college.

"They were well-nigh distracted, but cherished the hope that when
they should reach their majority and come into possession of their
property, which was now unfortunately entirely in the hands of their
guardians, they would be reunited.

"But--it is the old story--their letters were intercepted, and the
first news the young husband received of his wife was that she had
died a few days after giving birth to a little daughter."

Again Mr. Dinsmore paused, then continued:

"It was a terrible stroke! For months, reason seemed almost ready to
desert her throne; but time does wonders, and in the course of years
it did much to heal his wounds. You would perhaps suppose that he
would at once--or at least as soon as he was his own master--have
sought out his child, and lavished upon it the wealth of his
affections: but no; he had conceived almost an aversion to it; for he
looked upon it as the cause--innocent, it is true--but still the cause
of his wife's death. He did not know till long years afterwards
that her heart was broken by the false story of his desertion and
subsequent death. Her guardian was a hard, cruel man, though faithful
in his care of her property.

"With him the child remained until she was about four years old when
a change was made necessary by his death, and she, with her faithful
nurse, was received into her paternal grandfather's family until her
father, who had then gone abroad, should return. But my story is
growing very long, and you will be weary of listening. I will try to