Home or the Orphans' Asylum. She asks for no more cultivated companionship than she can find in the Jenks family, no higher intellectual enjoyment than Mr. Dinsmore's threadbare sermons, and no more elevating pursuits than house-keeping and needle-work."

"Let me assist you in recalling some of Miss Howell's accomplishments. She has a sweet voice, clear and musical both in singing and reading. She converses on many scientific and historical subjects with a readiness that surprises me; and I have seen a few crayon and water-color sketches which were executed by her hand with rare delicacy."

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"O, yes; Di has some talent. She sings church music very well, and makes herself familiar with such literary themes as interest the doctor, and she uses her brush as a copyist with mediocre skill; but she has no ambition, and her nature is sadly deficient in the emotional element. Stephen tells me she has had a platonic or religious interest in a poor, crippled, uneducated sea-captain, whom she helped nurse at the Bonsecour two years ago. Most mercifully and fortunately, however, for the credit of our family, the captain died at sea. She wears a pearl ring which he gave her, and most likely would have married him, if she had been told that her arm would save him the use of a crutch. No tenderer sentiment will ever warm poor Di's cold heart."

An artistically modulated sigh followed these false in_nuations, and then the tender, lambent light of her eyes rested on Horace Metcalf's face, while she sought to learn if the leaven were working, if the thorn had pierced.

He had heard from Stephen of Captain Ashmead's death, and the friendly relations that existed between him and the doctor and Diantha; and though for a minute he might be pained by Mrs. Arthur's version of the story,

his sober second thought was, that a woman like Diantha Howell could rise above the discipline of sorrow, and again open her heart to such gracious and revivifying influences. as Heaven might send.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Goodenow, if I cannot join in a longer discussion of Miss Howell's character in such a crowd; but, in justice to my friend, I must say, she seems as far removed from the picture you have drawn as an intelligent, helpful, large-hearted Christian woman is from a soulless lump of clay."

"I shall not take this time to undeceive you; it would be cruel to rob you of an ideal, when you have wilfully thrust from you so much that is tangible. My residence in Paris has probably colored and liberalized my ideas of society; and yet I have always preferred a woman with human frailties to an automaton, whose acts were performed with a chilling exactness. I used to think there was much harmony in our opinions, but I have returned from the Old World to find change written on everything in my native land even on you."

"I am changed, Mrs. Goodenow; for whereas I once walked blindly 'the primrose path of dalliance,' now I tread firmly, and with the clear vision of faith, the straight road to a glorious goal. Two years ago I thought only of making the delights of this world minister to my selfish wants; now I desire to be the instrument of hope and healing to others. I have another engagement with the officers of our regiment this evening, and must say good by. For the sake of old memories, if at any time you need a friend, please command my services."

"Thank you! There are so many who claim the prerogatives of friendship, so many who esteem it an honor to serve me, I shall be most unlikely to require any sacrifice of you." And with a courteous but formal farewell, Horace

Metcalf passed out from the artificial glitter, cat into the soft air of the April night, with a great pity in his heart, and a wonder how two women nursed at the same fountain and reared at the same fireside could be so unlike; while Louise Goodenow, with a haughty curl of her lip and a dangerous light in her eye, answered the rallying questions of Colonel James, who approached her side as soon as Metcalf left.

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Why so triste-do you ask? Because I find only sentimental philanthropy where I looked for strength, vigor, and manly courage. I have over-estimated a friend, and the awakening from my delusion is not pleasant."

Perhaps for the first time Louise was conscious that her beauty and blandishments had failed to win; that Horace Metcalf had seen the falsehood and artifice beneath her gilded armor. She was foiled, and for the hour humiliated, but not repentant.

"Surely no one can afford such a disappointment better than you, the number of whose admirers is legion," answered Colonel James, with that suavity and flattery in his tones and eyes which are so deceptive and alluring to vain, weak souls. "I have come to ask for my friend, Major Rushton, an English officer, an introduction to your ladyship, whom he is pleased to call the handsomest womar he has seen in America."

The smile of triumph returned to Louise Goodenow's lips and eyes, the winning graciousness to her words and manners; and before the budding spring had blossomed into summer, she was playing a game with such absorbing interest as to exclude from her thoughts all regret for Horace Metcalf.

Mrs. Howell managed to spend the winter in Hanthrop with tolerable comfort, looking forward, as she wrote Louise, "to a month in Washington, which, after much

me.

careful managing on my part, the doctor has promise 1 I have shown him the necessity for a change, and that anxiety to see you and Stephen is wearing on my health and spirits. Working for the Sanitary Commission has become a perfect mania in our city this winter, and as Mrs. Metcalf and some of our most stylish and wealthy ladies have spent nearly all their time in getting up fairs, one may say they are the fashion, and of course I've thrown my influence on the popular side. Gentlemen have been present at our evening gatherings, and some one has read aloud, and there has been ample opportunity for showing off tasteful dress; so that, on the whole, I've not suffered as much from ennui as I feared I might, though I've been obliged to make such sacrifices as can only be appreciated by sensitive and refined natures."

CHAPTER XXXIV.

LEAVE-TAKING.

"Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."

"I ne'er heard yet

That any of these bolder vices wanted

Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first."

SHAKESPEARE.

THREE times the pitying heart of Nature strove to cover with verdure and bloom the hideous stains left by war upon the bosom of the old earth, and the snows of three winters were sifted tenderly upon the graves of fallen heroes, while the members of Dr. Howell's family and those intimately associated with them were assisting to color with their own individuality the tide of life that ebbed and flowed around them. During these years, Dr. Howell threw into the broad channels of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions all the time, skill, and energy which could be spared from his duties in Hanthrop. Multitudes of soldiers still live who are indebted to his ripe judgment, clear perceptions, and untiring zeal for the treatment which enabled them to come through the fever ward, or from under the surgeon's knife, with sufficient hope and courage to gather up again the broken threads of life.

Mrs. Metcalf and Diantha wrought and prayed with