els upon the morning air, and looking through the blin

at father coming, yonder?

ed Mrs. Custis, "that

is. What is he doin

bout in her long, slender, worked slippers, w

eeple-top hat, copper buckle and all! Isn't he too funny for anythin

ed from her beautiful shoulders only by

ee nothing but the blinds. Perha

ing from a snow-drift. A long, trembling movement, the resu

riding past in a show, mamma

ther; and both of them shook with laughter again. "U

esta, "he can only wear such a

ood enough, dear. He ha

erriment, fell nearly to her slipper, like the skin of som

not unfrequently, wear their old coal-scuttle bonnets long past the fashion, but it is from want. This man is his own master and not poor. His companion is a negro

e returns to the forest, like an opossum, the moment your eye is off him. He can't be traced up like this man, by his hat. I think it's a sh

t down and

seek him at the Furnace or wherever he may be. Tho

there was no ore about it. He goes to the forest looking like a magistrate and a gentleman;

her mirror and looked at her face. Apparently satisfied that such c

would not cast a stain upon you for the world; but flesh and blood will cry out.

, mo

startled now, and their steel-blue tint

if I die, unl

, mo

could say no more for a long moment. Rising as she spoke, with her head thrown back, and her mou

ered Vesta. "It would scandalize all

nsidered sometimes. I was something be

ossed to her mother's

t like that again. You, who have been so b

ars us out! What if something should happen to

ingly. "Don't you remember, mother, where it

women left? There is another passage on which I often think when we sit so often alone: 'Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be taken and the other

looked at her mother, with her nostrils dilated. Mrs. C

" the poor lady pleaded. "I

that of my father?

were heard. The daughter went to the window and l

he toilet. Let us meet him cheerfully. Never say ag

eived in her father's arms. He held her there a long while, and held her close, and by little fits renewed his embrace, but she felt

ant a glass of brandy. Mine gave out at the Furnace, a

need of stimulant. Then, without a word, she led the way to the dining-room and unlocked

eakfast. We will have no more of this truantry. Mamma and I have set our feet down! You must come back from the Furnace every

ippers and dressing-gown, and led the way to his bath. In a quarter of an hour he reappeared, looki

mamma, and we are ready for prayer

s. Vesta placed the open Bible on her father's knee, and he began absently and stumblingly to read. It was in the book of Sa

h-bosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel, the son of Laish. And her husband

her kin, and they took her back and gave her in happiness to her pining lover. But, again, the man of correct habits triumphed over the sons of the king, and

s creditor upon his child. The Judge's eye

of prayer, in which they all bent their heads. Once or twice, as she went on, she detected a suppressed sob, especially at the paragraph: "Thou who knowest the weakness and corruption of our nature, and the manifold temptat

softly touched his elbow, and, looking there, he saw a wine-glass full of brandy softly glide to the spot. As he looked up and saw the rich, yearning fac

, we are

tenedly at the Judge. Vesta as quickly turn

tion. "They are interested, like us. They must be sold, too.

like ladies, quie

growing pal

e you lost everythi

ryth

y mone

es

iful

her, and her finger on the table-bell. Servants entered

en syllables. She looked at him a moment with all the might of a daughter, first called on to act alone in a great crisis. The feeling she was wont

mmet's sounding, where light could not pierce, nor Hope overtake? Her father, the first gentleman in So

the skin no more the pure scroll of regular life written in the healthy fluid of the heart, but faded, yet spotted with alcohol; on the nose and lips signs of coarser sensuality; the large skeleton bent and the ner

ght, "how blind and how pr

r him, and made him stretch his once proud form there. Procuring a bowl of water, she washed his face free of tears with a napkin, and bathed it i

re snarling in rivalry for the possession of him, Vesta felt that the life which was unconscious there was the fountain of

rs who ought to be summoned, and confer with their father; but now it occurred to her that every one of them had leaned upon him; and, though consciou

r riding mare, her watch, her father's own gifts, an

? Alas! that voice had lost the ingredient of hope, and she feared to unc

mother. No, nothing can be done until he awakens and tells me the worst. Meantime it would