MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 A STORY FOR GIRLS. 
 
 BY 
 
 SOPHY WINTHEOP. 
 
 AN SON D. F. RANDOLPH .& COMPANY, 
 
 770 BROADWAY, COR. 9TH STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & Co., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
 EowiED O. JKXKINS, 
 
 PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 
 
 SO North William Street, N. Y.
 
 : By all means use sometimes to be alone. 
 
 Salute thyself ; see what thy soul doth wear. 
 Dare to look in thy chest, for 'tis thine own : 
 
 And tumble up and down what thou find'st there. 
 
 Dresse and undresse thy soul : mark the decay 
 And growth of it ; if with thy watch, that, too, 
 
 Be down, then winde up both, since we shall be 
 Most surely judg'd, make thy accounts agree. 
 
 'All things are busie ; only I 
 
 Neither bring honey with the bees. 
 Nor flowers to make that, nor the husbandrie 
 To water these." 
 
 5 
 
 2075654
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "TTTHEN I was a little girl, -I had a great 
 fondness for oranges ; not at all the ordi- 
 nary liking for that agreeable fruit which exists 
 in every well-balanced infantile mind, but some- 
 thing deeper and more absorbing ; so that when 
 I looked forward, as children will, to future glory 
 and affluence, or when, as children will in other 
 moods, I sighed for the unattainable, it was 
 always orange of which I thought as the prime 
 cause of the bliss or the despair. 
 
 I had a constant sense of other people having 
 oranges when I had none, and a belief that as 
 soon as I left any company oranges were imme- 
 diately passed around ; and I have been captured 
 more than once creeping down stairs in my little 
 night-gown, when I was supposed to be safe in 
 
 (7)
 
 g 3/755 ROBERTS' FORTUXE. 
 
 bed, full of the conviction that I should discover 
 the family indulging in this base festivity, and 
 put them to an open shame. 
 
 I was telling the girls this as we sat this even- 
 ing sucking a trio of lovely Havanas, and toast- 
 ing our feet at the fire. Of course, we all laughed, 
 but since the girls have gone off to their own 
 room I have sat, still sucking a little and looking 
 at the fire, and more serious thoughts have come 
 into my mind. 
 
 Of course .these ridiculous notions left me 
 years ago, but I am afraid they were the index 
 to a wrong, unlovely habit of mind which did 
 not leave me so long ago which I am afraid has 
 not all left me yet. I should be ashamed to tell 
 any one else but you, dear old padlocked book ; 
 but \ am really afraid it has not all left me yet. 
 
 Somehow it is natural for me still to think of 
 other people as having things that I haven't, and 
 to take it for granted that they are glad to have 
 me out of the way, that they may have their 
 good times without me. For instance, to-night, 
 though we four girls have had a pleasant evening 
 together, and I have been making a fool of myself 
 with the greatest success for their entertainment, 
 I can't avoid a sense of relief now that they are
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. g 
 
 gone, and a conviction that they are enjoying 
 themselves a great deal better at this moment, 
 sitting curled up on their bed, as I don't doubt 
 they are, eating the mince pie they bought at 
 the bakery in study-hour to-day. Not that I 
 feel very much cut up about it, or wish in the 
 least that I were one of the party. That is almost 
 the worst of it. The fact is, I am far too willing 
 to sit in my own corner, sucking my own private 
 oranges, and not troubling myself with other 
 peoples' concerns. 
 
 Sometimes I do feel a little sorry about it, and 
 sigh with poor Glory McWhirk, " So many good 
 times in the world, and I not in them !" 
 
 But this is all wrong, I know, for me, a sensi- 
 ble girl, nineteen years old, with plenty of money 
 and some good friends, and a life of what most 
 girls would consider perfect happiness before me. 
 
 To be sure, I am lame and awkward, but long 
 ago I learned what that was sent me for ; and, 
 besides, I know perfectly well that that fact has 
 no effect whatever on my real position among 
 others, on the liking or disliking of any one 
 whose regard I should care for. So any feeling 
 on that point is mere sensitiveness, and I keep it 
 down pretty well don't I, good old friend ?
 
 I0 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 and never let it cloud more than just a moment's 
 sunshine for me. 
 
 But on the whole, as I said, I do not feel half 
 troubled enough about these things. I am afraid 
 (to be perfectly honest with myself, and I will be 
 so to-night) I take it rather as a compliment than 
 anything else, that Lily and Jennie think me 
 " suck a queer girl," and feel flattered when they 
 say, " Oh, don't ask Helen, she doesn't care any- 
 thing about such things." In my secret heart 
 (for I will be honest " get thee behind me, Sa- 
 tan ") I am apt to think myself rather superior 
 to these girls ; in fact, to most of the girls I 
 know, because I know my lessons better, I sup- 
 pose, and have different notions of " fun " from 
 theirs. But am I not just as fond of my kind of 
 fun as they are of theirs, and don't I pursue it 
 just as steadily, and more so ? Superior to Lily ! 
 perhaps I am, but she spent all her afternoons 
 last week in dressing dolls for Mary Green to 
 sell at that church fair. I, excusing myself with- 
 out the slightest compunction, on the ground that 
 I never had any taste about such things, lay on 
 my sofa reading " Nicholas Nickleby." To be 
 sure, I think Lily ought to have been doing her 
 algebra examples, but that is nothing to the case.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. I: 
 
 It was good nature, chiefly, that made her dress 
 the dolls, and in tha*t good nature I was wanting. 
 
 Superior to Jennie ! She is flighty, frightfully 
 overdressed generally, and, according to my usual 
 judgment, shallow ; but she cried like a child, Lily 
 told me, when she went to see Sarah Phelps after 
 her mother's death, and comforted and soothed 
 her more than any one else that she saw. I did 
 not go, because I felt as if it would be intrusion 
 for me even to look in upon such grief; and 
 when I saw Sarah next at school, though I felt 
 for a moment like putting my arms around her 
 neck and kissing her, I was afraid it would make 
 her cry, and all the girls were looking on, and 
 my old awkwardness came upon me, and so I 
 only said, " Good morning," in the ordinary way. 
 Now, Sarah jsteals up to Jennie at every recess, 
 and they walk off together. I can see that she 
 cares nothing whatever about me, and has no 
 idea how truly I pity her, and how my heart 
 aches when I see her little sad face and black 
 dress coming into school. 
 
 Yes, my dear, however you may flatter your- 
 self at other times, you shall look the truth in 
 the face to-night, and confess that the lives of 
 these girls you look down upon with contempt
 
 1 2 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUXE. 
 
 or regard with perfect indifference, are, in many 
 
 * 
 
 respects, sweeter and truer lives than yours. 
 
 Perhaps it was not altogether the orange story 
 that set me thinking about these things. 
 
 Yesterday I was in my room alone with the 
 door ajar, and heard the young gentleman-board- 
 ers disagreeable creatures, chiefly remarkable 
 for very gay neck-ties and loud voices talking 
 in their room up-stairs. 
 
 " You've got some pretty jolly quails here," said 
 one, probably a visitor. 
 
 " Yes ; but they're such awful fine ladies you 
 can't have any fun with them," said one of our 
 young men. 
 
 " Which of 'em do you like best on the whole, 
 Tom ?" he continued, apparently roused to a 
 contemplation of the subject by this visitor's re- 
 mark. 
 
 " Well, I don't know," said Tom (I'm sure I 
 don't know which one Tom is, very likely the 
 one I particularly object to, who sits next me at 
 table, and puts vanilla, or something very like 
 it, on his hair every Sunday morning). " I used 
 to think I liked the lame one best the others 
 titter and giggle so and she's got a nice face. 
 But I believe she's more stuck-up than any of
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. j^ 
 
 'em. / wish Miss Spenser would come back. 
 She was the nicest little thing ! She would play 
 for a fellow after dinner, and this one never will, 
 though she plays splendidly ; tell you what, I 
 heard her one day when she didn't know it." 
 
 " There'll never be anybody like Miss Spenser 
 again," echoed the chorus, dismally. " She used 
 to get up such jolly things ! Do you remember 
 that picnic ?" and they went off into a general 
 jeremiad on the departure of that altogether re- 
 markable young lady, while I got up and shut 
 my door. 
 
 I've heard of this Miss Spenser before. The 
 only remark I remember to have heard Mrs. 
 Green make was, that Mary Spenser was the 
 sweetest girl that ever lived ; and our German 
 teacher told me the other day, that he had had 
 only one pupil in this school before (I am going 
 to be honest, I believe, so I will put in the little 
 qualifying word) who had really mastered the de- 
 clensions, and that was Miss Spenser, 
 
 I suppose she was one of those favored little 
 beings who have a faculty for everything, and 
 who carry a 'little wand in their hands which 
 turns all hearts into love and charity before them. 
 
 Now I, Helen Roberts, am not that sort of
 
 1 4 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 girl, and never shall be. I am what people call 
 reserved. And so far as this reserve is natural 
 and not too vigorously cultivated by me, I can't 
 help it. So I am not blaming myself for not be- 
 ing Miss Spenser. 
 
 Neither do I believe it is my " mission " in Plato- 
 ville to devote myself to the entertainment of the 
 disagreeable young gentleman-boarders at the 
 Rev. Obadiah Green's " Christian home." So I 
 am not blaming myself for not doing that. 
 
 Ah ! but if I only had in my heart that sweet 
 flower of charity, 'its odor would go out to all 
 that are in the house. If I only did love more, 
 it wotildcome, out, unconsciously, without my try- 
 ing, and would comfort and bless, as love always 
 does, because it is love. 
 
 There is such a thing as a " fellowship with 
 hearts," which I could and ought to " keep and 
 cultivate," but now it seems to me so far off and 
 sometimes so distasteful. 
 
 There is only one thing that can be the root of 
 this evil fruit. It is an ugly word, but I think it 
 is the true one. It is selfishness. 
 
 Not that I am always grossly selfish, but it is 
 a way of looking at things through the medium 
 of self; an unloving habit of mind which, like a
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ^ 
 
 smoke fills the atmosphere of my heart and keeps 
 out all the free, pure, heavenly airs, and the flow- 
 ers 'that will grow only in them. 
 
 I remember One who " pleased not Himself." 
 Men knew Him that He was love, and by a 
 blessed instinct sore hearts stole close up to Him 
 and were healed and comforted. And so they 
 are doing still, and will do till the end of time. 
 
 And I call myself His child His follower ! 
 
 Helen Roberts wrote these words, sitting by 
 her little round table one winter evening, not a 
 great many years ago. When she had laid down 
 her pen, she bent a very humble head on the 
 writing-desk before her, and sat a long time per- 
 fectly still. 
 
 The clock ticked loudly on the mantel, and a 
 spent coal occasionally clattered down from the 
 grate to the fender beneath. But Helen noticed 
 nothing outside of her own heart. 
 
 When, at last, she lifted her face to the light, 
 something that looked like victory shone out of 
 her eyes. 
 
 The orphan girl, very much alone in her mental 
 and spiritual life, was not unaccustomed to quiet 
 moments of looking into her own heart, and
 
 !6 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE, 
 
 watching the good and evil growing there to- 
 gether. But it was seldom that the search went 
 quite so deep, or was quite so painful as to-night. 
 
 The padlocked book had been her best friend 
 and confidante, yet it was, for the most part, only 
 that medley of selected sentiment in prose and 
 verse, taking scraps of legend and history, and 
 pretty, girlish thoughts all her own, which makes 
 up the mental furniture of all bright and thought- 
 ful girls anywhere from fourteen to twenty. 
 
 The danger which Helen had to-night discov- 
 ered herself to be in was a real one. It had been 
 growing with her, and was, perhaps, fostered by 
 the kind of life she had led. But that best Friend 
 who watches all our lives and cares so infinitely 
 more than w r e do, that they should be right and 
 good, was watching hers ; and gradually, and by 
 one of those simple ways which He often uses, 
 He had called her attention to the fact. Very 
 likely she did not fully understand it yet. Per- 
 haps she exaggerated some of its features, and 
 left others quite as important unnoticed. But 
 the warning was before her. As we know her 
 better we shall see how she heeds it. 
 
 You would have thought Helen a pretty pic- 
 ture as, after locking the faithful volume, she
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUM:. \j 
 
 stood for a moment, the seriousness not yet gone 
 from her face, leaning on the mantel and looking 
 down into the lire. But when she moved to 
 cross the room, the lameness and awkwardness 
 of which she had spoken appeared. There was 
 a sudden plunge forward, a quick effort at recov- 
 ery, and sometimes a grasp at whatever article 
 of furniture stood nearest to help regain the lost 
 balance. It was painful to see at first, and you 
 felt sony for her. But the clear, brown eyes 
 looked straightforward, and there was even 
 now, and it grew upon her in later years, an 
 unconsciousness of anything unusual or painful 
 that, to those who loved her, had almost the 
 charm of grace. As she went about the room 
 her face grew brighter, and when she turned' 
 clown the kerosene lamp and let the winter star- 
 light in, she was singing softly to herself the new 
 song her music teacher had given her that after- 
 noon : " But the Lord is mindful of his own ; 
 He remembers his children."
 
 " We scatter seeds with careless hand, 
 
 And dream we ne'er shall see them more : 
 But for a thousand years 
 Their fruit appears, 
 In weeds that mar the land, 
 Or healthful store."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON the broad main street of Platoville stood 
 the old red brick academy, famous in those 
 parts as the center of elegant learning. Around 
 the sacred edifice was a patch of earth never 
 green .and now browny - white with frequent 
 snows and incessant ball -playing. This was 
 crossed at every possible angle by narrow paths 
 of slightly deeper hues than the general surface, 
 all convei-ging to the rheumatic and much be- 
 whittled door. Inside the gloomy portal were 
 to be found respectable recitation rooms and a 
 light and not unpleasant school- room, but the 
 outer aspect of the noble institution was, to put 
 it at the mildest, truly venerable. Opposite the 
 academy stood the " orthodox" church, flanked 
 by the Baptist, and squinted at in a friendly way 
 from an acute angle by the modest Methodist 
 structure. 
 
 Across the small, three-cornered common, 
 which a little above here divided the street into 
 
 (21)
 
 22 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 two, were the drug-store, which contained the 
 post-office, and the shoe-store with the bakery 
 in its rear. The general " emporium" for dry- 
 goods and groceries was a few steps farther 
 up on that one of the streets which kept the 
 name of Main street. The other road passed 
 off peacefully into the snowy country, and be- 
 tween the two, shortly after they parted, lay one 
 or two narrow and modern looking cross streets. 
 
 On one of these (which I learn has since taken 
 the name of Maple avenue), stood a row of small 
 white houses, all just alike, even to the curve of 
 the lightning rods on their square cupolas, and 
 the cramped bay windows on their left sides. 
 Everybody knew who lived in the last but one of 
 these houses. And even the stranger, so unfor- 
 tunate as to be ignorant on this point, " was 
 ware" some time before reaching the mansion, 
 of the characters, blazing in burnished steel, 
 from the big door-plate" Rev. O. Green." 
 
 Pushing back the little gate which barely es- 
 caped the steep and narrow steps, you found 
 yourself between two slender Corinthian col- 
 umns, confronting this same door-plate. The door, 
 when it was opened, barely escaped the front 
 stairs, and if you were rot very tall you did not
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 2 3 
 
 have to dodge the second story in making the 
 ascent. A general odor of cod-fish and fried 
 pork pursued you up-stairs and lingered in the 
 shadowy recesses of the upper hall. 
 
 As to this upper hall, the architect had had 
 the best of intentions, and had introduced a 
 merry little parti-colored window on the way 
 up-stairs, but the present occupants of the house 
 were enemies to flies and all creatures that loved 
 light, and had nailed a thick green paper over 
 this one bright spot. Only one ghastly ray of 
 blue light now crept in, and that was through 
 a small orifice made by the irreverent finger of 
 one of the young gentleman - boarders. The 
 rooms of the second story, with one exception, 
 were taken this winter by a party of young la- 
 dies from the city of X , new-comers in Plato- 
 
 ville. Helen Roberts paid a liberal bonus for 
 the unwonted privilege of occupying the small 
 front chamber alone. Out of its windows lay 
 the broad, white country, checked off by rows 
 of brown trees, and beyond a range of blue, 
 snowy hills, over which the sun came every 
 morning. The back room, commanding the 
 academy and the churches, was occupied by 
 Helen's cousin, Lily Wood, and her particular
 
 24 JffSS ROBERTS' 
 
 friend, Jennie Osbornc. Dora, Lily's sister, 
 aged thirteen, was the proud occupant of the 
 little room opening out of it, just big enough to 
 contain a bed and a picture. 
 
 What freak of fortune should have sent these 
 four city girls to winter in that inclement village, 
 was a question which might have interested the 
 curious, and which, in fact, did puzzle some of 
 the less wise heads of Platoville itself. But 
 when a papa and mamma must go to Europe 
 with their eldest daughter, and there are three 
 incumbrances to be disposed of, what is to be 
 done ? And when Madame de Moliere, to whom 
 they are forthwith taken in a body, is " more 
 than full already, my dear lady, and positecfly 
 cannot promise a single vacancy before next 
 July," what but a very disconsolate and unsettled 
 party must that be that leaves her door to take 
 the train for nowhere, and wait for something to 
 turn up? And, under these circumstances, 
 when the Rev. Obadiah Green, in the peaceful 
 pursuit of his travels and his duty, (and having 
 gathered from the conversation of the party 
 something of their situation,) falls into discourse 
 with Mr. Wood, and, in the course of conversa- 
 tion, hands him one of his little cards, setting
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2 $ 
 
 forth the attractions of his " Christian home for 
 young persons desirous of pursuing a course of 
 study at the well-known academy of Plato ville," 
 what, I say, under such circumstances, is more 
 natural than that the result which we have al- 
 ready contemplated should come to pass ? 
 
 " Why, Matilda, here is just the very thing for 
 us," says Mr. Wood, introducing the Rev. Oba- 
 diah to a short parley with his pretty wife. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, how fortunate we are !" reiterated 
 that graceful lady, leaving the gentlemen to 
 drop into the seat back of the girls, and laying 
 her pretty little braceletted wrist lightly over 
 Lily's shoulder. 
 
 " Girls, I think you are to be congratulated. 
 Such a nice, quiet place so much better than a 
 fashionable boarding - school. I shall feel per- 
 fectly easy about you. Now there is nothing to 
 be done but for me to take the train for home at 
 Springfield yes, I'll see about Jennie's coming, 
 dear and your father will go with you and see 
 you nicely settled at Mr. Green's." 
 
 " Be sure and make Jennie come, won't you, 
 mother?" said Lily, a trifle dismally. 
 
 " Yes, I will. I'll see Mrs. Osborne this evening. 
 You trust me for that." And she kept her promise. 
 2
 
 2 6 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " We have found stick a nice place for the 
 girls, Mrs. Osborne a good, quiet, Christian 
 family, and the school close by. Lily will be 
 perfectly happy if you will only let Jennie go, 
 too. Dora is so young, you know, and Helen 
 well, she's a fine girl, you know a very fine 
 girl, but she's so quiet, and she can't go out as 
 much as Lily likes to, and the fact is you will 
 let Jennie go, won't you ?" 
 
 While this matter was being settled, the girls 
 were still on their way up into the dreary north. 
 The October night grew chilly, and darkness 
 came down over the hills. The two gentlemen 
 sat opposite the girls, their hats jogging up and 
 down together in a friendly way in the now al- 
 most deserted car. 
 
 " Well, sir," said the man of business, . after 
 several vain attempts to come to terms, " now if 
 you will be so kind as to name your price." 
 
 " The price ah yes," said the Rev. Obacliah, 
 who had been meditating on this very subject ever 
 since he first fell in with the party. " Though I 
 regard it as one of the minor considerations, yet 
 it is one of those things which a , the fact is, 
 I am accustomed to view this matter so much in 
 the light of a if I may say benevolence
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2 / 
 
 " Yes, yes, Mr. Green, I appreciate your deli- 
 cacy, sir, and your your benevolence, but what 
 is your regular price for board ?" 
 
 Mr. Green smiled. " Indeed, sir, as I was re- 
 marking that is the very point, sir indigent 
 young persons in the pursuit of a " 
 
 " But we are not indigent young persons, sir. 
 
 We expect to pay a fair price and get a fair arti- 
 
 I 
 cle, as we say in trade, sir. Now, what will you 
 
 take this party for?" 
 
