less than she loved her brother. And there was another there to
love, of whom she had heard much--a fair-haired girl named Florence.
Is it a subject of wonder that she fled from her mother, to find a
paradise in comparison to what she had left, in the home of Charles
and his pure-hearted companion? We think not.

The meeting between her and Ellen was one in which both their hearts
overflowed--in which affections mingled--in which two loving spirits
became united in bonds that nothing could break.

We turn, now, to the disappointed Mrs. Linden. Knowing that to
inform her mother of the step she had resolved to take would do no
good, but only cause her to endure a storm of passion, Florence left
home without the slightest intimation of her purpose.

Mrs. Linden, in settling upon her son William her whole estate, with
the small reservation before mentioned, gave up to him the splendid
mansion in which she lived, with its costly furniture--and the
entire control of it, as a matter that followed of course, to his
young wife. Many months had not passed, before doubts of the
propriety of what she had done began to creep into the mind of Mrs.
Linden. Her pride of family had been gratified--but already had her
pride of independence been assailed. It was plain that she was not
now of as much importance in the eyes of her son as before. As to
Antoinette, the more she came intimately in contact with her, the
less she liked her. She found little in her that she could love. The
scheme of marrying Florence to a young man of "one of the first
families" (the only recommendation he had) was heartily entered into
by this worthy trio, and while there was a prospect of its
accomplishment, they drew together with much appearance of harmony.