strength. You have taken care of me all these long years, and now it is
fairly my turn to take care of you. Do not worry about the house, dear; I
have made an arrangement with the cattle-dealer. When you told me that he
threatened to take it, I went to him and got him to let me settle with him
instead. He was very glad that I wanted it, for he said that he didn't
see what good it would be to him, and he gave me my time about paying for
it."

"Is that true, Veronica?" said Gertrude, and a happy smile stole over her
face. "You do not know what a load you have taken from my heart! Oh, you
are good and brave! If I could only see you look happy, how glad I should
be! If I could find out how to make you happy! I would do anything in the
world for you, if I only knew how!"

"There is no use in thinking about it, mother dear. Happiness is not for
me. It may be for others, but not for me." Veronica spoke with strong
emotion. "I have worked and struggled for it ever since I can remember
anything, but all in vain. Cousin Judith told me that work was the way to
fortune, and that 'fortune' meant whatever one wanted most; and so I
worked, always, even when I did not know what it was that I wanted most.
Afterwards when I learned that for me happiness was the best fortune, I
worked on, for I wanted to be happy, but I was not. I always brooded over
my work, thinking of all the unpleasant and troublesome things that had
happened. Then Sabina told me how, when she was terribly unhappy about her
deformity, she had found relief in books, in reading," and Veronica went
on to tell how Sabina had sent her delightful books and how she had tried
to drive away her own sorrow by the new interests which she found in them.
"But you see," she added with a sigh, "it did not help me; nothing helps
me. When I read, I was still unhappy. What difference did it make to me,
all that was written in the books; it did not make my troubles less. The