 The merchant was beginning to be a little net- 
 tled, and inclined to think it rather hasty of Ma- 
 tilda (Matilda always was hasty) to decide this 
 matter without more consideration. 
 
 " They will take three rooms, did you say, sir ? 
 and, being from the city, they will probably re- 
 quire some privileges which a really, I hardly 
 know what to say, sir." 
 
 " Well, what do you say to twelve dollars a 
 week ?" said Mr. Wood, getting desperate. " Will 
 that do ?" 
 
 Mr. Green's regular price was seven dollars. 
 He looked at the merchant warily from under 
 his spectacles. " Well sir, a perhaps you did 
 not intend to include washing, sir?" 
 
 " Well, no; washing extra, if you say so."
 
 28 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Mr. Green took another wary look. ".Now, 
 sir, it may seem a small matter to you but to 
 a clergyman, sir, one not rich in this world's 
 goods, a if you could say fuel and light extra 
 (washing, fuel and light, yes, sir. I think that 
 will be all) a I think I should be able to ac- 
 cept your terms." 
 
 " Very good, sir, very good. We'll consider the 
 matter settled. The money for my daughters will 
 be forwarded to you monthly by my book-keeper. 
 Here is our card, sir. Miss Roberts' guardian is 
 just now in California, but I will make arrange- 
 ments with his house to have her business at- 
 tended to, here is their card, sir Saxton & Co. 
 Well, girls, pretty tired ? We're almost there, I 
 believe." 
 
 The appearance of our young ladies in Plato- 
 ville caused a pleasant little breeze of excitement 
 in that quiet community. Fora moment the vil- 
 lage girls stood aghast in their high waterfalls 
 and last year's hats, but they quickly recovered 
 themselves, in the eager pursuit of the fashions 
 brought by the new-comers. Chatelaine braids 
 went like wildfire through the school, and last 
 year's hats took on an upper story and French 
 roof in a marvelously short time.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 2 9 
 
 The gravest of heads turned around to see the 
 city girls walk into church. The demurest of 
 eyes looked with" ill-concealed interest at their 
 rich dresses and pretty waving plumes. 
 
 They were scrutinized and questioned by old 
 ladies around the stove, at the church-door. They 
 were discussed at sewing society. Their proba- 
 ble wealth (increased to a fabulous degree), the 
 number of their dresses, and the quality of their 
 under-clothing (as ascertained from the washer- 
 woman), were revealed and commented on. 
 Their lightest sayings and doings were reported 
 by the school-girls. 
 
 A few, indeed, frowned upon them and their 
 finery, and bewailed the day that had brought 
 such frivolity before the eyes of Plato ville youth. 
 But even they turned around in the street to 
 count the ruffles on their dresses. A few were 
 scornful, and wished them to know that they 
 knew something of city ways, too, and invited 
 them to their houses to show them that they had 
 Brussels carpets and pianos as well as city folks. 
 But these poor little hearts burned with a bitter 
 discontent and envy which the innocent causers 
 never suspected. 
 
 Nobody in the village was really indifferent to
 
 jo A/755 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 them. The apothecary left his mortar, with a 
 smile, to hand out their letters and papers, and 
 the grocer felt an uncommon sense of elevation 
 after they had been in, with their free, pretty 
 ways, to buy a few apples, or a comb. 
 
 Not because they were handsome, not because 
 they were famous, not because they were rich, 
 were these things so, but because they carried 
 with them that nameless grace that marks the 
 city-bred. 
 
 At the time our story commences, the girls 
 had begun to feel quite like old inhabitants of 
 Platoville. They had experienced all the heights 
 and depths of homesickness, and settled down 
 into a philosophic resolve to get all the fun they 
 could out of the winter. Christmas and New- 
 Year's had passed, made endurable by a generous 
 box from Jennie's mother. They had formed a 
 few acquaintances, the Phelps, who were not 
 rich, but were well-bred ; the Johnsons, who 
 were richer, but not so well-bred. Probably 
 there were many whom they would have been 
 proud to call friends, if there could only have 
 been a mutual opening of eyes, if the city girls 
 could have seen through the homely exterior so 
 new to them, and the rustics could have seen
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 3 r 
 
 through the poplins, and velvets," and feathers. 
 They were all some years older before they knew 
 how real a lady it was Sarah Phelps took them 
 to see one day, who did not look at their dresses 
 nor question them about their relatives, but sat 
 in her calico dress talking pleasantly to them, 
 showing them her only rarities, the magnificent 
 roses and callas in her window, and then got tea 
 right before them, in the same room the deli- 
 cious farmer's tea rye bread and Dutch cheese, 
 mince pie, baked apples and cream while her 
 husband, just come in from some out-door 
 work,warmed his big, hard hands before the fire, 
 and looked over the weekly paper. 
 
 At home, in the Green establishment, the girls 
 could never feel, and that family long remained 
 more or less of a problem to them, unique inlheir 
 observation and experience. Mr. Green was 
 said to be an "agent," but if that word means 
 what from its derivation one might suppose it to 
 mean, it is far from expressing what seemed to 
 be the distinguishing feature of that gentleman's 
 calling. About once a month he " traveled," in 
 the phrase of the family, but for what purpose 
 was not definitely known. Jennie Osborne, who 
 confessed to great curiosity on this point, never
 
 32 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 found any one who could tell her. The greater 
 part of the remaining time he spent, in a flowery 
 dressing-gown, reading the " Herald of Evangel- 
 ical Freedom," in the warm corner of his sitting- 
 room, and imparting wisdom to the young per- 
 sons committed to his care. 
 
 At the table, he dealt out lofty sentiments, as 
 he did the meat and vegetables in well-consi- 
 dered quantities, and in the midst of almost un- 
 broken silence on the part of the recipients of 
 his favors. 
 
 Mrs. Green's voice was seldom heard on these 
 festive occasions, except in a hoarse whisper be- 
 hind her apron to the distracted maid-of-all-work 
 " Lucindy." She always appeared at the table 
 in close pursuit of the beef- steak, flushed and 
 tired-looking, and the girls, if they thought of 
 her at all, felt sorry for her. Otherwise, she was 
 chiefly known to the up-stairs community by the 
 distant sound of beating eggs and the occasional 
 audible difference of opinion between herself 
 and Bobby, the youthful scion of the house of 
 Green. 
 
 Mary, the daughter, was an unhappy maiden 
 of fifteen, who wore the cast-off bows of the 
 young lady - boarders, and envied them their
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 33 
 
 other privileges. At this period her life was 
 made a burden to her by Bobby's unremitting 
 mischief, by her mother's peevish and ill-timed 
 but just complaints of her laziness, and by her 
 father's moral lectures most of all by a lively 
 sense of these and all the discomforts of her 
 home. Let us hope that better things may come 
 to the poor child with coming years and wisdom. 
 
 The little house, which might have made a 
 pleasant home for a family of five, was forced to 
 shelter nearly four times that number. Every 
 room was full except the front parlor, which was 
 sacred to shadows. The long table stood corner- 
 wise in the cramped and gloomy dining-room. 
 The piano stepped out bluffly in the way of all 
 passers through the sitting-room, confronted by 
 the stove ; and the sofa and the centre-table, and 
 even Mr. Green's rocking-chair, were pushed 
 ingloriously into a corner. 
 
 It was matter of profound mystery to the 
 boarders where and how the Green family spent 
 the night. 
 
 The favorite theory, however, in regard to 
 Mr. Green was that he sat in state in the flowery 
 dressing-gown imparting wisdom from the rock- 
 ing-chair.
 
 " Come, my soul, awake, 'tis morning, 
 
 Day is dawning 
 O'er the earth ; arise and pray , 
 Come, to Him who made this splendor, 
 
 Thou must render 
 All thy feeble powers can pay." 
 
 ' Be useful where thou livest, that they may 
 Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still. 
 Kindnesse, good parts, great places are the way 
 To compasse this. Find out men's wants and will, 
 And meet them there. All worldly joys go lesse 
 To the one joy of doing kindnesses." 
 
 (35)
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 r | THE morning after her long conference with 
 -*- the padlocked book, Helen lay waiting for 
 Lucindy to come and make her fire, and watch- 
 ing the light creep over the hills. The remains 
 of last night's feast were on the table near her, 
 and gradually as gradually and softly as day- 
 light stole into the room, the thoughts that had 
 been in her mind before she went to sleep came 
 back to her. They were something brightened, 
 though, by the wonderful spring and hopefulness 
 of morning. 
 
 She was more forgiving to herself than she 
 had been last night ; more just, perhaps. At any 
 rate she was braver and happier. She was not 
 conscious of any particular good resolutions. 
 But she was an honest girl. She had found her- 
 self in a great mistake. There was only one 
 thing for an honest girl to do. 
 
 When Lucindy came in, it seemed easier to 
 speak to her pleasantly sometimes she forgot to 
 
 (37)
 
 38 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 speak to her at all and when she heard the girls 
 laughing in their own room she felt inclined to 
 laugh too. It was not yet very light nor very 
 warm in the little house when the breakfast-bell 
 sounded through the narrow halls. Helen looked 
 in upon the girls before she went down. Lily 
 was braiding Dora's hair, at the same time dis- 
 tractedly reciting snatches of her French verbs, 
 with frequent references to the open book on 
 the bureau before her. Dora herself, with a 
 troubled countenance, was working out her Lat- 
 in sentences, slowly and somewhat jerkingly, 
 owing to the savage pulls that Lily, in her own 
 zeal for learning, was inflicting on her poor hair. 
 Jennie, in the earliest stages of preparation for 
 breakfast, was in the act of tossing her geometry 
 to the ceiling when Helen opened the door, but 
 changing her attitude in an instant, stood sol- 
 emnly up before the two scholars and delivered 
 a few remarks in Mr. Green's most impressive 
 manner on the blessed effects of early rising and 
 habits of punctuality in all the walks of life. 
 Helen laughed and went on. She was an early 
 riser by nature, and gave herself no credit for 
 habits of punctuality. 
 
 On the stairs she encountered Miss Peck and
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 39 
 
 Miss Smith who inhabited (by what distribution 
 of themselves or their effects no one could guess) 
 the very little room at the end of the hall. 
 They were two faithful, hard-workings girls who 
 taught school in their several villages during the 
 summer, and in winter drank deep of the fount 
 of wisdom at Platoville. This was their third 
 winter at Mr. Green's. Thus patiently and la- 
 boriously they were getting their education, 
 " fitting themselves for usefulness," as they said. 
 They both eschewed the prevailing mode of 
 dress. Miss Smith had spectacles and short 
 curls. Miss Peck wore her hair drawn solemnly 
 back from her plain, pleasant face, and fastened 
 in a little knot behind. 
 
 " Those examples all came right," said Miss 
 Smith after the good mornings. 
 
 " Did they ? I'm very glad." 
 
 Helen remembered now that Miss Smith had 
 tapped at her door yesterday and asked her help 
 on some puzzling algebra problems. 
 
 " But we worked almost three quarters of an 
 hour on that one about the hands of a clock," said 
 Miss Peck, with an air that called for sympathy. 
 
 Helen had forgotten all about that particular 
 problem, but she smiled.
 
 40 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " I always remember the one about the Ma- 
 deira and Teneriffe, because it puzzled me so 
 when I went over the book." 
 
 " You must come and see me sometimes, when 
 you have n't problems to do," she added pleas- 
 antly, as they reached the dining-room door. 
 " I have some new views of California that you 
 might like to see." 
 
 " Thank you. It is so improving to see views 
 of natural scenery," said Miss Smith. 
 
 " You have had so many advantages," mur- 
 mured Miss Peck, with a wistful look in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Those girls are perfectly hungry for what 
 I've had all my life, and what hundreds of girls 
 throw away every day. What a queer world 
 this is," thought Helen, touching on a question 
 which has puzzled many another philosopher. 
 
 On the evening of the celebrated Church Fair, 
 Helen astonished the girls by appearing at their 
 door with her hat and jacket on. 
 
 " You don't mean to say that you are going," 
 said Lily. " I thought you thought it would be 
 a ' dreadful bore.' " 
 
 " That was an insult to Platoville that I did n't 
 intend," said Helen, flushing at the remembrance
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ^i 
 
 of her foolish little speech. " Yes'm, I'm going. I 
 don't know why I should n't see the fun as well 
 as my young and frisky cousins." 
 
 " That's jolly," cried Dora, who was lacing her 
 boots in her own little room. 
 
 In a few minutes they were in the low, white- 
 walled " vestry," among the usual variety of 
 dolls and book-marks, pincushions and old women 
 who lived in shoes. 
 
 They filled their arms with things that they 
 didn't want, and patronized the cake and candy 
 tables to a degree that threatened to undermine 
 their constitutions. They had their fortunes told, 
 and were pursued by small boys with letters, on 
 which they paid enormous postage. They yield- 
 ed to the blandishments of the ladies of the " Old 
 Folks' Kitchen," but resisted the baked beans and 
 mush and milk when they got there. 
 
 They raffled recklessly, and Dora drew the 
 bed-quilt, which she was only too thankful to 
 return at once to be re-raffled for by other reck- 
 less creatures. 
 
 Helen brought a smile to Mary Green's un- 
 happy face, by insisting that she should join their 
 party when they went into the infant-class room 
 to partake of some very lumpy ice cream. She
 
 42 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 afterwards thought that she might have made 
 Miss Smith and Miss Peck happy in the same 
 way, or in some other. But it was too late. The 
 two girls had slipped quietly out when the clock 
 pointed to nine, with peaceful hearts and con- 
 sciences. They had bought nothing, but each 
 had laid out the fifteen cents admission fee, all 
 that they, felt able to give, for the good of the 
 cause. 
 
 " Well, it's a little better than nothing," said 
 Lily going home. 
 
 " So it is," said Helen, whose " nothing," how- 
 ever, was not quite the same as Lily's. 
 
 " The idea of my drawing that horrid bed- 
 quilt," said the disgusted Dora. 
 
 Jennie was behind them, flirting desperately 
 with the minister's son, who was home from col- 
 lege on his winter vacation, and had first seen 
 the stylish young lady through his eye-glass that 
 evening. Helen had not enjoyed herself much. 
 She had not expected to. She had left Kate Nic- 
 kleby, just arrived, at the Mantalini's, and was 
 anxious to pursue the acquaintance of that inter- 
 esting family. Nevertheless, she was glad she 
 had gone. 
 
 " Now, don't go poking off to your own room.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 43 
 
 Come in and have a friendly piece of cake," said 
 Lily, after they had climbed the steep stairs in 
 the dark. 
 
 " No more cake to-night," cried Helen and 
 Dora in chorus, but Helen came in and sat down 
 on the edge of the bed. Between the fear of 
 going away too soon, and of staying so long as 
 to be dull, and stupid, and " queer," she didn't 
 quite know, what to do. 
 
 " I am really very tired, and sha'n't stay up 
 very long anywhere. But what are we to do 
 with all these things ? Dora, my dear, will you 
 accept a pincushion ? This stuffed doll is a beau- 
 tiful object. I don't know exactly what it is in- 
 tended for, but I should think it might make a 
 useful pincushion. Here is a bronze slipper also, 
 with a high heel, and buckle, and all the fixings. 
 It is evidently intended for a needle-book and 
 pincushion. By the way, I wonder if Lucindy's 
 heart wouldn't warm towards this." 
 
 And when Jennie came in to exhibit her pur- 
 chases and tell the tale of her evening's triumphs, 
 Helen slipped away to her own room, and was 
 very little missed. 
 
 It was Saturday morning, and snowing as 
 usual. The girls had put on their rubber boots
 
 44 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 and waterproofs, and tramped off to get the mail 
 and lay in a stock of candies and fruits to last 
 over Sunday. Helen sat at the window, her 
 cheeks resting on her hands, looking up, as chil- 
 dren do, into the air, made gray and blinding by 
 the falling flakes. But presently she took her 
 work-basket from the table close by, and fell to 
 mending a glove. 
 
 The room was in its Saturday morning confu- 
 sion and dreariness, waiting for Mrs. Green, who 
 on these occasions was accustomed to bring up 
 fresh sheets and, with a rueful countenance, help 
 Lucindy make the beds. Before long a heavy 
 step was heard on the stairs, and, bringing the 
 airs of the kitchen on her garments, the lady en- 
 tered. Helen never could talk to Mrs. Green. 
 She tried now to think of the right thing to say, 
 but her efforts were not crowned with success, 
 and the work proceeded, for the most part,* in 
 silence. But when it was done, that lady aston- 
 ished Helen by sitting down plumply on the 
 lounge opposite her, and beginning to talk her- 
 self. 
 
 " You was a sayin' that you wanted another 
 practice-hour ?" she began. 
 
 Helen admitted the fact.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 45 
 
 " Well, Mr. Brown, one of the young gentle- 
 men, he's goin' to take singin' lessons, and his 
 teacher can't come only at four o'clock in the 
 afternoon." That was the time Helen had spoken 
 of. " If you had jest as lieves practice in the 
 evenin', why, 'twould accommodate," pursued 
 Mrs. Green. 
 
 The boarders at Mr. Green's were always 
 " encouraged " to take their lamps and spend the 
 evening in the sitting-room. On such occasions 
 the family lamp was put out and set in the closet, 
 and the head of the family (to borrow the lan- 
 guage of the card) " exerted a parental influence 
 over the young persons committed to his charge, 
 by assisting them in their studies or superintend- 
 ing them in some elevated form of amusement." 
 But the young ladies from the city had set the 
 evil example of remaining in their rooms, and the 
 other boarders, with one consent, had followed. 
 
 " But that is the only time when you have the 
 room to yourself," said Helen at last, feeling that 
 she must say something, but quite conscious that 
 this was not the only nor uppermost reason for 
 disliking the proposed arrangement. It was only 
 the one which in a series of mental objections she 
 had just reached.
 
 46 MISS XOBEXTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Oh, I always like to hear the planner goin' !" 
 returned Mrs. Green ; " and he don't mind it, 
 either," referring to Mr. Green, who was at pre- 
 sent " traveling," hence the unusual circumstance . 
 of his wife having anything to say about busi- 
 ness. Helen did want the extra hour. Music 
 was almost the only thing she was making much 
 progress in this winter, and. all the time she could 
 give to that was well spent. But she was a very 
 particular young woman as to the circumstances 
 under which she practiced. By a judicious and 
 persistent use of chromatics and five-fingered ex- 
 ercises, she had succeeded in making Mr. Green 
 take his daily walk during her morning hour, and 
 between one and two she was comparatively at 
 peace, the boarders being all off at afternoon 
 school, and Mr. Green exercising his parental 
 duties and privileges in making the tour of the 
 young gentlemen's rooms. 
 
 " We'll leave it this way, if you please, Mrs. 
 Green," she said at last. " I will come down in 
 the evening whenever I need the practice very 
 much, but we won't call it a regular thing. And 
 whenever it isn't convenient for you, you must 
 let me know." 
 
 It really did seem to Helen that the unhappy
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 47 
 
 woman must occasionally have a wish in regard 
 to the occupation of her time and her house. 
 
 Thus it came about that one evening not long 
 after, Helen, having heard Mr. Green go out to 
 an evening meeting, appeared with her music in 
 the sitting-room. A lively encounter between 
 Mrs. Green and Bobby had -been audible through 
 the pipe of the drum a few minutes before, but 
 there was now a lull. Bobby's rebellious little 
 legs were calmly curled up on the sofa, and he 
 slept the sleep of the innocent. Helen did not 
 discover him at once. The only light in the 
 room was a low, flickering candle, on the table 
 in the corner (the kerosene lamp had been put 
 out and locked up in the closet, before Mr. 
 Green's departure). Mrs. Green sat by the table 
 mending a dress for Mary. That young lady 
 herself was in at the next door, ostensibly look- 
 ing out her map questions with her most intimate 
 friend. 
 
 " If you will let Lucinda go up and get my 
 lamp," said Helen, a little hesitatingly ; she fan- 
 cied it might be embarrassing. " It takes a good 
 deal of light to practice." 
 
 " I'll go myself," and Mrs. Green rose with the 
 utmost readiness. " Never mind him," contin-
 
 48 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ued that lady, finding Helen contemplating Bob- 
 by when she returned. " I guess he won't wake 
 up, and 't won't hurt him if he does." 
 
