chastening hand. Sickness and pain have been
my only chastisements, and they are all past. I am not very strong, but
I am well; and though a cripple, my wooden feet serve me wonderfully
well. I am so used to them now, they seem a part of myself."

"I can never think of you as walking," I said, taking one of the
crutches that leaned against the tree. The part which fitted under the
arm was covered with a cushion of blue velvet, and the rosewood staff
was mounted with silver. "You manage these so gracefully, one scarcely
misses your feet."

"But Ernest, dear Ernest," interrupted she, "let us talk of him. You
must not be influenced too much by my mother's words. She adores him,
but her standard of perfection is so exalted few can attain it. The very
excess of her love makes her alive to his defects. She knows your vivid
imagination, and fears my lavish praises will lead you to expect a being
of super-human excellence. Oh, another thing I wanted to tell you. The
uncle, for whom he was named, has died and left him a splendid fortune,
which he did not need very much, you know. Had it not been for this
circumstance, he would not have come back till autumn; and now he will
be here in a week,--in less than a week. Oh, Gabriella, Grandison Place
must shine for its master's welcome."

Another splendid fortune added to his own! Further and further still,
seemed he removed from me. But what difference did it make? Why did I
think of him in reference to myself? How dared I do it, foolish and
presumptuous girl! Then, he was seven years older than myself. How
mature! He would probably look upon me as a little girl; and if he
granted me the honors of womanhood, the student of Gottingen, the heir
of two great fortunes would scarcely notice the village teacher, save as
the orphan protegee of his mother.

I did not indulge these thoughts. I repelled them, for they were selfish
and uncomfortable. If every one recorded their thoughts as I do, would
they not, like me, pray for the blotting angel's tears?

In one week! How soon!

Mrs. Linwood, quiet and serene as she was, participated in Edith's
joyful excitement. She departed from her usual reliance on the subject,
and checked not Edith's glowing warmth.

In a family so wealthy, a dwelling so abounding in all the elegancies
and luxuries of life, the coming of a prince would not have occasioned
any necessary disturbance. The chamber of the son and brother had been
long prepared, but n