roubles of the heroines of
romance.

'Laetitia shared these feelings with the others, though with less
reason; but her thought and imagination were so vivid, and gave color so
completely to her life, that it would have been as absurd for her as for
them to have looked at the probabilities of the case. Never once did she
say to herself, that to one in her circumstances, life would most likely
be full of disappointments and commonplace incidents. But time, the
great revealer, soon opened to her those pages which her wisest friend
would not have dared to show her so early.

'One evening I went to Mrs. Sunderland's on some trivial errand. The
family were all out excepting Laetitia, whom I found sitting by the
window, in the dark, with her head resting on her hand. Her manner
indicated great depression; and I looked at her a moment and said, 'My
dear child, what is the matter with you this evening?'

'Her head dropped upon the table, and she burst into tears. She
continued to weep and sob, till, seeing she was not relieved, I put my
hand upon her shoulder and said, 'Laetitia, Laetitia, don't cry so.'

'Don't call me Laetitia,' she replied. 'I shall never be Laetitia
again.'

'The answer seemed melodramatic, but I knew she was suffering. Still I
responded lightly: 'Oh yes, you will be Laetitia many, many times yet.
'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,' you
know.'

'She did not reply, and we sat a while in silence, till at length I
begged of her to tell me the cause of her grief, just to see if I could
not help her. I think she wanted to tell it, for she tried two or three
times, but could not get any further than 'Yesterday afternoon'--At last
she said, 'I have a very great trouble; it will never be any less as
long as I live, and it will forever keep me from being happy. I _cannot_
tell it to you: can you help me without knowing it?'

'This was a new appeal, and I did not know how to answer it, but a
thought came to me, and I replied: 'Go and tell God about it.'

'This I said at a venture, for, old as I was, I had never called upon
Him in deep distress, and I did not know what the effect would be; but I
saw immediately that the advice was unexpected, and seemed to meet the
exigency.

'Her mother's voice was at that moment heard at the door, and I went out
to give Laetitia an opportunity of slipping off to her room without
meeting the family.

''Have you seen 'Titia?' said Mrs. Sunderla