intended for the good both of Robbie and her own two
children, which had, however, resulted in the very jealousy she had
tried to prevent. Robbie benefited by the change, and was certainly far
happier. He grew less babyish--stronger both in mind and body. The old
jealousy died away, and Elsie liked him far better as a cousin--yet
treated in every way like herself--than she had done as a brother.

For several years no one dared to mention in Duncan's presence the sad
experience he had lived through. His terror and excitement were so
intense at the mere recollection of it, that the utmost care was
necessary. He could never go out alone, for if he met a person who
seemed to his morbid fancy to resemble either of the Fergusons or the
Murdochs, his shuddering fear was shocking to witness. He and Robbie had
quite changed places. It was he now who needed all the anxious,
watchful care that in former days Elsie would have called petting.

If no one reproached her, it is certain she reproached herself, more and
more bitterly as she grew older, and understood how grave a misfortune
she had brought upon Duncan, the one person she was most fond of in this
world. She had turned his very trust in her into the means of
sacrificing him. Sometimes she was so tortured by this thought that she
could hardly bear it. "I will never leave him as long as I live," she
often said to herself, as a sort of reparation for what he had suffered.
"I will take care of him till I die."

But there is a hope that in course of time, after he has passed the
years of boyhood, he may recover his old strength, and in this hope
Elsie lives.

THE END.

LITTLE PAPERS FOR LITTLE ART WORKERS.

IVORY MINIATURE PAINTING.

We all know the beautiful miniatures that grandmammas count as some of
their greatest treasures, mementoes of the friends of long ago. Some of
those little bits of ivory are now worth, over and over again, their
weight in gold. The names of Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac and Peter Oliver,
Samuel Cooper, Nathaniel Hone, and Richard Cosway, are well-known in
connection with the art of Miniature Painting. Photography now
supersedes all other modes of taking portraits on a small scale on
account of its rapidity, but no photograph, however carefully coloured,
ever did, or ever will, equal the exquisite little gems left to us by
the men we have reason to honour whose names I have mentioned already. I
should, for my part, be glad to see the art,