nd or foe,--she
thought that her brother must be wealthy, and she felt very proud of
him and of her opportunity. The servants, of whom there were several
in the house, treated her with a deference to which her eight months in
school had only partly accustomed her. At school she had been one of
many to be served, and had herself been held to obedience. Here, for
the first time in her life, she was mistress, and tasted the sweets of
power.

The household consisted of her brother and herself, a cook, a coachman,
a nurse, and her brother's little son Albert. The child, with a fine
instinct, had put out his puny arms to Rena at first sight, and she had
clasped the little man to her bosom with a motherly caress. She had
always loved weak creatures. Kittens and puppies had ever found a
welcome and a meal at Rena's hands, only to be chased away by Mis'
Molly, who had had a wider experience. No shiftless poor white, no
half-witted or hungry negro, had ever gone unfed from Mis' Molly's
kitchen door if Rena were there to hear his plaint. Little Albert was
pale and sickly when she came, but soon bloomed again in the sunshine
of her care, and was happy only in her presence. Warwick found
pleasure in their growing love for each other, and was glad to perceive
that the child formed a living link to connect her with his home.

"Dat chile sutt'nly do lub Miss Rena, an' dat's a fac', sho 's you
bawn," remarked 'Lissa the cook to Mimy the nurse one day. "You'll get
yo' nose put out er j'int, ef you don't min'."

"I ain't frettin', honey," laughed the nurse good-naturedly. She was
not at all jealous. She had the same wages as before, and her labors
were materially lightened by the aunt's attention to the child. This
gave Mimy much more time to flirt with Tom the coachman.

It was a source of much gratification to Warwick that his sister seemed
to adapt herself so easily to the new conditions. Her graceful
movements, the quiet elegance with which she wore even the simplest
gown, the easy authoritativeness with which she directed the servants,
were to him proofs of superior quality, and he felt correspondingly
proud of her. His feeling for her was something more than brotherly
love,--he was quite conscious that there were degrees in brotherly
love, and that if she had been homely or stupid, he would never have
disturbed her in the stagnant life of the house behind the cedars.
There had come to him from some source, down th