nk further
of her? Perhaps while beyond the spell of her beauty he has formed a
truer estimate of her character, and has abandoned all thought of her
as a mocking dream. Perhaps--"

Of what possibilities will not a young girl dream at the dictation
of her heart? And as she saw the sharp lines of her profile softening
into loveliness, the color fluctuating in her cheeks even at her
thoughts, her thin, feeble arms growing white and firm, and the
rounded grace of womanhood appearing in all her form, she began to
hope that she could endure comparison with Miss Wildmere, even on
her lower plane of material beauty. But Madge had too much mind to
be content with Miss Wildmere's standard. She coveted outward
attractiveness chiefly that the casket might secure attention to its
gems. The days of languid, desultory reading and study were over, and
she determined to know at least a few things well.

It was to music, however, that she gave her chief attention, since she
believed that for this art she had some positive talent A German in
the pursuit of health had drifted to the remote southern city. He was
past middle age, but had retained through numberless disappointments
and discouragements the one enthusiasm of his life; and in Madge he
found a pupil after his own heart. While his voice had lost much of
its freshness and power, his taste was pure and refined. He kindled
in the young girl's mind something of his own love and reverence for
music on its own account. To Madge, however, it would always remain
a method of expression rather than a science or an art, and the old
professor at last learned to recognize her limitations. She would be
excellent in only those phases of music which were in accord with her
own feeling and thought. She would not, perhaps could not, study it
as he had done, for her woman's nature and the growing purpose of her
life were ever in the ascendant; but under his guidance her taste grew
purer and her knowledge and power increased rapidly. What she did
she learned to do well. Even Herr Brachmann was often charmed by the
delicate originality of her touch, which proved that her own thought
and feeling were infused into the music before her.

But her voice delighted him most. With her increasing vigor was gained
the ability to use her vocal organs in sustained effort. He guarded
her carefully against over-exertion, and her advance was assured
and safe. Note after note, true, sweet, and strong, was added t