life. They are all dedicated to Kittie, who inspired them; and
it is a great comfort to be reading them over while he is lying there as
if asleep and unable to speak. They make every thing plain to her
concerning the past, and they confirm her in the vow that was made
beneath the old elm, long ago. It is such a treasure, that precious
legacy; so filled with beautiful thoughts, and so free from earthly
dross. Besides, it is all her own, sacred from the world. No other eye
has ever seen it, and nobody else can ever know the secret workings of
the great mind that is no longer clogged by the crippled body.

The old leather portfolio has come to a blessed use--the comforting and
supporting the afflicted. Much need is there, too, of comfort where the
wound is so deeply hidden. Nobody knows Kittie's secret; not even her
fond mother discerns more than a natural solemnity at the presence of
death. It is so hard to go about the house with a cheerful face and an
apparent indifference, when the full heart would fain express itself
freely. But harder still was it for Kittie to be subjected to her
cousin's importunities at a time when she had scarcely room for a common
sympathy for him.

She had walked out alone, and had sought the old elm; it was so soothing
to be there, with no eye to observe her emotion. Why should Willie seek
her _then_ of all times in the world? and for such a purpose!

"It can not be, Willie--you know it can not be," said she, in firm and
decided accents.

"But I have set my heart upon it, Kittie," replied her cousin. "You see,
we have been much together, and I am used to your ways, and I don't
think I could easily find any body else that would exactly suit me, so
I've concluded it is best to have the matter arranged immediately. There
is nothing in the way but this funeral, and that will be over to-morrow,
and what do you say to Monday week, Kittie? Will that be soon enough, my
birdie?" and the too confident youth drew near and reached out his arm
to encircle her waist, but she was no longer there.

"Soon enough!" What! to be wedded to a compound of the most hideous
deformity! "Soon enough!" To blot out the memory of the pure and
immortal one, and to link herself to a revolting and miserable object!
It were better to be lying peacefully beneath the green earth than to
walk about a living corpse, with but the semblance of animation. What
mockery it seemed to her as she stood by the silent dead! The pet name