his hand fondly upon the heart that was beating for him
so truly, and kissing him tenderly, murmured, "My husband, I promise!"

"If," continued he, "it should prove upon thorough investigation--which
has been already too long delayed--that the child of my sister was
spared, and is even now living, will you take her to your home and
cherish her as one of your own children, so that she may feel no want of
sympathy and love?"

With the hand still upon the life-spring, the affectionate wife
earnestly answered, "My husband, I will. But why," said she, after a
moment's hesitation, "do you doubt the truth of the report, that you
have hitherto considered credible?"

"It never occurred to me," said Mr. Halberg, "that it might be false,
until to-night; but Eleanor, presentiments come sometimes upon us with
all the force of a certain conviction, and my conscience will never be
easy until I, make some effort to find out, beyond the shadow of doubt,
whether my sister's child is wandering upon the earth, yearning for
kindred and home, or is gathered to the home which is brighter than any
this world can afford. What first awakened these thoughts within me, was
the sight of a gipsy woman to-day. She stopped me in the street to beg a
few pennies, and by the hand she held a gentle little creature of five
or six years old, which I was confident could not be her own. Visions of
a bereaved and mourning family, and of the future of the delicate child,
troubled me, and the feeling that one bound to me by a dearer tie than
that of humanity, might be roaming amid the vicious and low, smote me
with such cruel misery that I have not since been able to regain my
wonted calmness, and the coming of this beauteous child, so like my
sister, has excited my anxieties and fears still more."

"I doubt not but that it is all a fantasy of the imagination, Frank. You
had better take a composing draught, and to-morrow will find you more
cheerful," said the wife.

"I know of none more soothing," replied Mr. Halberg, as he prepared for
his night's repose, "than a spirit at peace with God and man."

CHAPTER XXIII.

"Jennie," said Carrie the next morning, "come with me and we'll get a
peep at the portrait. I saw father go into the room a moment since, and
grandpa's out on the piazza. We'll step softly just inside the door, for
father never likes to be disturbed when he's there."

With their arms about each other's waists the two friends went skip