 Helen, it must be confessed, feared the conse- 
 quences of Bobby's waking more for other people 
 than for himself. She was a little disgusted and 
 inclined to give up -the practicing, but with her 
 lamp in Mrs. Green's possession, and that lady 
 stitching away with renewed vigor under its en- 
 livening rays, she was clearly at a disadvan- 
 tage. 
 
 " Well, p'raps he'll wake up of himself if you 
 wait a few minutes," said Mrs. Green, and Helen 
 sat down. Once more she couldn't think of any- 
 thing to say, and once more Mrs. Green came to 
 her relief. 
 
 " Was you always lame ?" she began, bluntly. 
 
 Helen's face flushed hot a moment at this rude- 
 ness, but she looked at the woman's coarse, un- 
 conscious face, and tried to realize that the ques- 
 tion came from nothing but a kind feeling of in- 
 terest. She answered as pleasantly as she could, 
 
 " No, ma'am, not always." 
 
 " Did you have a fall or anything?" 
 
 " No ; but I was ill a great deal when I was a 
 child."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 49 
 
 " How old was you when your father and mo- 
 ther died ?" 
 
 " Only a baby," said Helen, wishing she might 
 change the subject. 
 
 " And your aunt and uncle have took care of 
 you ever since," said Mrs. Green, concluding her 
 rapid mental sketch of the young lady's life. 
 
 " I have lived sometimes with them and some- 
 times with my guardian, Mrs. Green. Have you 
 always lived in Platoville ?" 
 
 Mrs. Green was a woman of few words on or- 
 dinary occasions, but she was capable of being 
 drawn out almost indefinitely. Helen asked a 
 few questions at first for their own sake, after- 
 wards from a genuine interest, and presently 
 found it unnecessary to ask any questions at all. 
 This coarse and common woman, who seemed 
 allied to the fleshly things with which she chiefly 
 had to do this grimy, smoky genius of the 
 kitchen, who carried drudgery in every line of 
 her face, and heat, and worry, and bustle in every 
 movement of her burly form this woman had 
 had a youth. She had had romance in her girl's 
 heart, and tenderness in her woman's breast. It 
 came out oddly enough, in ways that seemed 
 rough and coarse to her auditor, but it did come 
 3
 
 50 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 out, and Helen listened as to a revelation. She 
 told of meeting her first husband many years ago 
 at a singing-school ; of the string of beads he 
 gave her one night for a kiss and a promise ; of 
 the lover's quarrel that came, and of her walking 
 twenty-six miles in one day to find him and pre- 
 vent his going off to sea. She told of their hap- 
 piness in their own little house, and of the two 
 children that were born to them and died ; and 
 then she told how he sickened, and how she 
 watched him through the long fever, and then 
 took him to his own home and buried him. 
 Helen thought that all this woman's real life 
 has been buried, too, in that grave. 
 
 Mrs. Green's harsh voice shook as she told the 
 story, and her face took on a look that Helen 
 had never suspected it could wear. Of her later 
 life she said nothing, and Helen hadn't the heart 
 to question her about it. 
 
 " If I only could have had one of them babies 
 left to me !" the woman cried out, after a pause. 
 "And yet I've thanked the Lord a thousand times 
 that they were all gone." 
 
 And she wiped her eyes, pinned her work to 
 her knee in a new place, and stitched away, the 
 every-day look coming back to her face.
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE: 5 L 
 
 Helen, who .had read few stories except in 
 books, found the right words farther off than 
 ever before, and Bobby was nestling now, so she 
 went to the piano and played very sweetly a 
 gentle little melody. Bobby beat up the sofa 
 pillow, and raised himself on his elbow to listen, 
 in a wide-awake contentment that lasted longer 
 than might have been expected. 
 
 " You play real pretty," said Mrs. Green. 
 " Give us some more !" 
 
 So Helen kept on, and gradually got into her 
 regular practice, and by nine o'clock was in her 
 own room again. 
 
 One day, a year afterwards, the minister's wife 
 told Mrs. Green that she would like to lend her 
 " The Minister's Wooing," which had just come 
 out in book form. 
 
 " What ! that one about he that went to sea 
 and she was goin' to marry the minister ?" said 
 Mrs. Green. " Why, one of our boarders read 
 that to me ! She used to come down to practice 
 when lie was gone to meetin', and sometimes 
 Bobby was asleep, so she would bring down her 
 paper and read till he woke up. She was a nice 
 girl. I used to think she was proud sometimes 
 but she could be real pleasant, too."
 
 52 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 One day a stranger came to Platoville on the 
 eleven o'clock train. He had sent a letter before 
 him to this effect : 
 
 " MY DEAR CHILD, I arrived from San Fran- 
 cisco yesterday per steamer Yucatan. I shall 
 take the midnight train north Wednesday, and 
 hope to see you for a few hours on Thursday. 
 " Yours, 
 
 " EDWARD SAXTON." 
 
 But the letter did not reach Platoville till seve- 
 ral hours after the stranger had left it, and Miss 
 Roberts was naturally somewhat surprised when, 
 on coming in from her morning recitations, she 
 was informed that there was a gentleman in the 
 parlor waiting to see her. A handsome rug, and 
 the most elegant of brown leather traveling-bags, 
 lay on the hall floor, and on the little black sofa 
 just within the parlor door, was a rather small, 
 very neat, iron-grey-haired gentleman. Mr. 
 Green sat by his side in the full glory of the 
 flowery dressing-gown, wisdom and benignity 
 fairly bubbling over from his whole aspect. 
 
 The small gentleman turned from him and rose 
 with a gentle shake, as if he would have shaken
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 53 
 
 off some of the precious drops of the bubbled- 
 over wisdom. A person of lively imagination 
 might have been reminded, by the act, of a little 
 bird lightly scattering the priceless summer rain 
 from his glossy feathers. Helen came up to the 
 little gentleman and kissed him, with that mix- 
 ture of shyness and delight which, from a child, 
 she always felt on meeting her guardian. 
 
 " You were not expecting me, my dear ? I am 
 not acquainted with these northern mails, and 
 didn't calculate for my letter having to go to Ban- 
 gor, to be sent back to you. ' Pretty well,' are 
 you ? We'll see about that in a moment." 
 
 Then he took out his watch. " I shall wish to 
 see your room, if you please, my child, and, Mr. 
 Green, will you have the kindness, sir, to procure 
 a comfortable vehicle of some sort to come to the 
 door immediately after dinner ?" 
 
 Mr. Green was only too happy, and exchang- 
 ing his long dressing-gown for his long over- 
 coat, and his noiseless slippers for his noiseless 
 over-shoes, stole out of the house. 
 
 " Your uncle selected this place for you, and 
 came with you here ?" said Helen's guardian, 
 when they were alone, rising to his feet and stand- 
 ing up over her in a somewhat alarming way.
 
 54 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 "Yes, sir;" and Helen related the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Her guardian made an inarticulate sound 
 for answer, and strode rapidly once or twice 
 up and down the little apartments, kicking 
 one or two loose crickets before him into the 
 shadowy depths of the bay-window, for he was 
 rather a nervous little gentleman. Then, coming 
 back suddenly, he took the awful liberty of rais- 
 ing the front window and throwing the yellow- 
 green blinds wide open. Then he sat down on 
 the sofa and looked into Helen's face. The un- 
 wonted blaze of sunlight gave the little room and 
 its stiff finery an astonished and injured look, 
 which Helen remembers to this day, when she 
 thinks of Platoville. The light revealed also the 
 young girl's countenance, and brought out clear- 
 ly the decided lines about the mouth, the kindly 
 eyes, and rather handsome features of the middle- 
 aged man by her side. His face was one you 
 would have liked to look at, and yet, after look- 
 ing some fime, you might have been quite una- 
 ble to say what manner of man the possessor of 
 it was. Like all of us, he was many-sided. If 
 you had gone down among the docks and ware- 
 houses on Water Street, X , and asked the
 
 ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 5 5 
 
 merchants there to tell you about him, they 
 would have said, "Saxton? he's one of our 
 most solid men. He's a prudent man, a very 
 prudent man ; and yet he has a quick eye for a 
 chance. His ventures seldom fail. Edward Sax- 
 ton's name is a pretty sure sign of success to any 
 scheme. A little too particular, perhaps a little 
 too afraid of anything that looks like sharp prac- 
 tice or double dealing ; but he's a safe man, a 
 very safe man, and has been a very successful 
 one." 
 
 If you had gone home to tea with his mild- 
 faced tailor one evening, that same week, you 
 might have heard him remark, across the table, 
 to his well-dressed wife " Mr. Saxton was in to- 
 day, my dear. Just home from California, and 
 looking well extremely well. He bought one 
 of that new line of beavers, and ordered his 
 spring over-coat. ' A lovely man,' you think, my 
 dear a ' lovely man ?' Well, I have a great re- 
 spect for Mr. Saxton, as you well know, Mrs. 
 Button ; but I must say that he is a very partic- 
 ular man a very particular man extremely so, 
 in fact. I have known him send back a coat 
 well as many as five times, to have the set of 
 the sleeves altered, and though I wouldn't men-
 
 5 6 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 tion it to any one but you, Mrs. Button, I don't 
 know of any gentleman who is more apt to be a 
 little irritable, if his goods are not just what he 
 ordered, or are not sent home at the precise time 
 they are promised." 
 
 If you had talked with his pastor about the 
 grey-haired man who had sat before his face, 
 Sunday after Sunday, for many years, and who 
 had been all that time one of the " pillars" of his 
 church, and a promoter of every good and enter- 
 prising movement, he might have told you that 
 notwithstanding all his intercourse with him, he 
 felt that he had but little real knowledge of the 
 retiring man ; but that once or twice he had met 
 him on the outskirts of the city, " walking at 
 eventide," and that on these occasions he had had 
 deeper talks with him than with any man he 
 knew, that he believed him to be a man of a rare 
 spirit, of very pure life, and of high aim." 
 
 If you had gone to certain widows, and to cer- 
 tain struggling clerks, in the city of X , they 
 
 might have told you, with tears in their eyes, 
 things that the quiet doer of them would rather 
 I should not set down even here. His house- 
 keeper, who saw, perhaps, more of him in bodily 
 presence than any body else, would have told
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 57 
 
 you that he liked his eggs soft-boiled, and his 
 toast very hot, and that he drank a glass of fresh 
 milk every morning, just as reg'lar as the morn- 
 ings came. Even Helen, who had spent six 
 months of most of the years of her life in his 
 house, could have told you little about him, ex- 
 cept that he was the most generous of guardians, 
 that she was a little afraid of him, and that there 
 was growing in her heart, every year as she 
 grew older, a deep honor for the little man. 
 
 " It's more than I can understand ! What ever 
 induced Lucy Roberts to put that child under 
 Saxton's care !" Helen's uncle used to say to his 
 wife sometimes. " What does he know about 
 girls ? Perfect absurdity ! Now, if she had only 
 left her to me, her natural guardian, the girl 
 could have grown up with our daughters, and 
 her property could have gone in with ours, and 
 I could have doubled it a dozen times. Saxton's 
 too careful to do anything with it keeps it 
 locked up in a strong box, I suppose and the 
 dear knows what he's going to do with all his 
 money, when he dies." 
 
 But Lucy Roberts knew Edward Saxton well 
 perhaps better than any body else had ever 
 known him and she chose him out of all the
 
 58 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 men and all the women she knew, to take care 
 of her little girl when she must leave her. 
 
 Helen rather feared the effect of a dinner a la 
 Green on her guardian. That ceremony went 
 off very much as usual. The vegetables and the 
 moralities were dispensed with the usual benig- 
 nant grace. The promiscuously laden plates 
 passed in solemn procession up and down the 
 long row of expectant feasters, who all waited 
 for the uplifted knife and fork of the head of the 
 family before they ventured to appease the clam- 
 ors of appetite. Lucindy stood lost in thought 
 behind the stove, or recalled by her mistress's 
 awful whisper, made a rush to the further end of 
 the table to pour gravy into the glass of the 
 young gentleman who called for water. 
 
 But Mr. Saxton took it all with gravity 
 and equanimity. His nervousness seemed to 
 have disappeared, and he sat quietly observant 
 of Helen and her three friends, or answering as 
 well .as he could their girlish questions about 
 home in the intervals of Mr. Green's discourse. 
 He tried to remember how long the Huntington 
 girls had been home from school, but he was not 
 sure where the last sociable met. He resisted 
 steadily Mr. Green's attempts to draw him out,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 59 
 
 but listened with a grave respect to such of that 
 gentleman's remarks as were specially addressed 
 to him. . 
 
 After dinner, Deacon Prosy's green sleigh, 
 with a melancholy jingle of small bells, drew up 
 to the door, and Helen in her little brown, fur- 
 edged jacket and the hat with the pheasant's 
 wing, and wrapped in the handsome traveling- 
 rug, showed her guardian the sights of Platoville. 
 They called on the principal of the academy, 
 who was a scholar and a gentleman, and to whom 
 the short interview with the broad-minded and 
 cultivated business -man was a real pleasure. 
 They drew up to the side-walk in front of the 
 store to speak to Professor Koerner. He was 
 the German teacher, melancholy of attire, beam- 
 ing of countenance, who earned a precarious 
 but happy existence by carving brackets and 
 picture-frames, and giving lessons in his native 
 language in Platoville and the surrounding 
 towns. He had gone home to his patient, blue- ' 
 eyed wife and eight rosy children with a brighter 
 face than usual when he learned that he was to 
 have an extra class of three young ladies from 
 the city, and a special reading-lesson every day 
 with one of them.
 
 60 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE, 
 
 At length, after a short stop at the deacon's 
 door, and the taking in of the deacon's small 
 son as driver elect, the horse's head was turned 
 towards the depot, and they began to listen for 
 the whistle of the down-train. 
 
 " Well, my child, I think you will hold out till 
 the end of the year." 
 
 There was a slight questioning inflection in the 
 words, nevertheless, and Helen answered, with 
 rather surprised eyes, " Oh, yes, sir." 
 
 Somehow Platoville life had almost unconsci- 
 ously, to her, taken on a different look these last 
 few weeks. 
 
 Mr. Saxton looked pleased. 
 
 " What will you wish to do at the end of the 
 term ? Will you go with your cousins to 
 Chicago or come to me ?" 
 
 " I would rather come home to you, sir." 
 
 Mr. Saxton looked pleased again. 
 
 " Why did n't you tell Dennis to send you the 
 flowers this winter ?" 
 
 " I did n't think of it, I'm sure." 
 
 " I was the thoughtless one. It should have 
 been done. Mitty has been good enough to 
 send old Mrs. Brown a basket full now and then, 
 but otherwise they have been wasting their
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 6 1 
 
 sweetness. Now, good-bye, my child. No, 
 keep the rug. I bought it for you. I have 
 made arrangements to have the sleigh and this 
 young man here for driver whenever you wish, 
 and a buggy when the snow goes. You must 
 take a drive every day, if possible. If you need 
 anything, tell your guardian." 
 
 Helen kissed him good-bye, and thanked him. 
 She -would as little have thought of telling him 
 how mucJi she thanked him as he would have 
 thought of telling her how glad he was to see 
 his " child'' once more, and how he rejoiced at a 
 certain new light that he thought he saw in her 
 eyes. 
 
 Perhaps Edward Saxton did know little about 
 girls, but he knew something about souls, and 
 had a quick instinct for reading in faces that 
 which lies beneath the common ken. 
 
 He did not open his paper at once on going 
 into the cars, but looked gravely out of the win- 
 dow at the dull, brown and white fields flying 
 faster and faster before him. "Yes, it's going to 
 be a good thing," he said to himself. " Wood 
 was wiser than he knew. I did n't think so at 
 first. The cramped, dismal rooms are bad, the 
 cod-fishy halls are very bad, the moral sentiments
 
 62 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 are not to my taste ; but she's getting what she 
 would n't have got anywhere else. Those girls, 
 too, she needed to be brought nearer to them, 
 perhaps she will be able to do something for 
 them, and I'm not afraid of their hurting her, 
 not even that scatter-brained creature of Os- 
 borne's." 
 
 The breath of the city brought by Helen's 
 guardian threatened to plunge the girls 'back 
 into their original home-sickness. They all sat 
 that afternoon in a dismal group on Helen's bed, 
 and even the box of lovely candies that the 
 thoughtful little man had taken out of his bag 
 before he left was not equal to the emergency. 
 
 Presently Lucindy thrust her head in at the 
 door, unannounced by knock or step, and, in the 
 sepulchral tone learned from her mistress, whis- 
 pered hoarsely, " Music teacher." 
 
 " Oh, dear, I had forgotten all about her," said 
 Helen, starting up. 
 
 Helen's music teacher was a blind lady who 
 had been educated at the Perkins Institute in 
 Boston, and now did what she could for the sup- 
 port of herself and her poor old mother by giv- 
 ing lessons in music. She was a plain, unat- 
 tractive woman, and Helen had seldom thought
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 63 
 
 much about her, except with a vague kind of 
 pity, that made her constrained and almost bash- 
 ful in Miss Graham's presence, and a sense that 
 she was an unusually good music teacher for a 
 lady. 
 
 But to-day she was not in the mood for her 
 lesson, and somehow found herself thinking less 
 of the music and more of the teacher than ever 
 before. She noticed the soft, almost loving 
 touch with which Miss Graham handled the 
 keys when she played the accompaniment to her 
 new song. She looked at her face and thought 
 that, if it were not for the pitiful green glasses, 
 and a somewhat hard and fixed expression which 
 was, perhaps, the result of the long shutting out 
 of pleasure from one entrance, it would be a very 
 pleasant face. The little girl who led Miss 
 Graham to her lessons was late in coming for 
 her to-day, and after the lesson pupil and teacher 
 sat together some minutes waiting. 
 
 Miss Graham drew out a roll of music from her 
 muff. " Here is something that came to me by 
 this afternoon's mail. Will you be so kind -as 
 to tell me what it is?" Helen read the title. 
 " Whose composition is it ? Does it look pretty ?" 
 
 " Sha'n't I try it for you, Miss Graham ?" said
 
 64 MJSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Helen, suddenly. " You know all about my 
 reading, but I'll do the best I can with it." 
 
 "Thank you, my dear," said Miss Graham, 
 when she was done. " It is on A flat?" and she 
 touched the chord. 
 
 " Miss Graham, how do you learn new music ?" 
 asked Helen, too much interested for her usual 
 fear of being rude or impertinent. 
 
 " My sister, who teaches in Granby, comes 
 home once a month, and then she reads to me all 
 that has been sent while she was gone. After 
 one reading, I can generally manage a piece." 
 
 Helen's face flushed quickly. " I do believe 
 I am the most thoughtless, selfish creature that 
 ever lived. Miss Graham, I wish you would 
 let me read to you," she said, aloud. " I can 
 do it perfectly well. I can come every day for 
 an hour." She was very much in earnest, and 
 Miss Graham smiled. The look in her face 
 wasn't half as hard and fixed as before. 
 
 " Not every day, my dear. I am sure you are 
 too busy for that. But I shall be greatly obliged 
 if .you will read a piece to me occasionally. You 
 live next door to the school - house, don't you ? 
 I can go in there any time." 
 
 Helen was thoroughly interested, and after a
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 65 
 
 pause of a few minutes she ventured to ask, but 
 in quite another tone, " Are the days very dull, 
 Miss Graham ?" 
 
 " Not very," said the quiet woman. " At least 
 not now. They were at first. I was only twelve 
 years old when I became blind, and it took a 
 long time to get accustomed to it. But mother 
 and I have very nice times together. She reads 
 to me sometimes when her voice is strong 
 enough, and I play a good deal, you know. 
 Here comes Lottie." 
 
 Helen went up-stairs considerably better of 
 the home-sickness, but somehow with a wonder- 
 fully serious look on her face.
 
 " A man that looks on glasse, 
 
 On it may stay his eye ; 
 Or, if he pleaseth, through it passe, 
 And then the heaven espie."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IT is a trite observation, but one that occasion- 
 ally forces itself with special emphasis upon 
 the mind, that the longest period of time does 
 have an end. The girls took a new sense of this 
 truth one day when Dora, waving the almanac 
 triumphantly aloft, informed them that there 
 were only three weeks and two days more to 
 stay in Platoville. Only three weeks, and there 
 were ever so many things to do before they went 
 away. There were the Shakers to visit some 
 Saturday, and the academy belfry to climb into, 
 and the old mill down in the hollow to go to 
 again and make a sketch of. 
 
