share in the unhappy transaction which drove you to
desperation, and as we then supposed to death, you would have felt that
we had misjudged her, and that she carried a heart of flesh beneath a
stony disguise. The bitterness of her grief was united with remorse at
the recollection of her own harshness. Let us forget the sad events of
the past, and trust that the loving hand which has thus far shaped our
course has but afflicted us in mercy."

"In mercy!" exclaimed Philip. "What mercy does my past experience give
evidence of, or your life of everlasting darkness? Can you believe it a
loving hand which made me the ill-fated instrument, and you the
life-long sufferer, from one of the dreariest misfortunes that can
afflict humanity?"

"Speak not of my blindness as a misfortune," answered Emily; "I have
long ceased to think it such. It is only through the darkness of the
night that we discern the lights of heaven, and only when shut out from
earth that we enter the gates of Paradise. With eyes to see the
wonderful working of nature and nature's God, I nevertheless closed them
to the evidences of Almighty love that were around me on every side.
While enjoying the beautiful gifts that were showered on my pathway, I
forgot to praise the Giver; but, with an ungrateful heart, walked
sinfully on, little dreaming of the deceitful snares which entangle the
footsteps of youth. And therefore did he, who is ever over us for good,
arrest with fatherly hand the child who was wandering from the road that
leads to peace; and, though the discipline of his chastening rod was
sudden and severe, mercy tempered justice. From the tomb of my buried
joys sprang hopes that will bloom in immortality. From the clouds and
the darkness broke forth a glorious light. Then grieve not, dear Philip,
over the fate that is far from sad; but rejoice with me in the thought
of that blessed and not far distant awakening, when, with restored and
beautiful vision, I shall stand before God's throne, in full view of
that glorious Presence, from which, but for the guiding light which has
burst upon my spirit through the veil of earthly darkness, I might have
been eternally shut out."

As Emily finished speaking, and Philip, gazing with awe upon the rapt
expression of her soul-illumined face, beheld the triumph of an immortal
mind, and pondered on the might, the majesty, and power of the influence
wrought by simple piety, the door of the room opened abruptly and Mr.