d his wife, "you forget Emily."

"Emily--to be sure, she's an angel, and never would impose upon anybody,
least of all her own pet; but she'll have to play second fiddle herself,
and I'm mistaken if she doesn't find it very hard to defend her rights
and maintain a comfortable position in her father's enlarged family
circle."

"So much the more need, then," said Gertrude, "that someone should be
enlisted in her interests, to ward off the approach of every annoyance."

"Do you mean, then, to put yourself in the breach?" asked the doctor.

"I mean to accept Mr. Graham's invitation," replied Gertrude, "and join
Emily at once; but I trust the harmony that seems to subsist between her
and her new connections will continue undisturbed, so that I shall have
no cause to take up arms on _her_ account, and on _my own_ I have not a
single fear."

"Then you think you shall go?" said Mrs. Jeremy.

"I do," said Gertrude; "nothing but my duty to Mrs. Sullivan and her
father led me to think of leaving Emily. That duty is at an end. I see
from Mrs. Ellis's letters that Emily is not happy; and nothing which I
can do to make her so must be neglected. Only think, Mrs. Jeremy, what a
friend she has been to me."

"I know it," said Mrs. Jeremy, "and I dare say you will enjoy the
journey, in spite of all the scarecrows the doctor sets up to frighten
you; but it does seem a sacrifice for you to leave your comforts for
such an uncertain sort of life."

"Sacrifice!" said the doctor; "it's the greatest sacrifice that ever I
heard of! It is not merely giving up a good income of her own earning,
and as pleasant a home as there is in Boston; it is relinquishing all
the independence that she has been striving after, and which she was so
anxious to maintain."

"No, doctor," said Gertrude, warmly; "nothing that I do for _Emily's_
sake can be called a sacrifice; it is my greatest pleasure."

"Gerty always finds her pleasure in doing what is right," remarked Mrs.
Jeremy.

"The thought," said Gertrude, "that our dear Emily was dependent upon a
stranger for all those little attentions that are only acceptable from
those she loves, would make me miserable; our happiness for years has
been in each other; and when one has suffered, the other has suffered
also. I _must_ go to her; I cannot think of doing otherwise."

"I wish," muttered Dr. Jeremy, "that your sacrifice would be half
appreciated. But Graham, I'll venture to say, thinks it will be the