Joe Harris her anxieties and
her plans with reference to him.

"Josephine Harris," he said, very kindly, almost tenderly, "answer me
one question, as candidly as it is asked. Will you?"

"You could not ask me an improper question," she replied, "and so I
could have no reason for refusing to answer you. I will."

"You have been singing 'Ever of Thee,'" he went on. "Your whole heart
was in it when you sung, and when you stopped your voice was broken and
your eyes were full of tears. Tell me--is there a sad secret of your
life connected with that song? Consider me your brother, and do not be
afraid or ashamed to answer me."

"Richard Crawford, I _do_ consider you as a brother," the young girl
replied--"a _dear_ brother, in whom I would confide as in one of my own
blood. I mean to prove to you, some day, what a true sister I am. I am
neither afraid or ashamed to answer your question. I have no grief or
sad memory connected with 'Ever of Thee,' any more than with any other
sadly beautiful piece of music with words of the same character."

"Indeed!--I thought otherwise!" said Crawford, with something of
disappointment in his tone. "And yet it moves your light heart very
strangely."

"It does," said Josephine Harris. "I never sing it or hear it sung
without the tears gathering in my eyes, even if they do not fall."

"And you can give no reason for this peculiar feeling?"

"Oh yes," answered the young girl, "though no doubt you will laugh at my
reason when you hear it."

"I think not," said Crawford. "Tell me."

"You think me very gay and merry," said Josephine. "So I am, but I
suppose that I have something deeper in my nature, that 'crops out'
occasionally, as the geologists say. I suppose that I am a visionary in
some respects and among my visions is a love worthily fixed and fully
returned. So few seem to find this, that I fear I shall miss it--either
miss it altogether or find it too late. The thought is a sad one, and
that song seems insensibly to blend with it. When I am singing 'Ever of
Thee,' I am singing to my ideal love that may be escaping beyond the
reach of my fingers forever."

True woman of the golden heart!--God in heaven grant that to you and
such as you this vision may be no dim unreality! God grant you true
hearts against which your own may beat, and faithful arms upon which you
may lean when the day of your probation is accomplished I And failing
this fruition, the same God of love and peace gra