 Since spring had opened Platoville pleasures 
 had increased ten-fold. The deacon''s old horse, 
 without the melancholy bells, had come to the 
 door almost every afternoon and helped them 
 find something pleasant. They had thoroughly 
 explored the road that led off into the country 
 in all its branches. They had gathered the love- 
 
 (69)
 
 70 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 liest wild flowers over in the belt of woods that 
 could be seen from Helen's window (Dennis 
 had sent a contribution from the green -house 
 at home every week till the arbutus and liver- 
 wort came). They had found the most charm- 
 ing places along the quiet, grassy country roads 
 places where a brook trickled down through 
 moss and over stones and ran along by their 
 sides openings in the trees, where across acres 
 of sunny fields they saw the range of blue hills, 
 and Saranac behind them with winter still about 
 his head thick, bushy, green, leafy places, where 
 the branches brushed their cheeks on either side 
 sometimes places where the genuine forest 
 trees stood up around them and the horse stepped 
 over the soft pine needles. 
 
 When the real last days came, and they had 
 shaken hands with the teachers, and promised to 
 write to Sarah Phelps, and see Miss Smith and 
 Miss Peck, with their respective trunks, drive off 
 in the high wagons which their respective broth- 
 ers sent for them, the girls began to feel that 
 vague sense of loss and sickness of heart that 
 comes with the breaking up of almost any fa- 
 miliar state of life, be it joyous or grievous. 
 
 Their winter was the more thoroughly ended
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. fi 
 
 and broken up because they themselves were to 
 separate. Lily and Dora were to go to their 
 uncle in Chicago, to stay till Mr. and Mrs. Wood 
 should come home, or send further instructions 
 in regard to them. Jennie Osborne, after a brief 
 stop at home, was to join her mother at Saratoga. 
 Helen was going home to X . 
 
 They went off by the earliest train. Mrs. 
 Green was up and had a hot breakfast for them. 
 " We shall miss you," she said, wiping her face 
 with her apron, before she kissed them good- 
 bye. Mr. Green was borne up by a strong con- 
 viction that they would all return in the autumn 
 to complete their academical course, and the girls 
 were quite too sure of his mistake to care to 
 contradict him. Lucindy was tearful and jealous, 
 and when the coach came back for Lily's shawl, 
 which had been left behind, rushed wildly up- 
 stairs and brought down the old red table-cover. 
 
 At Springfield, Lily and Dora, being met by 
 the gentlemanly clerk sent on for the purpose, 
 took the western train. 
 
 " Old girl, I wish you were going too," said 
 Lily, always soft-hearted at parting, and the two 
 girls laid their pretty cheeks together for a mo- 
 ment. Dora was in spirits beyond the power of
 
 >j2 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 parting to affect, but she was really more fond 
 of her cousin than Lily was. Jennie, in deep 
 dejection and sobs, drew down her veil, closed 
 her blind, and spread herself out on the deserted 
 seat. In less than ten minutes Helen heard her 
 chatting gayly with a perfect stranger, in yellow 
 kids and yellow moustache, in the seat behind 
 her. Before the ten minutes had passed, the seat 
 by Helen's side was quietly taken by a small, 
 elegant, iron-gray-haired gentleman. 
 
 " Oh, isn't this splendid !" said Helen, with a 
 very bright face, when turning her eyes from 
 the river she had been watching, she first dis- 
 covered him. After that, she hadn't a thought 
 of book, or bag, or bundle, or of Eastville Junc- 
 tion, where they were to change cars again, and 
 where both she and Jennie had been very sure 
 they should take the wrong train and go back to 
 Platoville. Everything was quietly taken care of 
 by this little gentleman, who was the most per- 
 fect of travelers. 
 
 Before they reached X , Helen and Jennie 
 
 began to say their last words, and as we shall see 
 
 little of Jennie in the days to come; perhaps "we, 
 
 too, had better say good-bye now. The two 
 
 * girls met in a shop or on the street a few times
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 73 
 
 during the next two or three years, and when 
 Helen was visiting in Chicago she received some 
 pink -tinted wedding cards, and learned that 
 Jennie had married a very wealthy widower 
 with six children. 
 
 When the trains drew up at last in the old, 
 familiar, smoky, dingy, disgraceful depot of the 
 
 lovely city of X , there was Peter, grown 
 
 several shades blacker, Helen was sure, and the 
 black horses, and the glossy carriage which Mr. 
 Saxton had had newly lined with very dark 
 brown satin, " to match Peter, I suppose," said 
 Helen. 
 
 It was altogether delicious to wake the next 
 morning and become gradually conscious that 
 the summer morning breeze was coming in 
 through soft, lace curtains and not from under 
 the little flapping paper shade to look dreamily 
 about the spacious, high-ceiled room and realize, 
 though feebly at first, that there was no danger 
 of knocking the inkstand off the round table if 
 an elbow was thrust out of bed. 
 
 It was so delightfully lazy and luxurious, and 
 
 Helen, it must be confessed, was very fond of 
 
 laziness and luxury, to lie and look at herself in 
 
 the long mirror opposite, cushioned among the 
 
 4
 
 74 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 piles of soft, white things, and canopied by deli- 
 cate lace ; and the crimson silk coverlet, care- 
 lessly thrown over the foot of the bed, was such 
 an elegant contrast. It was even delightful to 
 hear the newsboy crying the morning paper. 
 Helen listened with interest to each particular 
 rise and fall of his voice as he came up the 
 avenue, past the house, and round the corner 
 down the next street, and lazily wondered if it 
 were the same freckly, merry -faced boy, or if 
 the vocal parts of all newsboys were precisely 
 alike. 
 
 Mr. Saxton was always late in breakfasting, 
 and there was plenty of time to begin to unpack 
 her trunk and scatter things about the floor ; 
 to begin a letter to Lily, and to look over her 
 precious books and " things" in the little room 
 opening out of her bed-room, and decide what 
 she must send for over to Uncle Roger's right 
 after breakfast. 
 
 Down -stairs everything was pleasant, too. 
 The long windows were open on to the green 
 grass. Mr. Saxton, who hated pretensions, 
 would not have it called a lawn ; but it was as 
 soft and smooth as velvet, and went off in a broad 
 sunny slope towards the green-houses and the
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 75 
 
 barn. Dennis had set out some of the larger 
 plants in smiling rows against the hedge, and a 
 few fragrant ones stood in clusters close by the 
 
 open windows. 
 
 Coffee was altogether such a different thing 
 
 out of the delicate porcelain cups ; and Mr. Sax- 
 ton at his end of the table, and Mitty at hers, 
 were two as pleasant people to see as one often 
 meets at breakfast. 
 
 Twenty years ago, before there were any gray 
 in his hair, Mr. Saxton had bought this hand- 
 some house on the avenue and fitted it up in 
 nearly its present style. Many were the con- 
 jectures among the polite of X as to the 
 
 reasons for this movement, but nothing more 
 astonishing happened than that he continued to 
 live there with his housekeeper and servants till 
 he was comparatively an old man. He seldom 
 entertained company, in the ordinary meaning 
 of that phrase, but sometimes one or two pale- 
 cheeked book-keepers would board with him 
 during the summer months ; and when poor 
 clergymen or foreign missionaries were in town, 
 they were very apt to be found " putting up" at 
 Mr. Saxton's. 
 
 Mrs. Submit Cook, always known as Mitty,
 
 76 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 had been a sempstress in the Saxton family be- 
 fore and after the death of the lamented Mr. 
 Cook, and came to Mr. Edward soon after he 
 took this house. It was Helen's opinion that he 
 got her as he did the pictures and the bronzes, 
 as an ornament. With her rippling gray hair, 
 her delicate face, her black dress, and the white 
 lace folded across her bosom, she was gentility . 
 itself ; and though she seldom uttered a sentence 
 without egregiously insulting her mother tongue, 
 she was blessed to such a degree with the grace 
 of silence, and had such pretty manners, that 
 she was universally admired. 
 
 After breakfast, Helen went with her guardian 
 into the front room, peculiarly his own, and call- 
 ed by the servants the library, and there saw 
 him brush his hat and put on his gloves, and 
 received her quarterly allowance. His words 
 were brief, for the carriage already stood at the 
 door to take him down to the docks. 
 
 " You had better take a drive this morning, 
 my child. Mitty will be charmed to go with 
 you and show you the novelties. I shall be home 
 to dinner at five." 
 
 By ten o'clock, they were bowling along the 
 broad avenue in the open carriage en route
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 
 
 77 
 
 for " Haberdasher's.'' Here, after feasting her 
 eyes on the piles of sweet, fresh, summery-look- 
 ing things, and buying a lovely lilac cambric 
 spotted with daisies, and a blue and white or- 
 gandy, and uncounted ribbons, Helen went to 
 another part of the store, and, after much con- 
 sultation with Mitty, made some rather different- 
 ( 
 looking purchases. 
 
 These she caused to be done up in a stout, 
 square, business-like bundle by the obliging 
 clerk, and the same assiduous youth was only too 
 happy to bring pen and ink to the counter that 
 she might direct it herself. 
 
 Those collars and cuffs won't fit him anyway, 
 and I don't believe he II want a black alpaca 
 dressing-gown," said the young lady to herself, 
 with an air of satisfaction, as she made the last 
 flourish with the stiff steel pen. And when they 
 went out she told Peter to go next to the ex- 
 press office. 
 
 " Now, Mitty, are we through ?" 
 
 "Air you going to " Mechlin's for anything ?" 
 said Mitty, gently. 
 
 " No, I was n't ; but we can, of course." 
 
 " I only thought I'd like to have you look at 
 some collars they have there. They're imitation
 
 78 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 of some kind of lace ' Mohammedan,' seems to 
 me they call it " 
 
 " Oh, Mitty," said Helen, wickedly, " not ' Mo- 
 hammedan' you mean ' Hottentot,' don't you ?" 
 
 " Well, I guess that is it. I never remember 
 these queer names. They're pretty, and cheap 
 too. I thought of getting one for Sarah Jane." 
 
 " I'd have one by all means," said Helen, 
 " Yes, Peter, to ' Mechlin's' next." 
 
 Sarah Jane was Mitty's married daughter, for 
 whom and for whose children, this softest-heart- 
 ed of grandmothers lived and had her being. 
 Many were the cunningly-devised garments and 
 the boxes of sweetmeats that went from the 
 housekeeper's room to the neighboring city 
 where Sarah Jane lived. 
 
 X was lovely through the early June days, 
 
 but one morning, when Helen came down in a 
 white muslin wrapper, and Mitty put ice in her 
 tea, and even Mr. Saxton. fanned himself with 
 his newspaper, everybody began to think of the 
 sea-side. It had been arranged that Helen and 
 Mitty should go down to Siloam through the 
 warm weather, and that Mr. Saxton, who rarely 
 
 left his business even in summer, should spend 
 a Sunday with them when he could.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 79 
 
 Helen loved nothing as she did the sea, but 
 she had always gone to it before subject to the 
 restrictions of her fashionable aunt and cousins. 
 This time she meant to enjoy it with all her 
 heart, and was eager to go. She would have 
 urged it before, but for a feeling of reluctance to 
 go away so soon again from her guardian, whose 
 wise and thoughtful kindness to her she was be- 
 ginning to notice more and more, and to bless 
 him for. But now when he spoke of going, there 
 was no mistaking what her face said about it. 
 
 " Your rooms are waiting for you. There is 
 no reason why you should n't go to - morrow. 
 You can begin to pack to-day, my dear, and if 
 my observations have been correct, to a young 
 lady, packing is half the pleasure of going." 
 
 Helen did pack that very morning. She put 
 in her sketching material (which were never 
 taken out of the trunk through the whole sum- 
 mer) a few books her "Earthly Paradise," 
 which her guardian had just given her the pad- 
 locked book (which remained with the sketch- 
 book at the bottom of the trunk all summer a 
 little limber Testament that would go in- her 
 pocket, and an old copy of Thomas a Kempis. 
 For this last, she had spent a whole morning at
 
 8o MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. 
 
 her Uncle Roger's deserted house, hunting among 
 her mother's old books. 
 
 For the first few days at the sea-side Helen 
 was supremely happy. She could keep on her 
 buff linen dress from breakfast till bed-time if 
 she chose, and sit on the rocks all day long. She 
 cared for nothing, thought of nothing but the 
 bounding, dashing water at her feet. Years 
 afterwards, sitting on those same rocks, some- 
 body told her (foolishly enough, as the strong- 
 minded reader will observe), that he was jealous 
 of only one thing in this world, and that was the 
 sea. She loved it as something akin to her. 
 
 " It is so restless it is so like me," she would 
 think. " It is always struggling so battering 
 away at these rocks falling back defeated 
 coming up again with sunshine on its forehead. 
 It has such a double nature clapping its hands 
 in glee moaning a perpetual sadness. Never 
 still never satisfied. Oh, sea, oh, sea, when 
 shall we both lie still together ? There is only 
 one Voice that can bid us be calm. And yet 
 God's sunlight shines upon it so. Such wealth 
 of brilliancy he pours out upon it such depths 
 of his own heaven's blue he mirrors in it, and 
 the stars shine down into its very heart."
 
 3SJSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. gl 
 
 Under her little brown umbrella (if she thought 
 to put it up), all sorts of fresh, sweet, strength- 
 ening things came into her mind. Little songs 
 would sing themselves there. They never got 
 on to paper, probably they were not worth it. 
 But they would go on in her head for days to- 
 gether in pretty musical numbers. And with 
 all the other things the sunshine, the airs, the 
 books, in her pocket and in her mind, the lives 
 she knew something of, the life she knew most 
 about down in her own heart, the wishes that 
 would come and were hard to put down, the 
 longings, the hopes with all these things they did 
 the work whereunto they were sent. For back 
 of the soft, brown eyes and the white forehead 
 there was going on something just as wonderful 
 and just as beautiful as goes on under the brown 
 earth when spring rains and sunshine are sent 
 down upon it. 
 
 Mitty did not share the pleasures of the watch- 
 er by the sea. With her back to the water (the 
 glare hurt her eyes), she stitched little red merino 
 frocks and ruminated peacefully. 
 
 " I don't see, for my part, what pleasure there 
 is in setting out there on those rocks in the blaz- 
 ing sun, and getting tanned as brown as a berry. 
 4*
 
 8 2 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 There's that child. I should think she'd a great 
 deal rather take a little sewing, or a book some- 
 times, and set down in the house. She does take 
 a book out there, but I don't see as she ever 
 opens it. But she ain't the only one that does 
 so. There are troops of 'em that come from the 
 city every day and seem to like to set still for 
 hours and poke their parasols into the sand. 
 And that woman that sets opposite us at the 
 table. She puts on the awfullest looking old hat 
 every day and goes off into the woods, and 
 never comes back till bathing time, and then she 
 goes in looking like Sancho Panzy, with all the 
 rest of them. I don't see what folks want to 
 make themselves look so for. And for my part, 
 I think it's a great deal more convenient, besides 
 being more decent, to wash yourself in your own 
 room." 
 
 After dinner, Mitty would be persuaded to lay 
 aside her work and sit on the veranda, the pic- 
 ture of contented respectability. 
 
 Helen was always proud of the gentle-faced, 
 gray - haired woman, but their dialogues were 
 sometimes of a funny description. 
 
 " Isn't that lovely ?" Helen would say, sitting 
 on a low scat by Mitty's side, her cheeks resting
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 83 
 
 on her hands, and her eyes on the little ship just 
 rounding the point with the sunset on its sails. 
 
 " Yes, I was jest a thinking that you might 
 have your old blue silk fixed up so. There's 
 plenty of it. Two whole breadths that ain't 
 gored at all ?" 
 
 A pretty little steamer plied daily between the 
 hotel and Siloam light-house. Troops of people 
 went over every day, and Helen heard them say- 
 ing what a charming sail it was through the Needle 
 islands and along the shore. The rocks at the 
 lighthouse, too, were very fine, and there was a 
 sort of whirlpool, wonderful to see. Helen con- 
 ceived a desire to go over there some day, but 
 Mitty demurred. 
 
 " Steamboats smell so, and if you set out on 
 deck you get cinders all over your clothes. And 
 there's nothing tans like the reflection from the 
 water." 
 
 Helen tried to give up gracefully. She could 
 be happy on her rocks forever, yet she felt that 
 v her capacity for happiness might admit of a 
 wider range of objects. She had a pleasant word 
 occasionally with some of the guests, but she 
 was not of the kind to make acquaintance easily, 
 and besides, all the parties were complete in
 
 84 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 themselves, and did n't want her. So she still 
 sat under the brown umbrella, with pleasant 
 thoughts for company. 
 
 Sometimes she would look a little wistfully at 
 the long lines of merry bathers. Sometimes she 
 would gaze offinto the woods beyond the " neck," 
 " but that is probably a great deal farther off than 
 it looks, and I should get very tired, and, besides, 
 I ought not to go so far from Mitty," she always 
 concluded. "At least we might take a drive," 
 she thought, one day, and forthwith made the 
 proposition. " It's awful wheeling in the sand, 
 you know," said Mitty, serenely, " and, besides, 
 what is there to see ? nothing but sand, and 
 rocks, and water." 
 
 "That's a pretty apron you're making; Mitty," 
 answered Helen, somewhat irrelevantly, (possibly 
 bethinking herself that it might be agreeable to 
 Mitty to have somebody show some interest in 
 her favorite pursuits.) 
 
 " Yes, I think it is. Would you make it with 
 them things brocatels, I believe they call 'em f 
 over the shoulders?" 
 
 " I certainly should," said Helen. 
 
 It was a resource to watch the people, There 
 were the usual varieties the snobs, male and
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. g$ 
 
 female ; the maids and matrons, standing in ruf- 
 fles up to their chins, and looking as if another 
 curl would kill -them. These were they who 
 breakfasted in their rooms, spent the best part of 
 the gorgeous August day under the hairdresser's 
 hands, came out of the chrysalis of dinner, prom- 
 enaded religiously for an hour after on the broad 
 verandas, and spent the night in hops. Then 
 there were the stiff, solemn people, who seemed 
 to come here from a grim sense of duty, and 
 made a dismal protest against the follies of fash- 
 ion, by making themselves as ugly as possible. 
 There were anxious-looking mothers with sickly 
 babies, that were taken out struggling, to be 
 dipped two or three times a day. These were 
 the ones to whom Helen always wanted to say 
 something, but seldom dared to. There were a 
 few of the free, sensible people who did as they 
 pleased, and were happy. The most attractive 
 of these, to Helen, was a cheery, bustling little 
 woman who sat nearly opposite them at table. 
 She seemed to have no special connection with 
 anybody, though she was on familiar terms with 
 a widow lady and a fair, light-haired girl, who 
 sat next her. The girl called the cheery little 
 lady Miss Maria. She was such a business-like
 
 86 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 little lady. Piles of letters came to her every 
 morning, and she would look them over, and as- 
 sort them, and make little notes on the backs of 
 them with astonishing despatch. She tore open 
 her newspaper like a man, and would know all 
 there was in it before her breakfast came. 
 " Fighting still ! when will they stop ? That 
 rascally old imbecile, Pius ! fifteen missionaries 
 eaten up by the Chinese ! yes, omelette this 
 morning, that's right; thank you." 
 
 And yet, withal, there was such an unmistaka- 
 ble womanliness about her. " Ida, child, you 
 are not getting half brown enough. What shall 
 we do to you? Mrs. Manly, I'm almost afraid 
 the sea isn't quite the thing for her," as the light- 
 haired girl walked slowly away ; " I wonder if 
 the mountains wouldn't have been better." 
 
 One day a tall, dark, rather grave-looking gen- 
 tleman appeared with this lady at dinner. He 
 talked little, but freely and pleasantly when he 
 did talk, and less like a learned man than like a 
 wise man, Helen thought. The awkwardness of 
 the schools was upon him, and Helen set him 
 down at once as a minister or a professor. 
 
 " I guess he's her husband," whispered Mitty. 
 " But it's a queer match."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. g/ 
 
 But whatever his relation to the lady, he made 
 a very short visit going off on the evening boat, 
 and Helen had doubts of Mitty's theory, when, 
 at parting, the cheery little lady shook his hand 
 heartily, thanked him for coming down, and said 
 that " Sister would be very much gratified when 
 she heard of his promise." 
 
 A day or two after this little episode came the 
 first rain. The water was gray and rough, and 
 had a dull roar in its voice. Helen wrote a let- 
 ter to Lily, in the morning, and had designs on 
 the padlocked book, but, changing her mind, 
 took worsted work and went into Mitty's 
 room. 
 
