraging her to see new hopes and new interests in the
future, the good Captain spoke of the share which she might take in the
management of the Home, if she would like to be his secretary. With this
view he showed her some written reports, relating to the institution,
which had been sent to him during the time of his residence at Sydenham.
She read them with an interest and attention which amply justified his
confidence in her capacity.

"These reports," he explained to her, "are kept for reference; but as
a means of saving time, the substance of them is entered in the daily
journal of our proceedings. Come, Sydney! venture on a first experiment
in your new character. I see pen, ink, and paper on the table; try if
you can shorten one of the reports, without leaving out anythin