to make a brum like that, hinny?"
said Bridget, looking on in admiration of her skill.

"Nobody told me. I saw Aunt Patty McNab do it once. You see it is easy
to do. Now, Bridget, remember. Have your house clean after this, or I
will not come to see you".

"Yes, shure, I'll have them blessed brums as long's there's a tree
grows".

And true it was, that Adele's threat not to visit her cabin proved
such a salutary terror to poor Bridget, that there was a perceptible
improvement in her domestic arrangements ever after.

As Adele grew older, the ascendency she had obtained in her obscure
empire daily increased. At twelve, she was sent to a convent at
Halifax, where she remained three years. At the end of that period,
she returned to Miramichi, and resumed at once her regal sceptre. The
sway she held over the people was really one of love, grounded on a
recognition of her superiority. Circulating among them freely, she
became thoroughly acquainted with their habits and modes of living,
and she was ever ready to aid them, under their outward wants and
their deeper heart troubles. A community must have some one to look up
to, whether conscious of the want or not. Hero-worship is natural to
the human soul, and the miscellaneous group of women and children
scattered over the settlement, found in Adele a strong, joyous,
self-relying spirit, able to help them out of their difficulties, who
could cheer them when down-hearted, and spur them up when getting
discouraged or inefficient.

But, added to this were the charms of her youthful beauty, which even
the humblest felt, without perhaps knowing it, and an air of authority
that swept away all opposition, and held, at times, even Aunt Patty
McNab at arms' length. Yes, it must be confessed that the young lady
was in the habit of queening it over the people; but they were
perfectly willing to have it so, and both loved and were proud of
their little despot.

In the mean time, the Dubois family were living a life within a life,
to the _locale_ of which the render must now be introduced.

It has been said that the outward aspect of their dwelling was
respectable, and in that regard was not greatly at variance, except in
size, with the surrounding habitations. Within, however, there were
apartments furnished and adorned in such a manner as to betoken the
character and tastes of the inmates.

In the second story, directly over the spacious dining room already
described, there w