 Lunch was a dull and spiritless affair quite 
 beneath the attention of the waiters and stop- 
 ping in the parlor, before going up stairs, Helen 
 found them quite deserted. It was a good time 
 to try the piano. She shut one of the folding- 
 doors, and played two or three pieces, in great 
 comfort and peace of mind. But, presently, in 
 at one of the long windows came the tall, light- 
 haired girl, their neighbor at table. " Mother 
 told me not to, but I couldn't help it," she said, 
 walking straight up to Helen. " I do love it so. 
 Please keep on. If you don't, I shall run right
 
 88 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 away again. I'd give any thing if I could play 
 like that," sighed the girf, at the end of the gen- 
 tle little Slumber Song. 
 
 Helen instinctively looked at her hands. It 
 was difficult for her to comprehend that any- 
 body could have fingers and not play. Then 
 they both laughed. 
 
 " Oh, it isn't my hands ; but they say I haven't 
 any perseverance. It tires me so to practice. I 
 never get on any ; and last year mother had me 
 give up music entirely. She said 'twas no use. 
 Now, please play some more. I'll be just as 
 good as can be, and not trouble you a bit." * 
 
 She was such an appealing and such a grateful 
 listener, that Helen hadn't it in her heart to re- 
 fuse ; but, as she had feared, that wasn't the end 
 of it. The door opened, and two other girls, 
 arm in arm, came in. They, of course, left the 
 door open, and two more came in ; and when 
 Helen turned round, at the end of her piece, she 
 found herself fairly surrounded and caught. 
 
 " Do keep on ; it's so nice," cried half a dozen 
 lively voices. 
 
 " I didn't know there was any body here that 
 played so. Why, we might have a dance. You 
 play waltzes, don't you ?" said one.
 
 MISS ROBER TS ' FOR TUNE: 89 
 
 " No, don't dance yet. Please play something 
 else ; something lively," said another. 
 
 Helen had a great mind to make a stand then 
 and there, and refuse to play another note. She 
 couldn't bear to play to promiscuous companies. 
 She never had done it. She was in the habit of 
 playing only when she was in the mood for it, 
 and to those who liked ("appreciated," she was 
 apt to say to herself, instead of liked) the kind of 
 . music she liked best. Besides, she was really 
 timid. She never did herself justice in com- 
 pany. 
 
 " I know just what they want," she said to her- 
 self; "jingling, nonsensical stuff. I can't play 
 that sort of thing. And, besides, I shall get 
 frightened and break down. And then I don't 
 know why I should. I sat down here to play for 
 myself. I was willing enough to let this one girl 
 listen, but I didn't propose to entertain the whole 
 establishment." 
 
 But other things came into her mind hardly 
 thoughts little scraps of things coming, she 
 hardly knew whence : " Seeketh not her own ;" 
 "is not puffed up;" "a work of lowly love to 
 do;" "let every one please his neighbor!" 
 
 " Yes, I'll try. If I can think of anything,"
 
 pO MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 she said pleasantly ; and, after fumbling the keys 
 a little, she struck out into a brilliant " fantasia." 
 " I don't' like it, but I guess they will," she 
 thought. She made a good many mistakes. 
 That long running passage went wretchedly, 
 and she had to go back and begin it again. 
 Two very pink spots appeared on her two 
 cheeks, and her fingers felt stiff and unnatural. 
 But she was greeted with shouts of applause 
 when she finished, and the Rubicon being passed, 
 she went on then and thought of ever so many 
 more old things which she had n't touched for 
 months, and which she played poorly enough, 
 she thought, but with great success, so far as her 
 audience was concerned. Before long, there be- 
 ing a lull in the cries for more, she was surprised 
 to find herself talking freely with these girls. 
 Some of those on the outer edges of the circle 
 had strayed off, but the fair-haired Ida and five 
 or six others remained. It was astonishing how 
 many things there were for them to talk about 
 the great number of guests here this year, the 
 comparative delights of Siloam and of Newport, 
 'the stupidity of Saratoga, the rocks, finally the 
 light-house. 
 
 " Have you been down there ?" said Ida. " It's
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. gi 
 
 so nice. We've been two or three times. We're 
 going again to-morrow. Why can't you go too ? 
 By we I mean- these girls here," touching two 
 who sat on the floor at her feet, " and mother and 
 Miss Maria and me." 
 
 " Who is Miss Maria ? if it isn't impertinent," 
 said Helen. 
 
 " Why, Miss Maria Prescott, don't you know ? 
 You've heard of Miss Prescott's school at Ox- 
 ford ?" exclaimed the girls in chorus. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Maria's lovely ; but Miss Prescott 
 I'm awfully afraid of her," said one, leaning over 
 Ida's chair and shaking a head full of silly curls. 
 
 It seemed that nearly all of them had been, at 
 some time or other, at Miss Prescott's school. 
 
 " You know, we're going to have some new 
 teachers," said Ida " a Mrs. Somebody from Ger- 
 many and her daughter. They're coming on the 
 next steamer. The lady is an old friend of Miss 
 Prescott's, I believe. She's lived abroad for 
 ever so long, and the daughter is awfully learn- 
 ed. Well, that was what I was beginning to 
 say. We're all going down to the light-house, 
 and Miss Maria's going to take the boat from 
 there to New York to meet these people. 
 Mother and I are going with her, and then we
 
 92 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. 
 
 shall keep on to the Catskills. They've taken a 
 notion that the sea air isn't good for me." 
 
 " Why cant you go down to the light-house 
 with us?" said one of the girls. 
 
 " I should love to, dearly, if Mitty can bring 
 her mind to it. I'll see," said Helen. 
 
 " Oh, do" said Ida, who had a very loving 
 little heart, and was so happy as never to be 
 troubled by timid, reserved, queer feelings or 
 ways, and she put her arm around Helen's neck 
 (Helen was now on a low ottoman beside her) 
 and gave her a little squeeze. 
 
 " These demonstrative people," thought Helen, 
 quickly, shrinking a little. Then she lifted her 
 honest, brown eyes and looked into Ida's soft, 
 blue ones, and gave herself a sharp little lecture. 
 "Warm-heartedness is a good thing, anywhere 
 and everywhere, and you shan't be so unjust and 
 hateful about it." 
 
 " I wish I could go. I certainly will if I can," 
 she said aloud. 
 
 In half an hour the girls were seated around 
 a table playing the newly -invented game of 
 " Snap," which Helen had been so fortunate as 
 to propose. It had been one of the Platoville 
 resources.
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR T UNE. 93 
 
 In the course of the afternoon, the elderly 
 ladies, in their pretty caps and soft laces, began 
 to come in and drop into gentle groups on the 
 sofas. A few restless gentlemen strolled in and 
 out, joked with the old ladies, looked pleasantly 
 on the young ones, whistled under their breaths, 
 and looked at their watches to see if it were not 
 time for the afternoon mail. Miss Maria, with 
 her hands full of papers and letters (when the 
 mail had come in), stopped for a moment to say 
 a pleasant word. 
 
 " So you were the Pied Piper that brought out 
 all these quiet mice," she said to Helen. " I 
 know, at least, two young ladies who would have 
 spent the day in deep dejection and retirement 
 from the world if it had n't been for the music. 
 And here they are playing this most remarkable 
 game. Life has some pleasures left, if it does 
 rain eh, Nettie ?" and she pinched the cheek of 
 the black-haired girl nearest her. 
 
 Helen went to bed that night quite decided 
 that it was an unusually agreeable set of people 
 at the hotel this season, ftnd resolved to broach 
 the subject of the light-house to Mitty the first 
 thing in the morning. 
 
 Mitty's whole soul had been so bent on the
 
 94 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 finishing of a little dress that evening that she 
 had n't dared to mention it yet. 
 
 But, in the morning, Mitty had one of her 
 miserable headaches. " No, you can 't do any- 
 thing for me, child," she said, lifting up a face 
 almost as white as her pillows. "You needn't 
 set here in this dark room all day. I shall be 
 better by noon." 
 
 " I do n't suppose I can do a thing for her if I 
 stay," thought Helen ; " but it would be down- 
 right cruelty for me to tell her so and go off." 
 
 So she went down, with rather a grave face, to 
 breakfast alone, and waited on the veranda for 
 her new friends, and told them good-bye, and 
 saw them go off in the merry little " Sunbeam." 
 
 In the afternoon, Mitty was better, and at the 
 inevitable stitching. " I had stinted myself to 
 get this done last night and begin the buff one 
 to-day," she said, " but I felt so bad last night 
 that I had to give it up, and I hate to get behind- 
 hand. No, child, 't won't hurt me. I feel better 
 to be doing something." 
 
 Helen sat at the other window, her worsted- 
 work in her lap, her eyes on the water. She 
 had been trying to be good all day, and was 
 rather tired of it, it must be confessed. Pres-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 95 
 
 ently there was a sound of horses' feet on the 
 gravel in front of the house, and a gay party of 
 riders, three gentlemen and three ladies, started 
 out over the neck and along the beach. 
 
 " Oh, Mitty, why haven't I thought of it before ? 
 I might ride every day. They loak like capital 
 horses. I'll have one to-morrow." 
 
 " You wouldn't think of horse-back riding here ; 
 not alone, certain," said Mitty, gently. 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 " I don't think 'twould be hardly safe," was the 
 mild answer. 
 
 " Why, I'm a first-rate rider, and I'm not a bit 
 afraid." 
 
 " May be you ain't, but that don't make that 
 'twould be safe for you to go off alone." 
 
 " Well, Mitty, I'll give up on that point. I'll 
 have a man go with me." 
 
 "Well," said Mitty, with a little spirit she 
 was tired, too, poor soul "you can do as you 
 please, I suppose. I don't think Mr. Saxton 
 would like it ; but you're of age. You can go 
 if you want to." 
 
 " Now, Mitty," said Helen, in an aggrieved 
 tone, " as if that would make any difference. 
 And I'm not of age either. By my mother's
 
 96 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 will, I'm not of age till I am twenty-one. And 
 you know, Mitty, I wouldn't do anything to dis- 
 please my guardian." 
 
 " I think it would displease him," said Mitty, 
 mild again. 
 
 " Why ? He's a reasonable man." 
 
 " Yes, and he's a careful man, too, and I know 
 he wouldn't think it safe or proper for any young- 
 lady to go off riding on strange horses, without 
 somebody to advise her that knows more than 
 you or I do, let alone you. You know you ain't 
 as strong as some folks, child." 
 
 Helen sighed. Mitty spoke with her usual 
 good sense. If she had only been unreasonable 
 it would have been a comfort. 
 
 " I'd write and ask him anyway," suggested 
 Mitty. 
 
 Helen wrote that very afternoon, and put the 
 case pretty strongly she afterward suspected. 
 The answer came the next day. 
 
 " About the riding, if you can wait till Satur- 
 day, we will have that matter settled. I am go- 
 ing down to spend the Sabbath, and would like 
 to choose your horse myself." 
 
 How could Helen know? she didn't, and 
 doesn't to this day of another letter that was
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. gj 
 
 sent from Mr. Saxton's office that same after- 
 noon : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It will be impossible for me 
 to meet you as agreed Saturday P. M. I think it 
 probable that Mr. Jones, of 101 State St. (to 
 whom I am happy to enclose a note introducing 
 yourself), will be interested in listening to your 
 scheme." 
 
 Mr. Jones did listen, and was one of the mil- 
 lionaires of X before the year was out. 
 
 When the boat came in Saturday afternoon, 
 Helen and Mitty were both on the pier. Mr. 
 Saxton was one of the first to step off the plank, 
 the pockets of his duster tipping over with pamph- 
 lets and papers. But for some inscrutable reason 
 he was not inclined to proceed at once to the 
 hotel. He kept nervously turning back when 
 Mitty, serene and stately, led the way forward, 
 and seemed to wish to linger near the rapidly 
 disgorging steamer. At last, having put the two 
 women to a wonderful deal of bewilderment and 
 some vexation, he deliberately stated that he had 
 left something on the boat, and asked them to 
 wait for Mm on a convenient trunk standing near. 
 . 5
 
 98 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 When he came back a small boy was by his 
 side, and behind the boy Helen's own beloved 
 pony, Rufus. 
 
 " One is never sure of finding good horses in a 
 place like this," said the little man, his nervous- 
 ness quite departed ; " and Rufus will be all the 
 better for being ridden again. My dear, if you 
 like, I will find a nag of some sort, and we will 
 have a ride after dinner." 
 
 And this was the man who knew nothing about 
 girls ! 
 
 On Sunday morning there was a good sermon 
 from a Presbyterian clergyman in the dancing- 
 hall, and another after dinner, in ten words, from 
 Mr. Saxton on the rocks. By the early boat 
 Monday morning the man of business was away. 
 
 The days went delightfully now Rufus in the 
 morning, the rocks in the afternoon. There was 
 nothing quite like riding to Helen. On her pony's 
 back the freedom and grace denied to her ordin- 
 arily, were hers. She was like other people 
 strong, free. " Putting on her wings," she used 
 to call it when she was a little girl. She sat her 
 horse like a queen, was perfectly fearless, and 
 very graceful. The big Irish boy whom Mr. 
 Saxton had engaged to guard her in her rides,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 99 
 
 was generally seen rods behind her on his am- 
 bling nag, while she went dashing over the rocky 
 roads or along the beach, as near as possible to 
 the waves. Rufus seemed to Ipve the water, too, 
 and sometimes would step into it cautiously with 
 his fore feet, and wait for the bounding waves, 
 and when they broke in their faces, would snort 
 and shake his pretty head, while his mistress, as 
 gleeful as a child, would laugh and stroke his 
 mane till, both tired of the sport, they would flit 
 off again. 
 
 " Oh, my good Rufus !" Helen would say, com r 
 ing back flushed and pretty from a long morning 
 ride, and stopping to lay her cheek against her 
 favorite's neck, and play with his mane a little 
 before she left him ; " to think that you will never 
 know what a friend you are to me !" 
 
 Towards the end of the week Miss Maria's 
 pleasant face was seen again at the table. The 
 places opposite Helen and Mitty had been taken 
 by other guests, and Helen was first aware of the 
 bright little lady, down a long vista of faces at 
 the other end of the table. With her were two 
 ladies, the expected new teachers of course. They 
 were both unmistakably just arrived from for- 
 eign parts. The elder was a little, brisk woman,
 
 100 M$S ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 with small, sharp blue eyes, set in a preternatu- 
 ral expanse of forehead. She had light hair 
 once, but the little of it that remained was quite 
 imperceptible atJHelen's point of distance, and 
 left the boundary between the frontal and pa- 
 rietals entirely an imaginary one. Surmount- 
 ing the forehead was a triangular black head- 
 dress fastened only in one point, and flutter- 
 ing with every breeze. She wore a black dress 
 of a peculiar, loose-waisted type, and had black 
 mits on her small, white hands. The daughter 
 was much taller than her mother, large-framed, 
 with a broad, round German face, a pink com- 
 plexion, and heavy coils of yellow hair. She had 
 a " learned " stoop in her shoulders, and always 
 appeared in a very light-blue dress. 
 
 The ministerial gentleman was also of the 
 party. He sat next the brisk, little elderly lady, 
 and, either he was very attentive to her, or she 
 was very attentive to him. He walked off, too, 
 on the sands sometimes with the younger lady 
 in the light-blue dress, and Helen and Rufus 
 came upon the two in the woods one day, engaged 
 apparently in very deep discourse. 
 
 Miss Maria was, of course, too much occupied 
 with her guests to have much to say to Helen,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. IO i 
 
 and, indeed, why should she have anything to 
 say to her ? Only Helen, by her great liking for 
 the little lady, seemed to herself to have appro- 
 priated something of her, and she watched her 
 movements with an interest of which she was 
 sometimes quite ashamed. There was a passing 
 word or two in the halls once or twice, and some- 
 times when Helen would flit past the party on 
 the beach, Miss Maria's smiling eyes would smile 
 more merrily, and she would hastily doff her hat 
 in a cavalier style that was eminently bewitching. 
 After about a week the tall gentleman disappeared, 
 and in a few days a fourth lady was added to the 
 party. When Helen first saw this lady, she sud- 
 denly laid down her fork and her face flushed. 
 
 " Mitty, I've seen that lady before. That is my 
 mother's friend the one who came to see me 
 after I had had that fever, and we were just start- 
 ing for the mountains ; and my guardian was 
 away, and she didn't stay five minutes. Don't 
 you remember? And in the confusion her card 
 was lost, and I never could remember her name." 
 
 " It does look as if it might be her," said Mitty, 
 " but I disremember about those gray curls, and 
 seems to me she wore spectacles." 
 
 " No, she didn't," said Helen, a little indig-
 
 102 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 nantly ; " and she had those same curls, and such 
 a kind mouth ? I was so sorry I had to go away 
 and not see more of her." 
 
 Helen's eyes were constantly attracted towards 
 that end of the table during the long dinner. 
 The lady looked at her, too, and both had that 
 consciousness of mutual interest which is apt to 
 be mutually embarrassing. But as Helen and 
 Mitty were leaving the room, the lady rose and 
 followed them. 
 
 " I am sure this is Miss Roberts the child of 
 my dear friend ! I am very glad to meet you 
 again, my dear. Let me speak to my sister, 
 Maria, this is our dear Lucy's daughter." 
 
 Miss Maria, coming up, stood perfectly still for 
 an instant. Then she opened her arms wide and, 
 gathering Helen into them, kissed her fervently 
 on each cheek. 
 
 " I knew it was somebody I had a right to love. 
 I knew it all the time. And to think that I should 
 have lived here with you all these weeks and not 
 had more of you!" 
 
 Helen was very much ashamed of herself. She 
 tried to say something but couldn't. She tried to 
 look pleased, but laughed nervously at the result. 
 Finally, she gave up trying to do anything, and
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 let the two or three tears that would come, come, 
 and brushed them away brightly with her little 
 bit of a dainty cambric handkerchief, and lifted 
 her face and kissed both the ladies with a pretty 
 bashfulness, that would have won their hearts 
 even had she not been Lucy Roberts' child.
 
 ' A ravelled rainbow overhead 
 Sets down to earth its varying thread : 
 Love's blue joy's gold and, fair between, 
 Hope's shifting light of emerald green ; 
 With, either side, in deep relief, 
 A crimson, Pain a violet, Grief: 
 And be thou sure, what tint soe'er 
 The broken rays beneath may wear, 
 It needs them all, that, broad and white, 
 God's love may weave the perfect light !
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 k 
 
 OLD Oxford hill was glorified. All night 
 long spirits of the air had wrought in 
 secret. Gems had fallen from heaven, and deft 
 and quiet fingers had festooned them from branch 
 to branch of the stately old trees. Clusters of 
 pearls had formed in the stiff, out-spread palms 
 of the hemlocks, and a diamond tipped every tiny 
 uplifted spire. The few tall grasses left over and 
 forgotten by the summer, hung their pretty heads 
 tinkling with jewels. Along the garden paths, 
 and close under the fences among the tangles of 
 broken vines and flower-stalks, there were mar- 
 vels of lace and diamonds. As you turned the 
 head, delicate hues of emerald and ruby flashed 
 from every side. 
 
 Great Gothic elm arches reared by the strength 
 of many a patient summer, stood this morning in 
 pure crystal, and the eye was lost among their 
 glittering mazes. Beneath them the wide earth 
 was floored with silver, sprinkled with diamond 
 
 (107)
 
 I0 8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 dust. It stretched away sparkling to the west, 
 where Rockshire hills stood out in sunny outline, 
 and Helvellyn, with its "far blue eye," looked 
 calmly on. 
 
 Into all this glory, from the little depot under 
 the hill, around the corner where the old " head- 
 quarters " house stood, past the new blocks of 
 red brick buildings, up, and still up, into the pure 
 and breezy region of the old High Street, toiled 
 the friendly form of the Oxford coach. 
 
 Helen Roberts was looking out of its windows. 
 As she moved slowly along under the silver arch- 
 es, she felt like a queen. People had come out of 
 their houses to see the pageant. The doors were 
 open as in summer, giving glimpses of broad, 
 pleasant, old-fashioned halls, and smiling heads 
 were thrust out of windows. Little girls ran 
 about in red and blue hoods. Groups of gentle- 
 men stood on the sidewalk, all looking up. 
 Housekeepers, with their morning aprons on, 
 and breakfast shawls over their heads, chatted 
 from door-step to door-step in neighborly wise. 
 Every body had forgotten care for a moment. 
 
