ra;
because your love is restored to me fully after a long constraint;
because you let me hope that you will not be unhappy. I know what you
want to say, noble child, whom God has given me as a shield against
every ill! Well, I will encounter ruin without bowing my head, and
submit with resignation to the hand of God! Alas!" continued he, sadly,
"who can tell what sufferings are yet in store for us? We may be forced
to wander about the world,--to seek an asylum far from those we know and
love,--to earn our daily bread by the labor of our hands! Oh, Lenora,
you know not how bitter is the bread of misery,--of poverty!"

The maiden shuddered as she saw the cloud falling once more like a
curtain over her father's face. She grasped his hand tenderly, and,
fixing her gaze intently on his, said, in beseeching tones,--

"Oh, father! let not the happy smile that just now lighted your features
depart from them again! Believe me, we shall still be happy. Fancy
yourself in the position that awaits us: and what do you see in it so
frightful? I have skill to do all that woman can do; and then your
instructions have made me able to instruct others in the arts and
sciences you have taught me. I shall be strong and active enough for
both of us, and God will bless my labor. Behold us, father, peacefully
at home, with tranquil hearts and always together in our neat apartment:
we will love one another, set misfortune at defiance, and live together
in the heaven that our common sacrifice has made! Oh, it seems to me,
father, that the true happiness of our lives is only beginning! How can
you still give yourself up to despair when pleasure is in store for
us,--a pleasure such as few upon earth are permitted to enjoy?"

Monsieur De Vlierbeck looked at his daughter with rapture. Those
enthusiastic but gentle tones had so touched his heart, that noble
courage had inspired him with so much admiration, that tears of joy
filled his eyes. With one hand he drew Lenora to his bosom, and, placing
the other on her forehead, he looked to heaven with religious fervor. A
silent prayer, a blessing on his child, an outpouring of thankfulness,
arose from his heart, like the sacred flame from an altar, toward the
throne of Him who had bestowed that angelic child!

CHAPTER VIII.

A few days afterward, as De Vlierbeck had predicted, the public sale of
all their property was inserted in the papers and placarded over the
city and neighborhood. The af