who, by the lessons she had given her child in his boyhood,
the warnings spoken to his later years, and the ministering guidance of
her disembodied spirit, had fitted him for the struggle with temptation,
sustained him through its trials, and restored him triumphant to the
sweet friend of his infancy--who shall say that even now she hovered not
over them with parted wings, realising the joy prefigured in that dreamy
vision which pictured to her sight the union between the son and the
daughter of her love, when the one, shielded by her fond care from every
danger and snatched, from the power of temptation, should be restored to
the arms of the other who, by a long and patient continuance in
well-doing, had earned so full a recompense, so all-sufficient a reward?

CHAPTER XLVIII.

ANCHORS FOR WORLD-TRIED SOULS.

The sunset hour was near when Gertrude and Willie rose to depart. They
left the cemetery by a different gateway, and in the opposite direction
to that by which Gertrude had entered. Here Willie found the chaise in
which he had come, though the horse had contrived to loosen the bridle
by which he was fastened, had strayed to the side of the road, eaten as
much grass as he wished, and was now sniffing the air, looking up and
down the road, and, despairing of his master's return, seemed on the
point of taking his departure. He was reclaimed, however, without
difficulty, and, as if glad after his long rest to be again in motion,
brought them in half-an-hour to Mr. Graham's door.

As soon as they came in sight of the house, Gertrude, familiar with the
customary ways of the family, perceived that something unusual was going
forward. Lamps were moving about in every direction; the front door
stood wide open; there was, what she had never seen before, the blaze
of a bright fire discernible through the windows of the best chamber;
and as they drew still nearer she observed that the piazza was half
covered with trunks.

All these appearances, as she rightly conjectured, betokened the arrival
of Mrs. Graham, and possibly of other company. She might perhaps have
regretted the ill-timed coming of this bustling lady at the moment when
she was eager for a quiet opportunity to present Willie to Emily and her
father, and communicate to them her own happiness; but if such a thought
presented itself it vanished in a moment. Her joy was too complete to be
marred by so trifling a disappointment. "Let us drive up the avenu