lapsed before it effected its work, yet he well knew what would
be the result.

Pain and distress had wrecked her feeble frame, and dimmed the lustre
of her once sparkling eyes; her step was feeble, her voice grew weak,
and soon her gentle spirit took its flight to a fairer and brighter
world, leaving to her bereaved husband four children, the youngest
their only daughter. With joy the father saw that she partook in a
great degree of her mother's gentle spirit. This gave hope and
consolation to the now almost heart-broken parent, who, as he looked
upon his child, saw the perfect resemblance of her departed mother.

On the death of Mrs. Woodman, she gave up the charge of her children to
her sister, who watched over them with all a mother's kindness; with
careful attention she reared the tender plants left to her care by her
departed sister.

Fostina soon completed her twelfth year, and her father with pleasure
witnessed the growing intellect of his child, and the superior talents
which she possessed. He bestowed upon her a liberal education, and was
fully rewarded for his labors as he beheld, with astonishment, the
rapid progress of his lovely daughter.

Nor was Aunt Aubrey less pleased, as she saw her fair charge in all her
youthful beauty, possessing her mother's gentle nature, lovely in mind
and person.

* * * * *

Years rolled on in quick succession, and our lovely heroine had reached
her nineteenth year, beloved and admired by all who knew her, diffusing
love and happiness around to all that were blessed with her presence.

At the commencement of my story, one lovely morning, she was seated
beneath a stately oak, with her brothers, and Lewis Mortimer, a son of
a gentleman residing in the village, who had ever been a constant
visitor and welcome guest at the Woodmans. An intimacy had by degrees
gradually grown up between them, and he had now become almost a
constant member of the family. Lewis had long felt a strong attachment
towards Fostina, and she, too, was not ignorant of the feeling which
existed between them. She had but a faint recollection of her mother,
although her father had often impressed upon her youthful mind the
remembrance of one so fondly cherished in his memory.

Fostina had never experienced much of this world's sorrow; the
brightness of her sparkling eye and joyous countenance spoke the true
index of the soul within. From her infancy she had been