months before either her friends or his suspected it.

"Well, when it came at last to papa's ears, he was very angry,
both on account of their extreme youth, and because, as Elsie
Grayson's father had made all his money by trade, he did not
consider her quite my brother's equal; so he called Horace home
and sent him North to college. Then he studied law, and since that
he has been traveling in foreign lands. But to return to his wife;
it seems that her guardian was quite as much opposed to the match
as papa; and the poor girl was made to believe that she should
never see her husband again. All their letters were intercepted,
and finally she was told that he was dead; so, as Aunt Chloe says,
'she grew thin and pale, and weak and melancholy,' and while the
little Elsie was yet not quite a week old, she died. We never saw
her; she died in her guardian's house, and there the little Elsie
stayed in charge of Aunt Chloe, who was an old servant in the
family, and had nursed her mother before her, and of the
housekeeper, Mrs. Murray, a pious old Scotch woman, until about
four years ago, when her guardian's death broke up the family, and
then they came to us. Horace never comes home, and does not seem
to care for his child, for he never mentions her in his letters,
except when it is necessary in the way of business."

"She is a dear little thing," said Rose. "I am sure he could not
help loving her, if he could only see her."

"Oh! yes, she is well enough, and I often feel sorry for the
lonely little thing, but the truth is, I believe we are a little
jealous of her; she is so extremely beautiful, and heiress to such
an immense fortune. Mamma often frets, and says that one of these