have a beautiful, happy life, Bessie. Do you not think so?"

"Yes, Hugh. But will it be so easy to get rich?"

"Twenty years of hard labor and earnest application will do it, with
the opening I have. I suppose it sounds conceited, but I have
unbounded confidence in myself. What man has done man can do, you
know; and why am not I the man?"

"I think you can do anything, Hugh."

"Thank you, Miss Flattery. But, really Bessie, there is something
stirring within me that makes me feel sure I can take my place in the
world, and make my mark among men. I do not, mean that I am wiser or
stronger than my fellows, but only, that my courage is indomitable,
and that I am determined to succeed. I _will succeed_!"

"Of course you will," said Bessie, laying down her brush again, and
looking at her cousin's kindling eyes and flushed cheeks with
sympathetic excitement.

"And then," pursued Hugh, "when I have got my money, I shall not hoard
it; I shall make others as well as myself happy with it. I shall use
it worthily; I shall not be ashamed to render my account at last. Oh,
Bessie, it is a glorious future! Life is so beautiful,--so full of
happiness!" Hugh paused, and his eyes wandered over the blue horizon;
Bessie went on with her painting, and there was silence in the studio
for many minutes. At length Aunt Faith's voice was heard at the foot
of the stairs; "Hugh! Hugh!" she called.