 Miss Prescott's broad, roomy, white-painted 
 house looked little, yellow and old in tfce midst 
 of all the glory. But Helen came up the long
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 109 
 
 path, with the light of expectation on her coun- 
 tenance, and, admitted by the freckly Irish girl 
 to the green and walnut parlor, (all boarding- 
 school parlors are green and walnut,) sat down 
 and cast her dazzled eyes about her. It was a 
 comfortable, well-used room, one felt rather than 
 saw at once, but, like every thing else, placed at 
 very much of a disadvantage by the unwonted 
 magnificence without. The sunshine, which 
 seemed ten-fold sunshine, fell with a blank glare 
 on the green carpet, and the French clock on the 
 mantel shone beneath its glass case with a pecu- 
 liarly tawdry glitter. There were old-fashioned 
 girandoles on the mantel, and their pendants, or 
 those of them that chanced to lie in the ray of 
 the morning sunbeams, sympathizing with the 
 general brightness, sent faint but merry little 
 rainbows glancing about the room. Even the 
 stove, which stepped out from the chimney with 
 a bold and ugly front, seemed disposed not to 
 make too decided a resistance, but contented 
 itself with a good-natured struggle, (where the 
 sunshine met it,) to prove that subtle and inti- 
 mate relation that, after all, exists between black 
 and white. 
 
 The piano, across the corner of the room,
 
 1 1 o MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 was silent, but the position of the chairs near 
 it, and the music scattered over its broad sur- 
 face, told of recent use. Behind the piano a door 
 was open into a smaller room where there were 
 book-cases and a harp, and, pleasant to see in the 
 prevailing dazzle, a dark-leaved ivy treading its 
 way among the picture-cords across the wall. 
 
 Helen noticed all these things with an inward 
 satisfaction that crept up more and more into her 
 face. Things had come about just as she had 
 wished 'ever since that first afternoon with her 
 mother's two friends at the sea-side. They had 
 come about, moreover, in that pleasantest of 
 ways, the apparently perfectly natural develop- 
 ment of circumstances. Indeed, what should she 
 have done, if she hadn't done this uncle and 
 aunt still away, and her guardian having already 
 had more than his six months' share of her ? She 
 felt this morning as if it had been ordained from 
 her earliest days, and as if she had known it all 
 the time and been getting ready for it, that she 
 was to come at this particular second term of this 
 particular winter as a "parlor-boarder" to Miss 
 Prescott's seminary, in Oxford. It was another 
 comfortable feature of this pleasant " coming 
 about" of things, that it was not until this par-
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. j i i 
 
 ticular second term that Miss Prescott could 
 make a place for her, and thereby that growing 
 feeling of grateful duty to her guardian which 
 made her glad that she could be with him a little 
 longer, and try to put something pleasant into - 
 his monotonous days, was fully met. " The 
 blessed little man has had the satisfaction of put- 
 ting me through a course of 'William Morril,' and 
 given me bracelets enough to make him happy 
 for a year, and made enough of his evenings mer- 
 rily miserable, by giving girls' tea-parties on my 
 account, and now I don't doubt he's thankful to 
 go back to his quiet bachelorhood," thought the 
 young lady, that morning, as she looked back 
 from the car window to catch his last bow and 
 see him start off for the docks. 
 
 Only one thing would have made the winter 
 programme pleasanter. She would have been 
 glad to have Lily and Dora with her at Ox- 
 ford. 
 
 " No home for us again this winter," Lily had 
 written in October, " and I declare I think it's 
 shabby. As I told you, father and mother have 
 at last accomplished the object of their trip, and 
 Marie is going to be married. Well, they did 
 think, for a moment, of coming home, but that
 
 112 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 disagreeable creature, the bridegroom, must 
 needs* live in the Sandwich Islands, or have his 
 business there, and he and Marie have persuaded 
 father and mother to go out there with them and 
 i stay all winter. They promise solemnly to be 
 home in June, and meanwhile, mother has given 
 me carte blanche to have as good a time as I can 
 here. I'm going into company with Cousin 
 Belle, (who is twenty-three, and begins to look 
 faded,) and shall take French and music twice a 
 week. Dora has begun to go to school here. 
 She pines for you. I always wondered you took 
 to her so. She is growing wild every day, and 
 says the queerest things. What are you going 
 to do, my dear? Dig away at that everlasting 
 German, I suppose, and very likely take up Sans- 
 crit, and the dear knows what else. Do let a 
 body hear." 
 
 Helen waited in the sunny parlor as long as we 
 have kept our reader waiting, before any body 
 appeared to welcome her. She sat by the win- 
 dow, looking up into the wonderful arches, and 
 when she began to be a little impatient, beating 
 the first strain of her new sonata with her little 
 brown-gloved hand upon the piano, the house 
 was very still. The usual boarding-scho 1 jingle
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. \ \ 3 
 
 of many pianos, and hum of many voices, was 
 wanting. Occasionally there was an opening or 
 shutting of a door, and once the slow rustle of a 
 dress across the hall oil-cloth, and, after a pause, 
 the low humming of a song, apparently in the 
 room with the harp and the ivy. Presently 
 there was a nearer rustle, and a tall, fair girl 
 stood in the door. It was Ida, of that brief last 
 summer's acquaintance. She was paler than 
 then, and seemed slighter and fairer-haired. 
 
 Both the girls' faces took on a look of pleased 
 surprise, and they met as old friends. " If I had 
 only known how long have you been here ? 
 They have all gone up the hill to see the trees. 
 Miss Maria wouldn't let me go. She says the 
 air is very sharp." 
 
 At that moment there was a great chattering 
 of voices and stamping of feet, and up the long 
 path and in at the door, came the troop of girls 
 and teachers. Miss Maria, seeing the trunk, 
 rushed in in her own breezy way. 
 
 " I was afraid you would come while we were 
 gone, but I told that stupid Bridget did n't she 
 tell you ? I wanted you to drive up the street. 
 It was magnificent. Ida, dear one of these 
 days ! "
 
 H4 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Miss Prescott, tall, and just a trifle prim, 
 stood for a moment in the hall among her girls. 
 A head-dress of soft, white wool fell lightly from 
 her gray curls, her eyes were bright ; the winter 
 air had given her cheeks an unusual touch of 
 rose-color, and her dear, demure little mouth 
 
 opened and spake these words : " The young 
 
 i 
 ladies will go to their rooms, and thoroughly 
 
 warm and dry themselves. At the end of fifteen 
 minutes the bell will ring and recitations will be 
 resumed. My dear, I am most glad to see you. 
 You have come at an extraordinary time. We 
 will call it a good omen." 
 
 Before the little bell rang in the hall, and the 
 six well-worn pianos had begun to jingle, the 
 new pupil was in her room up-stairs, brushing out 
 her pretty brown hair. Miss Maria meanwhile 
 shook out the dresses and hung them up in 
 Helen's half of the closet. 
 
 " Oh, no, my dear, I've nothing else to do. / 
 have no classes. I'm only the house-keeper. I 
 have n't a faculty in the world that I'm aware of, 
 except to keep accounts and see that the din- 
 ner is ready in time, and that sort of thing. 
 Deborah do'es insist on my having a Bible-class, 
 just to keep up a proper respect, you know, and
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. j j 5 
 
 I have a few little stupidities in the Latin gram- 
 mar, but I'm no school ma'am no, my dear 
 and never shall be. Shall I put the band-box 
 on the top shelf? I wish there was more room 
 for you. I was sorry not to give you a room by 
 yourself, but we are so full, and Miss Haas has 
 such a remarkable antipathy to rooming with 
 her mother. But she is a good creature, and as 
 comfortable a room-mate, I should think, as one 
 could have. Between her grand piano and the 
 professor she's out of her room a great deal, and 
 when she is in it she writes so much that she is 
 generally oblivious to everything." 
 
 Presently, at another tinkling of the little bell, 
 and a sudden silence of all the pianos, Miss 
 Haas herself walked in. Helen had made very 
 little progress in her acquaintance with this lady 
 last summer. She noticed now, with a new in- 
 terest, the tall, stooping form, the light hair 
 drawn back from a broad and somewhat blank 
 countenance, and the large eyes of pale, unheav- 
 enly blue. 
 
 Miss Haas wore, as usual, a light - blue dress. 
 Under her arm she carried two large books, and 
 in her left hand a writing tablet, with a half-writ- 
 ten sheet of paper on it. Between her teeth she
 
 1 1 6 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 held a pen, which she took out and held be- 
 tween her fingers as she kissed her future room- 
 mate. 
 
 Just before dinner, in the sunny parlor again, 
 Helen received a kiss of recognition and wel- 
 come from the brisk, sharp-eyed little Mrs. Haas, 
 and was formally introduced to a tall, grave gen- 
 tleman, Professor Wright, by name and title, and 
 a bewildering crowd of girls. The girls were 
 pretty and smiling, and the professor said some- 
 thing in a pleasant voice about her coming at a 
 wonderfully beautiful time. (There was a sound 
 of dripping eaves and fallen icicles now, and the 
 vision had faded.) Then Miss Maria, who had a 
 way of always treating new pupils as guests, 
 came up to show the way to the dining-room, 
 and sitting down at the long table, Helen was 
 conscious of a delightful welcome and at-home 
 feeling, such as she had never had anywhere 
 before. 
 
 "What do you think of the professor?" said 
 Ida, at her right side. " Is n't he a poky old fel- 
 low ? But he's real nice. I think he's too nice 
 for Miss Haas. You know they're engaged. 
 They met in Germany. He boarded with them 
 or something. Mrs. Haas tells any number of
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. ny 
 
 romantic tales about it. She says they're very 
 fond of one another." 
 
 Helen glanced at the upper end of the table. 
 The wise man sat with a kindly look upon his 
 face, while Miss Haas, with uplifted fork and an- 
 imated tone, volubly discoursed on some deep 
 theme. 
 
 " As I informed your guardian, my dear," said 
 Miss Prescott, on Helen's other side, " we have 
 been so fortunate as to prevail on Mr. Wright, 
 lately returned from Halle and appointed pro- 
 fessor of homiletics in our university, to give 
 the young ladies a weekly Bible-lesson, and to 
 sit at our table and be our chaplain for the year. 
 He is one of our rarest men and deepest thinkers. 
 I consider it a great privilege to have the bene- 
 fit of his instruction on the Thursday evenings, 
 and have myself joined the Bible-class as a pupil." 
 
 After dinner, by the great hall stove, some of 
 the girls essayed acquaintance with the new 
 pupil. The professor took a drab felt hat from 
 the rack, threw over his shoulders a shawl of 
 that yellow-greenish gray description, known to 
 theological institutions, and, pursued to the very 
 door-step by Mrs. and Miss Haas, bowed himself 
 out of the house.
 
 1 1 8 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 The grand piano began to groan thereupon 
 under Miss Haas' powerful hand. Miss Prescott 
 walked gently about the parlors rustling her 
 fresh newspaper, and stopping to throw her hya- 
 cinths to the sun, and there was a general flitting 
 about of girls till the bell rang for study hour. 
 
 " I don't know exactly what a parlor boarder 
 is," said Miss Maria, coming up at that period. 
 " My understanding of her duties is, that she 
 shall make herself very much at home, and have 
 as good a time as possible." 
 
 " I will take care of that young lady now," in- 
 terrupted the elder sister's gentle voice. " Come 
 * 
 
 into my room, my dear, and we will talk over 
 matters and plan our campaign." 
 
 The dear, old room, with its ugly, large-figured 
 carpet turned on the wrong side, its little white 
 bed in the corner, its square table covered with 
 school-books and newspapers, the stiff, black 
 arm - chair near it, and the low, carpeted otto- 
 man, from that day Helen's own particular place. 
 
 Miss Prescott talked placidly away, mingling 
 a little mild gossip with the matters in hand, and 
 things seemed to settle themselves as simply as 
 possible. " If you wish to brush up your French, 
 my dear, you cannot do better than avail your-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 self of Mrs. Haas, Tuesday and Friday after- 
 noons. The young ladies report them as very 
 lively and agreeable. Mrs. Haas is a perfect mis- 
 tress of the language, and I think her mind bet- 
 ter suited to it than to the German, though she 
 is equally familiar with that. 
 
 " Perhaps Maria has told you something of 
 this lady's history. It is a sad one to me, be- 
 ginning with a romance, ending in the common 
 tale of poverty and hard work. 
 
 " We were school-mates together in this very 
 town many years ago. One morning, (it was 
 near the close of the last term, I remember,) 
 every one was startled by the announcement that 
 Theodosia Graves had eloped with our German 
 music teacher. It appeared that there had been 
 an attachment between them for some time, and, 
 failing to obtain her father's consent to the mar- 
 riage, she had gone with her lover to his native 
 land. 
 
 " Since that time I have known nothing of my 
 old school-mate, till quite recently Professor 
 Wright met her and her daughter in Halle, and 
 mentioned them to me on his return. Shortly 
 after I received a letter from Mrs. Haas stating 
 her desire to return to this country, and mention-
 
 120 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 
 
 ing the peculiar qualifications of herself and her 
 daughter for teaching in a school like ours. 
 These things were confirmed very heartily by 
 Professor Wright, and have certainly been con- 
 firmed by my experience. Mrs. Haas says little 
 of the years that she has passed abroad, but I 
 gather that she soon discovered her husband's 
 inability to support her, and that she has seen 
 some hard times. Miss Haas is very solidly edu- 
 cated. She is deeply read in metaphysics, and, 
 in fact, in almost everything. She is very fluent 
 in the languages, and has attained to great pro- 
 ficiency in music. As you know, she is our 
 teacher in German ; but as I find you are so far 
 advanced, and there are already so many classes, 
 I have bespoke for you a share of Professor 
 Wright's attention. He reads' with Miss Haas 
 daily. They are now reading some of Lessing's 
 criticisms on art. The professor has a fine ana- 
 lytic mind, and I am sure will make the study in 
 every way delightful." 
 
 " But I shall be dreadfully afraid of him and 
 of Miss Haas, too." 
 
 " Oh, no, my dear ; I am sure you need not be. 
 There is not a simpler or kinder man in the 
 world, and Miss Haas is really good-hearted."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. I2 I 
 
 Helen had misgivings, nevertheless, and was 
 sure the lovers would far rather read by them- 
 selves. She looked up to say something of the 
 kind, but Miss Prescott was clearly oblivious of 
 any rarer bliss than that of plucking up German 
 roots in company with an " analytic mind." 
 Her bright eyes only gleamed with the thought 
 of the philosophic delights in store for the new 
 pupil. 
 
 " I extremely regret that I have not been able 
 to join the circle myself," she said, with a gentle 
 sigh ; " but other duties have been too press- 
 ing." 
 
 "And I must study something with you, Miss 
 Prescott." 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; I think you said you have not 
 attended to Butler." 
 
 " So I have four studies," said Helen, at last, 
 bringing to an end the business proceedings of 
 the session, and viewing with satisfaction the 
 pencilled " order of exercises" in her hand. 
 
 "And are not a parlor boarder after all," added 
 Miss Maria, from her writing-table by the win- 
 dow. 
 
 " I am glad of it," said Helen. " I think my 
 guardian only said that because he was a little
 
 122 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ashamed to send such an old young lady to 
 school." 
 
 This was only the beginning of the " times" in 
 Miss Prescott's room. Miss Maria was always 
 inveigling Helen in on the most engaging and 
 ingenious little invitations ; and she had not been 
 two weeks at school before she contracted a habit 
 of stepping across the hall after the last bell rang 
 for a good - night talk, which was not always a 
 short one. 
 
 Miss Prescott and Miss Maria spoke often of 
 her mother in a familiar, natural way, which 
 made her seem nearer than she had ever seemed 
 before. 
 
 Helen knew her mother chiefly by the portrait 
 that had always hung in her room at Uncle 
 Roger's. That had bent over her little bed in her 
 many childish illnesses ; and she had looked up 
 to it as to some kind angel with sweet eyes and 
 a white, pure forehead. Nobody had ever told 
 her that her eyes were just like those. Indeed, 
 they had seldom spoken to her of her mother at 
 all. Uncle Roger and Aunt Maria were willing 
 enough to answer a question, but the reserved 
 child seldom asked one. Once, when she had 
 been very naughty and deceived him, her guar-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 123 
 
 dian had spoken to her of her mother. Helen 
 never forgot the solemn tone of his voice, and 
 the feeling of his hand on her head as he spo^e 
 the sacred word. The poor little man had not 
 known of all her naughtiness, and, if he had, 
 would have thought himself quite incapable of 
 managing them ; but this time his delicate in- 
 stinct led him aright, and probably to this one 
 little word in season, more than to anything else 
 that came to her in her childhood, Helen owed 
 that calmness and honesty of mind that were 
 characteristic of her. 
 
 But now it was very sweet to hear her mother 
 familiarly spoken of; to know of her little ways 
 and her sayings and doings. 
 
 "And my father, Miss Prescott nobody ever 
 tells me anything about him," she said one day. 
 
 " I did not know him well r dear. He was a 
 good man, and preached good sermons. It was 
 a sudden marriage a surprise to us all. He was 
 older and graver much than your mother ; and 
 we had always thought of another (of Edward 
 Saxton) as the man who would win her love. I 
 do not know. The Lord reigns. These things, 
 as well as those we call greater, are in His hands. 
 Your mother seemed to fade a little, like a flower
 
 124 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 taken out of its natural climate ; but she was a 
 good wife, and your father loved her tenderly. 
 Mr. Saxton was abroad during the first year of 
 her marriage. When he came home, the three 
 were the best of friends." 
 
 In Helen's own room, though she found so 
 much to interest and amuse her that she was dis- 
 posed to take an eminently cheerful view of 
 things, there were, nevertheless, some drawbacks 
 to perfect peace. One stumbled over Miss Haas' 
 dictionaries everywhere, and was liable to show- 
 ers of loose papers and sheets of music whenever 
 the door was opened, and a draught thereby 
 created. (Miss Haas, among her many theories, 
 held the theory of ventilation, but like some 
 other peop.le, with some other theories, she had 
 learned as yet only that half of the doctrine 
 which results in general discomfort.) 
 
 On the side of the room assigned to her, Helen 
 had tacked up her brackets, hung her little pic- 
 tures, and set out a goodly array of those fa- 
 miliar trifles that make any square yard of ten- 
 ement one's own. 
 
 The other side, from the book-shelves to the 
 window, was a composite of volumes of meta- 
 physics (very likely up-side down), historical
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. i 2 $ 
 
 charts, "studies" in crayon heads unfinished, 
 specimen bugs and butterflies, and bits of news- 
 paper paragraphs pinned to the wall. Under the 
 table in the corner, there was a mysterious non- 
 descript object covered with a brown cloth, and 
 a pail as mysterious covered with the same. 
 
 Very early one morning, when Helen had 
 been a few weeks at school, she was wakened by 
 peculiar noises in the room. " Dear me," she said, 
 turning over in bed, with an inward groan, "if 
 that woman does n't sculp ! What does n't she 
 do?" 
 
 Miss Haas stood at the round table, the pail 
 before her, and the mysterious object unveiled 
 discovered itself to be a half-formed plaster Clyte. 
 With her big blue eyes fixed on the model across 
 the room, the artist pinched and twisted into ex- 
 istence a somewhat swollen nose. " I hope I 
 shall not disturb you, dear. I am finishing this 
 Clyte for the mother's birthday. Next, do you 
 know, if you will permit, I wish to do you. I 
 have never attempted a human model. You 
 must do your hair in that low coil as you do at 
 night. Your head and neck are quite classic so. 
 You will be an excellent study." 
 
 It was very ungrateful, she knew, besides being
 
 126 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 very irreverent, but Helen smothered an agon- 
 izing- fit of laughter under the sheets, and for the 
 next half hour pretended to be asleep. 
 
 The learned lady was very kind to her " little 
 room-mate," as she called Helen. She kissed 
 her fervently night and morning, and sometimes 
 told her long tales of Germany, of the glorious 
 Rhein-land, where she had passed her school- 
 days, and occasionally of excursions and adven- 
 tures in later days with the " good professor." 
 
