rself from this child. I commend myself to your ladyship, and I
beseech you to permit me to write to you again as soon as I see reason
to believe that I have anything important or agreeable to communicate."

This letter gave Charlotte great pleasure. The contents of it coincided
very closely with the notions which she had herself conceived of
Ottilie. At the same time, she could not help smiling at the excessive
interest of the Assistant, which seemed greater than the insight into a
pupil's excellence usually calls forth. In her quiet, unprejudiced way
of looking at things, this relation, among others, she was contented to
permit to lie before her as a possibility; she could value the interest
of so sensible a man in Ottilie, having learnt, among the lessons of her
life, to see how highly true regard is to be prized in a world where
indifference or dislike are the common natural residents.

CHAPTER IV

The topographical chart of the property and its environs was completed.
It was executed on a considerable scale; the character of the particular
localities was made intelligible by various colors; and by means of a
trigonometrical survey the Captain had been able to arrive at a very
fair exactness of measurement. He had been rapid in his work. There was
scarcely ever any one who could do with less sleep than this most
laborious man; and, as his day was always devoted to an immediate
purpose, every evening something had been done.

"Let us now," he said to his friend, "go on to what remains for us, to
the statistics of the estate. We shall have a good deal of work to get
through at the beginning, and afterward we shall come to the farm
estimates, and much else which will naturally arise out of them. Only we
must have one thing distinctly settled and adhered to. Everything which
is properly _business_ we must keep carefully separate from life.
Business requires earnestness and method; _life_ must have a freer
handling. Business demands the utmost stringency and sequence; in life,
inconsecutiveness is frequently necessary, indeed, is charming and
graceful. If you are firm in the first, you can afford yourself more
liberty in the second; while if you mix them, you will find the free
interfering with and breaking in upon the fixed."

In these sentiments Edward felt a slight reflection upon himself. Though
not naturally disorderly, he could never bring himself to arrange his
papers in their proper places. What he ha