hrough exposure and
fatigue, which at any other time I know would have killed me; I have
laid out all night in the rain; _I_, who used to be so susceptible to
cold, but nothing seemed to hurt me. I have been reserved for other and
more terrible things. And you, Agnes, who are always kind, and
forbearing, and self-sacrificing, it seems to be your fate ever to
suffer and endure for others. Oh, my sister, you deserve a happier lot!"

"Don't talk so, dear Lewie!" said Agnes; "you have given me very many
happy hours, and all the little troubles of 'long, long ago' are
forgotten. And now, what greater pleasure can I have than that of
sitting with you here, working and reading, and trying to wile away the
tedious hours of your captivity?"

"Agnes! this must not be! I cannot allow it. It will brighten the whole
day for me, if you will come and spend an hour or two with me every
morning; but I cannot consent that you shall be immured for the whole
day in the walls of this gloomy prison-house."

"But what can you do, Lewie? I am going to be obstinate for once, and
take my own course. Uncle will drive me over every morning, and come for
me at night; and I am going to enjoy a pleasure long denied me, of
spending every day with my darling brother."

"Oh, Agnes! this is too, too much!"

"Not too much at all, Lewie. Do you think I could be happy anywhere else
than with you? What should I do at uncle's but roam the house, restless
and impatient, every moment I am absent from you? And the nights will
seem so long, because they separate me from you!"

"Oh! how utterly undeserving!--how _utterly undeserving_ such love and
devotion!" said Lewie, pacing up and down the room. "Sweet
sister!--dearest Agnes!--now has my prison lost all its gloom; and were
it not for the future, I might be happier here than when out in the
world; for temptation here is far from me, and only good influences
surround me."

"And what of the future, dear?"

"Of my trial, Agnes? Well, I hardly know what to say. My friends and
lawyers try to keep up my spirits, and mention to me many hopeful
things; and, for the time, I too feel encouraged. But I can think of
many things that a skilful lawyer can bring up against me, and which
would weigh very heavily. I am trying to think of the _worst_ as a
_probability_; so that if it comes, I shall not be overwhelmed."

"Oh!" said Agnes, shuddering, and covering her eyes, as if to shut out
some horrid spectacle, "it ca