ppressed it, felt lighter and less
desolate in that abode of sadness and sweetness, the bosom in which it
dwelt.

Yet, after all, when thought came again under the old aspect--when she
remembered his situation and her own, she felt the shadow once more come
over her with an icy influence. It was not gratitude which her heart
craved from that of Ralph Colleton. The praise and the approval and the
thanks of others might have given her pleasure, but these were not
enough from him; and she sighed that he from whom alone love would be
precious, had nothing less frigid than gratitude to offer. But even that
was much, and she felt it deeply. His approbation was not a little to a
spirit whose reference to him was perpetual; and when--her hand in
his--he recounted the adventures of that night--when he dwelt upon her
courage--upon her noble disregard of opinions which might have chilled
in many of her sex the fine natural currents of that godlike humanity
which conventional forms, it is well to think, can not always fetter or
abridge--when he expatiated upon all these things with all the fervor of
his temperament--she with a due modesty, shrinking from the recital of
her own performances--she felt every moment additional pleasure in his
speech of praise. When, at length, relating the particulars of the
escape and death of Munro, he proceeded, with all the tender caution of
a brother, softening the sorrow into sadness, and plucking from grief as
much of the sting as would else have caused the wound to rankle, she
felt that though another might sway his heart and its richer affections,
she was not altogether destitute of its consideration and its care.

"And now, Lucy--my sweet sister--for my sister you are now--you will
accede to your uncle's prayer and mine--you will permit me to be your
brother, and to provide for you as such. In this wild region it fits not
that you should longer abide. This wilderness is uncongenial--it is
foreign to a nature like yours. You have been too long its
tenant--mingling with creatures not made for your association, none of
whom are capable of appreciating your worth. You must come with us, and
live with my uncle--with my cousin Edith--"

"Edith!"--and she looked inquiringly, while a slight flush of the cheek
and kindling of the eye in him followed the utterance of the single word
by her, and accompanied his reply.

"Yes, Edith--Edith Colleton, Lucy, is the name of my cousin, and the
relationship