g brought to her mind: "The king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water: he turneth it
whithersoever he will." "My grace is sufficient for thee." "As thy days,
so shall thy strength be." These, and others of a like import, came to
her remembrance in this hour of fear and dread, and assured her that her
heavenly Father would either save her from that trial, or give her
strength to endure it; and she grew calm and peaceful again.

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it
and is safe."

CHAPTER VII.

"Alone! alone! how drear it is
Always to be alone!"

WILLES

It was only a few days after Adelaide had suggested to her brother the
propriety of separating Elsie from her nurse, that he had the offer of a
very fine estate in the immediate neighborhood of his father's
plantation.

Mr. Granville, the present owner, was about removing to a distant part
of the country, and having become somewhat reduced in circumstances, was
anxious to sell, and as the place suited Mr. Dinsmore exactly, they were
not long in coming to an arrangement, satisfactory to both, by which it
passed into his hands.

Horace Dinsmore had inherited a large fortune from his mother, and having
plenty of money at his command, he immediately set about making sundry
improvements upon his new purchase; laying out the grounds, and repairing
and enlarging the already fine old mansion, adding all the modern
conveniences, and furnishing it in the most tasteful and elegant style.

And so "Rumor, with her thousand tongues," soon had it noised abroad that
he was about to bring home a second wife, and to that cause many
attributed Elsie's pale and altered looks.

Such, however, was not Mr. Dinsmore's intention.

"I must have a housekeeper," he said to Adelaide. "I shall send Chloe
there. She will do very well for the present, and it will give me the
opportunity I desire of separating her from Elsie, while in the meantime
I can be looking out for a better."

"But you are not going to leave us yourself, Horace?" said his sister
inquiringly.

"Not immediately, Adelaide; I intend to end this controversy with Elsie
first, and I indulge the hope that the prospect of sharing such a home
with me as soon as she submits, will go far towards subduing her."

Mr. Dinsmore shrank from the thought of Elsie's grief, if forced to part
from her nurse; but he was not a man to let his own feelings, or those of
others,