 As Miss Maria had said, Miss Haas wrote a 
 great deal. The little writing tablet and foun- 
 tain pen went with her everywhere. As she 
 walked about the halls from one recitation room 
 to another she jotted down her fine thoughts, 
 and when she went on her nightly rounds to see 
 that the girls were safe in bed, the vision of " a 
 lady with a lamp" and a pen between her teeth, 
 mingled with their first light dreams. The thick 
 documents which were the result of this cease- 
 less scribbling, were folded, enveloped, and handed 
 to Professor Wright every few days, with a great 
 show of secrecy. Helen supposed them to be 
 profound treatises on some great theme. She 
 found afterwards that they were, on a very great 
 theme, indeed
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. T 2 7 
 
 Notwithstanding her constant employment, 
 Miss Haas was always ready to talk. She would 
 lift her eyes, hold her pen aloft, and fall into dis- 
 course at any moment. She was very kind about 
 answering questions, and was as infallible as her 
 dictionaries. How much she did know ! It 
 was perfectly discouraging. She had an insa- 
 tiate appetite for facts, and crammed herself with 
 them constantly. But in the composition of her 
 mind Helen sometimes ventured to think, one 
 or two little elements such as humor, and imagi- 
 nation, and original thought, seemed to have 
 been left out. She liked flowers because they 
 were botany, and was fond of poetry because it 
 was literature. She had a real liking for Helen, 
 perhaps chiefly founded on respect for her as a 
 person of good parts, and her most advanced 
 music pupil, and was fond of drawing her out 
 on all occasions, and developing her opinions on 
 various themes. It was very improving, doubt- 
 less, but a little bit tiresome, dwelling on these 
 heights all the time. 
 
 " What is your favorite poem, Lenchen ?" she 
 said to Helen, one Saturday morning, looking 
 up from her drawing. 
 
 " ' The owl and the pussy-cat/ Miss Haas," said
 
 I2 8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Helen, solemnly. She was folding ribbons at 
 her drawer, and had been singing a little in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " What is that? I do not know it." 
 
 " 'The owl and pussy-cat went to sea 
 In a beautiful pea-green boat ' 
 
 said or sung the little lady, whose eyes were un- 
 usually sunny this morning, " don't you know 
 that, Miss Haas?" 
 
 " I never heard it. Is it by Mr. Wordsworth ? 
 Say it to me, my dear." 
 
 Helen folded her hands before her like a child, 
 and with a serious air went through the whole 
 of the delicious nonsense, to the "runcible 
 spoon," and " the land where the bong-tree 
 grows." 
 
 Miss Haas, with wide-open, credulous blue 
 eyes, looked on. Toward the last, she ran her 
 hand through her hair in a bewildered manner. 
 "Runcible runcible what is that?" she ex- 
 claimed, diving for a dictionary. " I thought I 
 knew English well, but I never met with that 
 word. Ah ! no ! I do not find it I must ask 
 the professor." 
 
 " Oh, Miss Haas, please don't. What will he
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. j 29 
 
 think ? Do forgive me I'm a nonsensical girl 
 it does n't mean anything ." 
 
 Miss Haas' eyes opened wider. It took a deal 
 of pleading and explaining, but Helen finally 
 carried her point, and resolved, with all her 
 strength, to be as sedate as Minerva herself 
 henceforth. 
 
 Possibly under the inspiriting example of the 
 writing-tablet and the fountain pen, the old pad- 
 locked book came into more frequent use than it 
 had seen for some months. There went into it 
 at first abstracts of the Bible-lessons, choice sen- 
 timents from Lessing carefully translated, occa- 
 sionally short sentences in Professor Wright's 
 simple, telling words ; then sometimes some 
 sweet old hymn which Miss Prescott had read 
 in her room late at night ; sometimes a few lines 
 of a madrigal or four-part song, that they had 
 sung (Miss Haas, Professor Wright, Miss Maria, 
 and Helen), after tea in the parlor ; sometimes 
 " original reflections," a bit of a sigh in visible 
 black and white, or a comical thought that there 
 would be no fun in telling Miss Haas. It was a 
 medley, as it had always been, and thus a mirror 
 of the girl's life. 
 
 On one page appeared "The School -girl's 
 6*
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Psalm of Life," over which the foolish maiden 
 had wasted two precious Saturday morning 
 hours. This was designed for the poet's corner 
 of the new newspaper the girls were starting, 
 was to be strictly anonymous, and was concocted 
 
 I 
 
 in obedience to the demand that it must be 
 " something funny." Next, with a whole blank 
 leaf turned over between them, that the two 
 might never look in one another's faces, and 
 with a bunch of Miss Maria's fragrant hot-bed 
 violets pressed for a heading, came this extract 
 from one of Miss Prescott's old authors. 
 
 " If thou wilt be well with God, and have grace 
 to rule thy life, and come to the joy of love, 
 this name Jesus, fasten it so fast in thy heart that 
 it never come out of thy thought. And when 
 thou speakest to Him, and sayest ' Jesu' through 
 custom, it shall be in thine ear joy, and in thy 
 mouth honey, and in thy heart melody : for 
 thou shalt think it joy to hear the name of Jesus 
 be named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song 
 to think on it. 
 
 " If thou think of Jesus continually and hold it 
 stably, it purgeth thy sin, it kindleth thine heart, 
 it clarifieth thy soul, it removeth anger, it doeth 
 away slowness, it endeth in love fulfilled of char-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 131 
 
 ity, it chaseth the devil, it putteth out dread, it 
 openeth heaven, it maketh contemplative men 
 have in mind oft Jesus, and all vices and phan- 
 toms it putteth from the heart. 
 
 " If thou do after this love, thou need'st 
 not many books. Hold love in heart and in 
 work, and thou shalt have all that we may say or 
 write ; for the fullness of the law is charity ; on 
 that hangeth all." 
 
 These last words Helen learned by heart, and 
 night after night said them softly to herself, be- 
 fore she went to sleep. A few pages further on 
 came something more of the diary order. 
 
 " Professor Wright says he believes it is possi- 
 ble for men and women in this world to be har- 
 monious, noble, beautiful. It costs some trouble. 
 It is a great deal easier to fall back on the fact of 
 human incompleteness, and excuse ourselves. 
 But it is worth all the trouble it costs. And we 
 are called to it, too, he said. I don't know ex- 
 actly how we happened to get on to this from 
 Lessing. I think it was something about those 
 pure, stately, noble Greek statues. 
 
 " I wanted to hear more, but it was high time 
 that I should take myself out of the way and give 
 the learned lovers a little bit of time together.
 
 j 3 2 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 It seems to me such a forlorn courtship making 
 love in syllogisms, and having all their tender 
 passages flavored with some ology. They never 
 have any time to themselves, except these min- 
 utes before and after the Lessing reading, and 
 the occasions (beautiful and rare) when Mrs. Haas 
 succeeds in dragging the professor into her 
 sitting-room, after dinner, and then mounts the 
 stairs with a cheerful countenance and chatters 
 to me till he goes away. 
 
 " I do try to leave Miss Haas and walk with 
 some of the girls in the afternoons, when we 
 come home from chemical lectures (which, by 
 the \vay, I detest). The professor is generally 
 coming out of his house about that time, and 
 walks down the hill with us. But, somehow, I 
 never can escape. They always talk to me in 
 the politest way, and I hate to show a conscious- 
 ness of being a third party. 
 
 " Sometimes I am quite ashamed of myself for 
 looking so curiously at these two people as I find 
 myself doing. Mrs. Haas says, ' Theo is so well 
 suited to the professor ! They are so happy to- 
 gether!' I suppose they are. To be sure, I'm 
 not experienced in lovers ; and, besides, this isn't 
 a pair of ordinary mortals."
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 1 3 3 
 
 Once more, after a long and somewhat dry 
 translation : " Here I have written myself sleepy 
 and said nothing yet. I meant to have journal- 
 ized a little ; to have told how I got up at half- 
 past five, and dressed and said my prayers by 
 star-light, while Miss Haas was asleep ; and then, 
 with a shawl over my head, went out into the 
 crisp air for a moment, fully rewarded, for what- 
 ever sacrifice my extra virtue involved, by a 
 sight of Venus, the morning star, just within the 
 horns of the wan old moon. Miss Maria was go- 
 ing to the city by the early train, and I felt just 
 like getting up in time to pour her coffee for her. 
 I was spared the latter ceremony, however, as 
 the coachman appeared simultaneously with the 
 coffee-pot, and she ran off with only a cracker 
 between her fingers. It has been such a pleasant, 
 long day, and a Friday evening." 
 
 Friday evenings were among the pleasantest 
 of Oxford institutions. On these occasions, the 
 more arduous duties of the week being past, Miss 
 Prescott sat in her parlor, and, in a black silk 
 dress and a cap, with soft lavender ribbons, re- 
 ceived her gentleman acquaintances. 
 ' The young ladies, meanwhile, were permitted 
 to bask in the smiles of their male friends and
 
 JflSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " cousins," and the large room was generally 
 thickly bestud with smiling groups, chatty, mu- 
 sical, or tender, as the case might be. Miss Ma- 
 ria, whose mission in life it was to smooth off the 
 rough edges and make things easy, was always 
 in the room with a skein of worsted for some 
 bashful youth to help her wind, or a suggestion 
 of music, when fearful pauses were imminent. 
 She was assisted in the general entertaining by 
 two or three girls, selected in turn by a private 
 system of her own, from among the pupils. 
 
 The others came into the parlor only upon the 
 appearance of their particular knights, and there 
 were always some destined to sit in gay attire in 
 their rooms, aggravating their disappointments 
 by rushing to the hall to peer over the balustrade 
 at every ring of the bell. 
 
 Somehow Helen, in one capacity or another, 
 was almost always in the parlor. Her quiet girl- 
 hood had brought her very little youthful soci- 
 ety of a congenial kind, but she took to the new 
 state of things very kindly. She developed un- 
 known powers of pleasing, and her ways grew 
 free and pretty. She was never what is called a 
 fluent talker, but more and more she said bright 
 or pleasant things at the right times, and, above
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 135 
 
 all, she was natural and herself. As that self 
 grew sweet and sunny, her manners grew so too. 
 From saying, " How nice Miss Roberts is when 
 she lets herself out," or, ".How charming that 
 child can be," the girls and Miss Maria came to 
 say ; " I hope you'll be in the parlor to-night. I 
 shall be dreadfully frightened if you are not ;" 
 or, " It's going to be stupid. I must get Helen 
 down. She'll keep the ball in motion." A sense 
 of power in any new direction is always an in- 
 spiration. Besides, girls dearly love to please, 
 ' as the sparks fly upward. There is a triumph 
 which few feminine souls do not know in look- 
 ing into admiring eyes. 
 
 And in every triumph there is danger. There 
 was quite a new light in this young girl's eyes 
 as she went up-stairs after some of these even- 
 ings sometimes a little too excited a color on 
 her cheek. But there was little cause to fear 
 real harm. There was one who was always 
 " mindful." And Helen, as she once said after- 
 ward, had a constant cure for anything like van- 
 ity. She seldom quite forgot this, though she 
 seldom remembered it gloomily. But how deep 
 the bitter remedy had gone, and how thorough 
 had been its work, nobody who saw her guessed.
 
 136 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 By reason of her musical propensities, Helen 
 was much in the parlor on the evenings that were 
 not Fridays. There was almost always singing or 
 playing after tea. Miss Haas was as ready to com- 
 municate in music as in her other sciences. She 
 played, or, as she preferred to say, rendered the 
 works of the masters with great effect. She 
 swept the keys of the grand piano with a power- 
 ful and well-trained hand. If it would not have 
 been flat heresy, one might have longed for a 
 little more shading and delicacy sometimes. 
 
 She played the Pastoral Symphony with all 
 the pedals on, and made a perfect thunder-storm 
 of the Sonata Pathetique. But her power and 
 skill were certainly magnificent. Helen did not 
 wonder that Professor Wright so often stayed 
 for half an hour after tea, and always called for 
 music. 
 
 Sometimes Helen played too. In great despite 
 to her formerly much -respected moods, and in 
 great awe of Miss Haas, she found herself obey- 
 ing Miss Prescott's gentle decrees, and doing 
 what she could for the entertainment of this 
 roomful of learned people who would n't talk. 
 If they only had done that, it would have been 
 such a comfort.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 137 
 
 After the playing, there was generally singing. 
 The professor had a fine bass voice, which he 
 was fond of exercising, particularly on Mendels- 
 sohn's "four-part songs," for which he had a 
 special liking, and which he always handed 
 round in a grave, decisive way when he thought 
 the proper time had come. 
 
 " When from out the golden West, 
 Distant mountain-clouds are beaming 
 Alp-like in their glorious seeming, 
 Oft I musing ponder 
 If the vision yonder 
 Be the eternal vale of rest." 
 
 they sang one evening. 
 
 " When you and Miss Haas come up to see one 
 of my sunsets, you will know what that means," 
 said the professor to Helen, who was playing, 
 and turned round at the end of the piece. " I 
 think none of you who do not look out of my 
 study windows sometimes can quite enjoy that 
 as I do. Once more let us have that once 
 more if you are not all too tired." 
 
 " I believe he is as deep and hearty in his own 
 singing as he is in his sermons," thought Helen, 
 to herself. 
 
 She liked this good man more and more every 
 day, as indeed everybody did who really came
 
 1 3 8 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 to know him. He was awkward, to be sure ; 
 tall without being stately, and with nothing that 
 could be called striking about him. He had a 
 brown, rugged forehead, trusty gray eyes, some- 
 what deep set, a nose of no particular signifi- 
 cance, and a grave mouth, which smiled as only 
 grave mouths can smile, with a wonderful depth 
 of kindliness and meaning. 
 
 Notwithstanding a total want of what is gene- 
 rally called " presence," he was the sort of man 
 who, on coming into any company, brings into 
 it something that very decidedly was not there 
 before. 
 
 Some men, perhaps it would not be a slander 
 to say most men, and women, too, simply ap- 
 pear among others like a kind of spectres. You 
 do not know them in the least, though you may 
 have held converse with their shades a quarter of 
 a century. John Wright came himself. You 
 felt a definite sense of him, and that was a 
 sense of strength of security and comfort when 
 he came in, and you missed it when he went 
 away. This was probably because he was a 
 simple character. Things that are great are apt 
 to be simple. AH little and lowly creatures loved 
 this man. The cat jumped up to his knee and
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 1 39 
 
 sung herself to sleep on his coat sleeve. Little 
 children stole up to his side and stood close by 
 him, though very likely he would not say a word 
 to them, but would only cast a strong arm about 
 them and stroke their hair a little as he talked 
 on with their elders. 
 
 All genuine people, young or old, liked him. 
 Only those flippant, frivolous souls who like noth- 
 ing heartily, thought him " awfully stiff and quiet 
 so quiet." They could get nothing out of him. 
 
 If a real soul spoke, were it that of a wise 
 man, or ignorant laborer or foolish school-girl, 
 or little child, he recognized it at once, and met 
 it with all his own. But before falsehood and 
 what is frivolity but the supremest falsehood ? 
 he was dumb. 
 
 Without an air that could suggest the name 
 of gallantry, this man was always especially kind 
 to women. " Perfectly invaluable about a house," 
 Miss Maria assured Miss Haas. " I never knew 
 the feeling of having a natural protector till 
 now." He advised about her railroad bonds, 
 and offered to grind the carving-knives, and made 
 himself useful in a hundred little ways that one 
 would have thought such a learned man would 
 never think of.
 
 140 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 He brought up letters from the post-office 
 (though, owing to a common weakness of human- 
 ity, he did sometimes carry them in his pocket a 
 day or two before delivering them), and had been 
 known to match a skein of worsted for one of the 
 girls. 
 
 The talkative little Mrs. Haas was insufferably 
 tiresome to everybody else, but Professor Wright 
 always listened to her with a grave respect. In- 
 deed, Helen sometimes thought that he showed 
 his affection for the daughter more by this un- 
 varying kindness to her mother than in any other 
 way. The secret of it was that the good man 
 had found this woman in great trouble once, and 
 remembered it in his knightly soul long after the 
 volatile little lady had almost forgotten it. 
 
 This is a long chapter already, and I will keep 
 you but a moment longer. Only have you never 
 noticed in the spring how little flowers that have 
 kept their royal gold and crimson all folded over 
 and secret in their hearts through the winds of 
 March will open to the genial May? and how, 
 when they have pushed up through the cold and 
 are all ready to put on their beautiful garments, 
 May is sure to come ? 
 
 Among these free, true people, the most " cul-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE, j^j 
 
 tivated" she had ever known, and yet, for the 
 most part, the simplest, the heart of the new 
 pupil was growing and opening fast. She did 
 not think to be reserved, and had quite forgotten 
 that anybody ever thought her queer. Her face 
 grew brighter every day. Her cheeks grew 
 round, and had a pretty color in them. Her 
 eyes seemed to grow deeper, her forehead purer. 
 Her mouth learned a ready smile. They said it 
 was the Oxford air. And they said true.
 
 " Fair daffodils, we weep to see 
 
 You haste away so soon ; 
 As yet the early-rising sun 
 Hath not attained his noon : 
 
 Stay, stay, 
 Until the hastening day 
 
 Has run 
 
 But to the even-song ; 
 And, having prayed together, we 
 Will go with you along."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ONE day Miss Maria came into Helen's room 
 with concern upon her open face. 
 
 " I want to talk to you about Ida," she said, 
 for Miss Maria was one of those rare and blessed 
 women who always go straight to the point. 
 Helen only looked her astonishment at anything 
 so much like consultation, drew up the rocking- 
 chair for her visitor, and seated herself on a 
 cricket beside her. Miss Maria reached down 
 for her hand and, having taken it and patted it 
 in her own funny, loving little way, was ready to 
 talk. 
 
 " That child isn't going to get well, Helen. I 
 feel surer of it every day, and the doctor says so, 
 too. It is time that she should know what we 
 think. I came to ask you if you couldn't hint it 
 to her gently in some way." 
 
 " I ? Miss Maria !" 
 
 Helen's eyes had been growing very serious, 
 and now she covered them with her hand. 
 7 (145)
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 11 She has been so fond of you always. I 
 thought it might be easier for her to hear it 
 first from you than from any one else." 
 
 " Her mother ?" suggested Helen. 
 
 " Her mother is not her own mother, dear. 
 And she is a weak, light-minded woman. She 
 ought to know it soon, of course, but I would 
 rather Ida should know it first, and from one of 
 us. It will be easier." 
 
 There was a little silence. 
 
 " It seems to me perfectly impossible now," 
 said Helen at length, in a low voice. 
 
 Miss Maria was a wise woman, so she only bent 
 down and kissed the young girl's forehead, and 
 there was another little silence. 
 
 " It is almost tea-time. I must go now," she 
 said presently. " I only wanted to suggest this 
 thing to you, dear. If you do not find an oppor- 
 tunity to do it within a day or two, let me know, 
 and I will do it." 
 
 The next morning, during Helen's practice- 
 hour, Ida lay on the sofa, as she often did of late, 
 feebly turning over her history. She had given 
 up most of her studies, but had begged to keep 
 that one. As Helen looked at her in the light 
 of her new knowledge, she wondered that she
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 had not noticed before how very white and thin 
 the little hands had grown ; how lustrous her 
 eyes were, and how often, in speaking, she stopped 
 to cough. Helen loved her gentle friend that 
 day with a feeling entirely new to her heart. No- 
 thing so near to her had ever before spread its 
 wings and flown away. It is the one compensa- 
 tion of a lonely life that few bereavements come 
 to it ; but Helen's life was growing rich, and with 
 the riches must loss come, too ? She played 
 her sweetest melodies, and sang the songs she 
 knew Ida loved best, and after a while, before the 
 hour was up, came and sat down by Ida's side, 
 and took the book out of her hands, and began 
 to play with her long, light hair trying to be 
 bright, but, at the same time, with a thoughtful 
 face. 
 
 Ida seemed thoughtful, too, and they talked 
 of trifles in grave voices. But, at every word, 
 further and further seemed to go Helen's power 
 to speak that with which her heart was burdened. 
 How could she look into the fair young face, and 
 say that little word ? Why, when the two girls' 
 eyes were looking into each other, as the stars 
 look into the sea ; when their soft hands were 
 clasped together, and their tones were low and
 
 I4 8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 i 
 
 familiar, why was there such a gulf between them 
 in that one little word ? 
 
