ve it.

CHAPTER LI.

A STARTLING PROPOSAL.

Obed and his family thus remained in Naples, and Zillah at last had
an occupation. The new duties which she had undertaken gave her just
enough of employment to fill the day and occupy her thoughts. It was
a double blessing. In the first place it gave her a feeling of
independence; and again, and especially, it occupied her thoughts,
and thus prevented her mind from preying upon itself. Then she was
able to gain alleviation for the troubles that had so long oppressed
her. She felt most profoundly the change from the feeling of poverty
and dependence to one of independence, when she was actually "getting
her own living." She knew that her independence was owing to the
delicate generosity of Obed Chute, and that under any other
circumstances she would probably have had no refuge from starvation;
but her gratitude to her friends did not lesson at all her own
self-complacency. There was a childish delight in Zillah over her new
position, which was due, perhaps, to the fact that she had always
looked upon herself as hopelessly and incurably dull; but now the
discovery that she could actually fill the position of music-teacher
brought her a strange triumph, which brightened many a dark hour.

Zillah already had understood and appreciated the delicate feeling
and high-toned generosity of Obed Chute and his sister. Nothing could
increase the deep admiration which she felt for these simple,
upright, honest souls, whose pure affection for her had proved such a
blessing. If there had been nothing else, her very gratitude to them
would have been a stimulus such as the ordinary governess never has.
Under such a stimulus the last vestige of Zillah's old willfulness
died out. She was now a woman, tried in the crucible of sorrow, and
in that fiery trial the dross had been removed, and only the pure
gold remained. The wayward, impetuous girl had reached her last and
fullest development, and she now stood forth in adversity and
affliction, right noble in her character--an earnest woman, devoted,
tender, enthusiastic, generous.

The fondness and admiration of her friends increased every day. The
little children, whose musical education she had now begun, had
already learned to love her; and when she was transformed from a
friend to a teacher they loved her none the less. Zillah's capacity
for teaching was so remarkable that it surprised herself, and she
began to think that she