cultivated. The culture you need cannot be obtained in this country;
so I have written to my cousin, Baron von Rosenberg, to have you
become a member of his distinguished family for a time. Under his
care and direction, your studies can be pursued to the greatest
advantage. What do you think of the arrangement?"

As Mr. Mordecai was unfolding what he supposed would be a pleasant
surprise to his daughter, he marked the serious, even pained
expression of her face, and wondered at it.

Leah was silent. Then, with an air of surprise and disappointment,
her father repeated the inquiry. "What do you think of my plan? You
cannot possibly dislike it, my daughter!"

"Saxony is a great way off from you, dear father-I believe the baron
lives in Saxony. I do not think I could be happy so far away from
you, the only living human being who loves me truly in this cold
world." The last words were spoken bitterly.

"Your words astonish me, my child; they savor of ingratitude, and
are strange words for your lips. What can you mean?"

Leah trembled that so much had escaped her hitherto silent lips,
betraying even faintly the true feeling of her heart; and repressing
the words that would have followed had her father not offered his
rebuke, she replied quickly:

"Forgive me, dear father, if I seem ungrateful; perhaps I do not
appreciate the love I enjoy; but I do not wish to go so far away
from you. And you will not send me, will you?"