name; but it will not shield her from the subtle and degrading influences that surround her."

The doctor had rarely betrayed so much emotion in the presence of his daughter as in the present instance. Selfcontrol and calm dignity of manner were habitual to him, and a generous defence of his wife's most selfish acts had hitherto sprung spontaneously to his lips. Diantha knew his anxieties and apprehensions were not the “baseless fabric of a dream," and therefore, to lure his thoughts away from his disquietude, she brought out her most winsome powers of pleasing; and so well did she succeed in diverting him with music and conversation, that he was soon describing to her, with his wonted enthusiasm, the plan of an essay he was preparing for publication. It is fortunate for men, as well as women, when brain-work holds out to them a refuge from the poverty and hunger of the heart.

"I had a long talk with Horace Metcalf in my office this morning, Daisy," said the doctor, dropping the subject of the essay, and looking at his daughter with critical eyes. “He came in to ask my advice about preparing himself for a profession.'

66

What, Horace Metcalf, the fastidious, the cultivated, the wealthy lover of ease! Has he learned that there's anything more noble in life than selfish enjoyment?"

66 I think he has. Didn't he see some exhibitions of patience, gentleness, and self-forgetfulness in Carrhaven last summer, which might teach a young man that there were beauty and worth in life aside from the world of music, art, and books?"

The doctor's keen eyes were fastened on Diantha's face while he spoke; but there was no shrinking from his gaze, and her color, always fitful and changing with every emotion, was not to be relied on as evidence of any

especial self-consciousness; and when she replied to her father's question there was no tremor in her clear, sweet voice.

"I had no intention of giving Horace Metcalf lessons, and there were no exhibitions of what you are pleased to term self-forgetfulness made for his benefit; but if he has learned that active usefulness can yield a higher enjoyment than merely living for the gratification of his tastes, I am truly grateful, and care not how or where he learned the lesson. What profession will he choose?"

“He inclines to be á physician, because his great wealth will enable him to give his services to those who cannot afford to remunerate him, and he thinks that profession will open to him broader channels of usefulness than any other. He has already made some considerable preparation for his work, by taking a course of medical lectures when he was in Germany, simply for the intellectual enjoyment and discipline; and he now proposes to read under my tutelage for a few months. I think Horace Metcalf's heart, and soul, and conscience have been regenerated; and, so far as I could gather from his very modest history of the change in his plans and aspirations, your conversations with him upon the use of wealth and culture, and the honor and dignity of living so as to elevate others, and your high-toned principle and decided Christian character, have been the means which God's Spirit has used for his awakening."

Tears dropped from Diantha's eyes upon the sewing in her lap; but they were only a thank-offering to the Power which had made her simple acts an evangel to one soul.

"He talked with me also," continued the doctor, with a readiness to dwell upon the theme which his daughter's silence and tears rather encouraged than checked, “about his desire to have established in Hanthrop an academy

where young men and women, who are ambitious, worthy, and destitute of means, can be prepared for useful vocations without encumbering themselves with debt; where music, arts, sciences, and languages shall be taught, and the student's choice of, and adaptation to, specific branches shall be consulted, without obliging him to spend months and years on those sciences for which he has no natural aptitude. He proposes to give the old Bosworth House and grounds, which, perhaps you know, have recently been bequeathed to him, for the use of the academy, if the state will grant an appropriation, and if individuals will assist in endowing professorships. I have for several years desired to see an institution established on a similar basis. Excellent as are our public schools, they do not meet a certain want. Take, for example, Bessie and Mary Jenks. Both these girls are quick and intelligent, and might readily be fitted for something that would pay better than housework or sewing; but they've not the time to take a regular course in our free schools, while, in such an academy as Metcalf proposes to establish, they might be taught book-keeping, music, drawing, or some science for which they had an especial taste, and by which they might earn a livelihood. In fact, my profession has brought me in contact with hundreds who are sighing for just such instruction as we hope this liberal academy will afford."

""Tis a grand and noble charity," said Diantha, with a light in her clear, brown eyes, and an earnest glåness in her voice, that Horace Metcalf would have regarded as ample payment for the Bosworth House, if he had made a bequest of it simply to gain her approval.

"A noble conception, if it can be executed," answered the doctor; "and young Metcalf means to forward it with all 11 e enthusiasm of a soul just kindled into new life. He

will have the sympathy and coöperation of several old families of large wealth and influence, who are his connections; and he is so popular in society, that I think his benevolent scheme will be received with favor. I shall assist him with all the means, time, and influence I can command. If we succeed in establishing this academy, perhaps Captain Ashmead may accept a professorship in it. He told me once he was prepared to teach navigation, mathematics, and civil engineering."

Diantha's only answer shone in her face, and was expressed in the impulsive grasping of her father's hand.

CHAPTER XXIX.

AT SEA.

"No more! a harp-string's deep and breaking tone,

A last, low summer breeze, a far-off swell,

A dying echo of rich music gone,

Breathe through those words, those murmurs of farewell."

MRS. HEMANS.

THE winter waned, and Stephen did not return. The Aurora was detained in the Italian ports longer than her commander had anticipated, because of the difficulty of obtaining a profitable cargo; and when this was secured, it was for Liverpool, where an exchange was to be made for such merchandise as the owners of the Aurora desired for the New York market. Stephen's letters were colored with his natural exuberance, somewhat modified by an experience which had matured his intellect far more than a year of college discipline. The detention of the Aurora had given him an opportunity for becoming acquainted with several Italian cities, and for excursions into the country, where his quick eye noted the dress and customs of the peasantry, and his ear caught every inflection of the musical language, as it fell from the tongues of the natives, who live almost entirely in the open air. In Florence he had, through the kindness of an American gentleman who was a friend of Dr. Howell, been introduced to Mrs. Browning; he had looked into those eyes, which seemed deep, living wells of thought, and had touched that hind which controlled a pen of such marvelous power- -a