h. She cannot leave her mother is another objection,
but that I should not ask her to do--as a landlubber might," he added
sportively, "would in all probability. As much of my life must be spent at
sea, it would not be worth while to set up a home of my own on land, if I
had a wife who preferred to live with her mother."

"Well, sir, that is certainly much in your favor," said Mr. Dinsmore; "our
greatest, almost our only objection to your suit being the thought of
parting with the child of our love."

When Violet came home that evening she did not rejoin the family in the
parlor, but went directly to her own apartments.

"Where is mamma?" she inquired of her maid as she threw off her hat and
cloak.

"In de parlor, Miss Wi'let."

"Are the children in bed and asleep?"

"Yes, miss."

Violet opened a bureau drawer and took therefrom several small packages.
Undoing one, she brought to light the miniature of her father which she
had painted. She carried it to the lamp and stood for some minutes gazing
down upon the beloved face with fast-falling tears.

"Oh, papa, papa!" she murmured, "how hard it is to live without you!"

At length closing the case and restoring it to the box whence she had
taken it, she gathered up the other parcels and went first to her mother's
dressing-room, where she laid the little box on the toilet-table, then on
to the rooms occupied by her younger sister and brothers, leaving a gift
for each.

Going back to her own rooms, she espied a letter directed to herself,
which she had not noticed before. She had seen Capt. Raymond's handwriting
frequently during the weeks he had been at Ion, and recognized it at a
glance. The rich color rushed over face and neck, and her heart beat fast.

"Agnes," she said to her maid, "you may go now; I shall not need you any
more to-night," and the girl went out, leaving her alone.

Even then she did not at once open her letter, but moved slowly back and
forth for some minutes, with it in her hand. Then kneeling down she asked
earnestly for heavenly guidance in this important crisis of her life.

Looking into her own heart that day, she had learned that she was far from
indifferent to him who had asked her to exchange with him vows of mutual
love and trust, and to be the partner of his joys and sorrows. She was not
indifferent, but did she love him well enough to leave, for his sake, the
dear home of her childhood and the sweet mother to whom her heart had ev