 " I wonder she doesn't see it," thought Helen. 
 " I wonder she doesn't feel it I feel it so all over 
 me. It seems to me it will be one of the greatest 
 joys of heaven for hearts to know each other 
 without all this machinery," and the thought 
 came to her for the first time in her life. She 
 had had no occasion to look at this side of heaven 
 before. 
 
 Perhaps Ida did see it ; perhaps for her, too, 
 there was a little wo'rd which it was hard to say. 
 She put her hand wearily to her head, and said 
 how dull they both were to-day, and laughed a 
 little, and then the bell rang, and Miss Haas and 
 little Mary Mitchell came in for a music lesson. 
 
 It was very much the same the next morning, 
 and the next, and when Helen went into Ida's 
 room, as she did on both days, to return a bor- 
 rowed postage-stamp and to take a sprig of the 
 very first of the pussy-willows which the January 
 thaw had brought out, and the professor had 
 brought in to the German readers. 
 
 But, on the third morning, Helen, turning over 
 her music-book, found her old " Slumber Song," 
 and played it.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " I love that so ! I wish you would play that 
 to me when I am dying," said Ida, solemnly, from 
 the sofa. 
 
 Helen grew a little pale. She started up, and 
 then she hesitated. She was not used to follow- 
 ing impulses. If she had only gone at first ; but 
 every moment it grew harder. But before Ida 
 spoke again she was on the floor before her, the 
 fair bright head drawn down close within her 
 arms. Not a word was spoken, and neither of 
 the girls cried, but when they lifted their, heads 
 both faces were very serious and very sweet. 
 
 " You can't think how hard it has been for me 
 to say anything about it," said Ida, still nestling 
 in Helen's neck. " I am so glad you know it. 
 I have known perfectly well, for a long time, 
 what the doctor thought, and all of them, but 
 they wouldn't speak, and I couldn't. But I knew 
 mother ought to know, and I was going to write 
 to her to-day and ask her to come and see me. 
 You must tell Miss Maria, please, and I think 
 Professor Wright knows, for he has been so kind 
 and said such good things to me. There is only 
 one thing I want, and that is to stay here, just as 
 long as I may. Mother is so busy with the other 
 children I think it would be very hard for her
 
 150 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 and I love the dear old place so. Will you 
 ask Miss Maria, and tell her all I can't say ?" 
 
 It was very strange to Helen. She had never 
 been a confidante before ; she had never been a 
 comforter ; she had never felt that she could be 
 so much a friend. She was almost afraid, and 
 shrank a little, but Ida kissed her and clung to 
 her so. 
 
 In a few days it was all arranged. Mrs. Manly 
 came, and cried a great deal and talked a great 
 deal more. Ida was very sweet, and patient, and 
 comforting to her, but everybody was relieved 
 when she had gone back to her younger chil- 
 dren, and it was settled that Ida was to stay at 
 Miss Prescott's for the present, at least till spring 
 opened and the weather was more settled, they 
 said. It would be a risk to take the journey in 
 the winter, and her mother could come at any 
 time if she were needed. 
 
 " Then she seems still so bright and well ! The 
 doctor is doing his best, and she has such good 
 care ! I hope a great deal from the warm weath- 
 er yet, and there's nothing like keeping up good 
 courage," said Mrs. Manly, putting on her bon- 
 net before the mirror, and carefully pinning her 
 widow's bow.
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 151 
 
 Ida did seem very bright still. She came down 
 stairs almost every day for some weeks yet, and 
 brought a pleasant face into the history class 
 whenever she felt able. 
 
 With Helen's help she began a large, handsome 
 sofa-blanket, to leave for Miss Prescott. Some 
 of Helen's pleasantest memories are worked in 
 with those bright wools. Ida insisted on doing 
 something on every strip herself, and, with fin- 
 gers that were fast growing white and feeble, she 
 worked roses, pansies and daisies that would 
 keep her memory fresh and sweet for many 
 years. 
 
 Ida had always been a favorite, but the girls 
 loved her better than ever now. Miss Maria said 
 if she missed anybody, she always knew where 
 to look. Her room was the general resort out 
 of study hours, and, as she grew weaker, her bed 
 was the centre of a pretty group, of which she 
 was often the very merriest. 
 
 More and more an atmosphere of brightness 
 and purity seemed to surround her, and, though 
 she said very little about it, her going away 
 seemed daily more the sweet and happy thing it 
 really is to those who, like Ida, have given all 
 their trusts into the safest and tenderest hands.
 
 I $2 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 A Sunday or two after Mrs. Manly went away, 
 Miss Prescott's girls in their six-corner pews in 
 the old Oxford chapel, turned their thirty pretty 
 heads with a pleased surprise as they saw their 
 own professor stride up the broad aisle toward 
 the pulpit. Miss Haas, at the organ, broke out 
 into jubilant strains. Miss Maria looked around 
 with satisfaction in her eyes, and Helen couldn't 
 help being glad that Miss Prescott had been a 
 little afraid of the threatening February sky, and 
 had preferred to sit by Ida and read her the ser- 
 mon which she herself had promised to read. 
 The good man mounted the stairs 0f the high 
 old box of a pulpit, and carefully shut and but- 
 toned himself in. He wore his ministerial black 
 and white, and the ordinary look of quiet serious- 
 ness on his face seemed a little deepened. Not 
 that there was the slightest putting on of grav- 
 ity, or a suggestion of anything like sanctimony 
 in look or manner, but you felt that he had a 
 solemn work to do, and that he came to do it in 
 all solemnity. Helen knew the look for she had 
 seen it before, and the hush that fell upon the 
 large assembly when he rose and lifted up his 
 voice in prayer, was the same in kind that was 
 always to be felt in the school-room, as the girls
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 1 5 3 
 
 sat, for a moment, with bowed heads before the 
 Bible lesson began and their teacher prayed for 
 them. 
 
 The hush and attention continued when, after 
 the singing", the sermon began. There was no- 
 thing remarkable about this minister's voice. It 
 was not a powerful one not a very good one.. 
 It was only true and natural, and he seemed to 
 use it simply as the best translator of his soul he 
 had at hand. There was not a particle of oratory 
 about him. His gestures were few and awkward. 
 His long arms hung by his side. He failed, more- 
 
 
 
 over, of that magnetism which sometimes lies in 
 the eye, for he was quite short-sighted, and he 
 confined himself closely to his manuscript. Ev- 
 ery sophomore knows that is bad. The truth is, 
 he had absolutely no good points as a speaker, 
 except the common ones (or those which ought 
 to be common) of manliness and earnestness. 
 Yet the people always heard him gladly. The 
 influence which came from him was not one 
 which comes from any sense or appeals to any 
 sense. It was the remoter and higher one of 
 spirit upon spirit. It was that strong force which 
 comes from a living soul whose life (" and that 
 not of itself, it is the gift of God ") is pure and 
 7*
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 high to other living souls whom it loves and 
 would help up. 
 
 " I never knew before what unction meant," 
 said Helen to herself. She shrank further into 
 her corner-seat, and wrapped herself around with 
 the holy and solemn thoughts that fell from the 
 familiar voice. " Whatsoever hath a blemish that 
 shalt thou not offer." No maimed or stunted life ; 
 no scarred and spotted character ; no partial, 
 grudging service only the best of everything; 
 the purest and truest living ; the loftiest charac- 
 ter ; the sweetest flowers of virtue ; the entire 
 service of the heart. No poor remnant of an 
 evil life ; no scraps of time or service ; no di- 
 vided duties, but the youth and flower of life 
 the whole time ; the best strength and talent ; 
 the entire being good, as God made it good. 
 How little and low it made all her life look ! how 
 poor her richest moments ! In what utter weak- 
 ness she had tried to be a better girl, and thought 
 she was getting on. 
 
 " Lord, who is sufficient 'for these things ?" 
 cried out the young girl's heart. And the an- 
 swer came : " But with the precious blood of 
 Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without 
 spot."
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE: 1 5 5 
 
 When the quiet, solemn words had ceased, and 
 the congregation rose to go, there were better 
 hearts and higher purposes in that church than 
 came into it an hour ago. The faces wore a look 
 that told of holy things. People did not linger 
 in the aisles and talk. They spoke in quiet voices 
 if at all, and walked softly. Helen wondered 
 how Miss Haas could come down the gallery 
 stairs talking to the chorister with her ordinary 
 voice and look. She wondered, and then she 
 tried to check the thought. It was a spot. 
 She wanted to be clean and right. 
 
 Though the chapel blinds had been open, no- 
 body had noticed till they reached the door, how 
 it was snowing. The paths across the college- 
 yard were already only soft, gray lines through 
 the spreading whiteness. The air was full of the 
 fluttering, wing -like flakes. There was a great 
 putting up of umbrellas and tying of handker- 
 chiefs over bonnets. Miss Haas came up to her 
 room-mate (Miss Prescott's family always went 
 to and from church by rooms), and just at that 
 moment polite old General Jackson, who had 
 nobody but himself in his carriage to-day, bowed 
 himself up to Miss Maria, and begged to take 
 some of the ladies home. The teachers one and
 
 156 - MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 all accepted, and Miss Maria beckoned for Helen 
 to follow, but she shook her head vigorously. 
 She had stepped back for a moment to pin up a 
 dress for one of the girls, and was glad enough 
 to escape, and Miss Maria, unwilling to keep the 
 old gentleman waiting, a little anxiously drove 
 away. Helen slipped behind the other girls and 
 walked alone, happy to be in the pure and silent 
 snow. But presently an umbrella came over her 
 head, and she looked up into the face of the man 
 on whose words she was pondering. A feeling 
 of reverence for him and his goodness almost 
 an awe stole over her, and not even her 
 " Thank you, sir," came out of her lips. The 
 words seemed so little and useless. Neither did 
 the professor speak till, an unusually large and 
 beautiful snow-flake having rested on his coat- 
 sleeve, he called Helen's attention to it, quite in 
 his ordinary tone and as if they had just done 
 speaking. 
 
 " That is perfect and pure," said Helen, softly. 
 
 "Yes, perfect and pure," said the good man, 
 smiling. " He loves to make things so." 
 
 Helen looked up quickly and caught his thought 
 with grateful eyes. That was all that was said 
 all the way home, and when they reached Miss
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. \ 5 7 
 
 Prescott's door the professor bowed and walked 
 away. He did not come at all to luncfe. He 
 never did when he preached, the girls said. 
 
 That afternoon Helen was tired with her un- 
 usual walk, and it was too snowy to go out again. 
 She lay on her lounge with her face to the wall, 
 and Miss Haas, when she had come back from 
 her organ duties and sat at her table writing, 
 thought her room-mate asleep. But her eyes 
 were wide open, and she was saying over and 
 over to herself, all she could remember of an old 
 German hymn she had read somewhere long 
 
 Ah ! little have I, Lord, to give, 
 So poor, so base, the life I live ; 
 
 But yet till soul and body part, 
 This one thing I will do for Thee 
 The woe, the death endured for me, 
 
 I'll cherish in my inmost heart. 
 
 " Thy cross shall be before my sight, 
 My hope, my joy by day and night, 
 
 Whate'er I do, where'er I rove ! 
 And gazing, I will gather thence 
 The form of spotless innocence, 
 
 The seal of faultless truth and love. 
 
 " And I will nail me to thy cross 
 And learn to count all things but dross, 
 
 Wherein the flesh doth pleasure take ; 
 Whate'er is hateful in thine eyes, 
 With all the strength that in me lies, 
 
 Will I cast from me and forsake."
 
 1 5 8 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 , Professor Wright came, as usual, at tea-time. 
 Helenas feeling of awe did not wear off at once. 
 She was almost astonished to see him eat and 
 drink like an ordinary man, and she was quite 
 astonished to hear Miss Haas unfolding to him, 
 with her usual volubility, some theory of Kant's 
 she had come across lately, and asking his 
 opinion of it. The honor which this woman 
 must feel for this good man was, to Helen, some- 
 thing very beautiful and very wonderful. After 
 tea they sang, as usual, at Miss Prescott's of a 
 Sunday evening. Every girl chose a hymn, and 
 they finished with " Jerusalem, the golden " for 
 Ida, who was on the sofa in the little study. Al- 
 together, that was a white day for Helen, though 
 she said nothing about it in the padlocked book, 
 and went to bed very early, long before Miss 
 Haas came up. 
 
 Not long after this Sunday Helen was practic- 
 ing busily away one morning on her " Rondo 
 Capriccioso " for the soiree, when the parlor door 
 suddenly opened and Professor Wright appeared. 
 
 " I have brought something for you to see," he 
 said, advancing to the piano, and beckoning to- 
 ward the open door behind him. And in tum- 
 bled five of the raggedest, wildest little speci-
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 mens of humanity that one could imagine, and 
 closed in an irregular circle around the tall pro- 
 fessor. Helen looked on with unfeigned amaze- 
 ment and much delight. She had never seen 
 anything like it before. Any one of them in a 
 picture would have made an artist's fortune ; and 
 they brought in on their wicked little faces, such 
 a vigorous breeze of that boy-life of which she 
 knew so little, that it was like being suddenly 
 plunged into a new element. 
 
 " It's certainly such an assortment of black 
 eyes as I never saw," she said at last, drawing a 
 long breath. 
 
 " That will do. You may go now," said the 
 professor, and hustled them out as unceremo- 
 niously as they had come in. But he came back 
 himself and shut the door. 
 
 " I beg your pardon for the interruption, but 
 this is a delegation, and delegations are import- 
 ant bodies you know. They came to tell you 
 that there are five more just like them down at 
 the old basket factory every Sunday afternoon, 
 and to ask if you will come down there and talk 
 to them." 
 
 Helen laughed. She understood the trick now. 
 She had heard of the professor's new Sunday-
 
 l6o MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 school in the old basket factory off on the west- 
 ern edge of the town, in what was called the 
 " mud-turtle " region. The girls had told her 
 how he had spent all Thanksgiving -Day brush- 
 ing down cobwebs, and cleaning and papering 
 the dusty old place, for his school of seven the 
 next Sunday, and how the school was growing 
 so that now the room was hardly large enough 
 for those who came. 
 
 " But, Professor Wright," she began, " I nev- 
 er " 
 
 " I know it is too far to ask you to walk," said 
 the professor, very impolitely interrupting her 
 in the midst of her sentence, " but I hope in a 
 few weeks to have an omnibus for the teachers, 
 and, perhaps, till then you could manage it." 
 
 'Oh, yes, sir! Mr. Moore and I could man- 
 age that, but why, I don't know anything about 
 such children. I never had anything to do with 
 them in my life." 
 
 " Is that all ? Good-bye. I hope I haven't 
 seriously injured the prospects of the soiree. If 
 you think of any real objections to the proposi- 
 tion of my delegates, please let me know." 
 
 Of course, the young lady took the class. To 
 be sure, it was with great trepidation of mind
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ifa 
 
 that, the next Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, 
 she alighted from Mr. Moore's carriage into a 
 crowd of screaming little savages, and made her 
 way towards the old building. And the trepida- 
 tion, was rather increased than otherwise when 
 the superintendent, having met her at the door 
 and given her a seat close by, left her without 
 a word of parley or introduction, to make the 
 acquaintance of the ten muscular youngsters 
 kicking their heels in expectancy before her. It 
 was a class that had successfully defied all pre- 
 vious efforts at instruction, and put to rout a big 
 but meek -voiced tutor only the Sunday before. 
 But the wise professor was wise enough to keep 
 this fact to himself till many a long day after- 
 ward. In happy unconsciousness then, and in a 
 genuine interest and a kind of admiration for 
 these remarkable little beings, their new teacher 
 sat before them. She hadn't the slightest idea 
 what was the proper thing to do under the cir- 
 cumstances. The tutor, on the contrary, had 
 had, and had done it, with the aforesaid re- 
 sult. 
 
 There was not a particle of cant or shame 
 about this young woman. If she had n't any- 
 thing to say that she really meant, she was very
 
 1 62 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 apt to keep silence. And it was not in her to be 
 patronizing. 
 
 Happy for her and for them, too, that the 
 sharp-eyed little creatures watching her ev.ery 
 movement, read some such story in her face 
 those first three minutes. Then she was pretty, 
 and a lady, and boys, the very roughest of them, 
 have a natural loyalty in them towards ladies, 
 and a wonderful keenness in distinguishing the 
 real from the artificial in that article. 
 
 Miss Roberts has, and had, five minutes after 
 it was all over, very little idea what she said or 
 did that day. When she began to talk she 
 watched her audience, and talked accordingly. 
 Sometimes she made them laugh, but she found 
 that like other people, they were not always hap- 
 piest when they were laughing. She tried to 
 illustrate the cardinal virtues by tales of her own 
 making up, but the boys began to nestle. She 
 found, as all who have tried to be teachers of 
 the truth have found before her, that nothing 
 went so deep as that " old, old story," so pitifully 
 new to them, and which from its very sacred- 
 ness she was almost afraid to touch upon at first. 
 It never seemed sweeter or more wonderful to 
 her than it did as she told it to these outcast
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 163 
 
 children. Her voice dropped low and her 
 cheeks flushed. The little fellows crowded 
 around her. They pulled her ear-rings, they 
 stepped on her silk dress, they put their dirty 
 little hands all over her white muff. And this 
 was Helen Roberts the dainty, and particular, 
 and reserved Helen Roberts. 
 
 As she went on the little faces grew still and 
 eager. Oh, if she could only get near to their 
 hearts. Her voice dropped lower and trembled, 
 her eyes were full of love and prayer. 
 
 When the bell rang, and the buzz of teaching 
 ceased, and the school rose to sing, " Oh, do not 
 be discouraged," with lusty voices, the new 
 teacher found herself very tired. 
 
 " How did you like it, dear?" said Mrs. Haas, 
 who had begged the privilege of coming to see 
 the dear professor's school to-day, and was hang- 
 ing on his arm. 
 
 " Like it ? what, ma'am ? oh, I don't know. 
 I have n't thought of that." 
 
 The professor handed Helen to her carriage, 
 and shut the door with a bang. She was half 
 way up the hill before she thought that Mrs. 
 Haas might have come with her in the carriage. 
 " Oh, dear, and there are all those other people,
 
 1 64 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 that Miss Collins, and that pale Miss Webb 
 they might come with me always just as well 
 oh, dear, shall I ever, ever learn ? Please, Mr. 
 Moore, turn back right away." 
 
 They met Mrs. Haas and the professor at the 
 foot of the hill. But the sprightly little lady 
 would not come. 
 
 " I prefer to walk, thank you, my dear. The 
 air is pleasant, and we were talking the professor 
 and I we have many pleasant things to talk of." 
 And, all her ribbons fluttering, she turned to 
 the grave man, with that peculiarly, winning smile 
 which she often put on for him, and which 
 Helen wondered if he liked. Mr. Moore turned 
 round and the carriage went up the hill again at 
 a gallop. The next Sunday, Miss Collins and the 
 pale Miss. Webb, rode home with Miss Roberts. 
 
 But perhaps the best part of the Sunday-school 
 was the week-day visiting. This, too, Helen 
 undertook with many fears. She knew almost 
 nothing, except what she had read in books, 
 about the abodes of poverty. Occasionally she 
 had gone with Mitty to take a basket of flowers 
 or a Thanksgiving dinner to some of th'e most 
 
 respectable of Mr. Saxton's poor people, but that 
 was all.
 
 jr 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 16$ 
 
 But her interest in these boys and their fathers 
 and mothers, grew heartier at every visit, and 
 more and more she found them looking pleased 
 when she came. In the first place, they were 
 glad to see her. It was as rare as sunshine in 
 those bare and dreary rooms to have a little rus- 
 tle of silks, a pretty nodding and floating of 
 feathers, and something like roses in the air when 
 the lady took out her white handkerchief. 
 
 Then, though she grieved many and many a 
 time that she had not talked more and better to 
 these people, this little lady was learning to 
 share with them whatever good and sweet 
 thoughts came to her mind, and good and sweet 
 thoughts came there oftener, the more she want- 
 ed them and used them. 
 
 Old Betty Mulligan, Pat's grandmother, did not 
 get down on her knees before her, and call down 
 blessings on her head in the Virgin's name, but 
 the morning after Miss Roberts' call, as she was 
 watering her scarlet geranium in the one sunny 
 corner of her window bench, the old thing was 
 smiling and muttering to herself, " She said she 
 sometimes thought the flowers knew who loved 
 them they blossomed so bright for them that is 
 kind to them, and shure, as she said, it takes a
 
 j66 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 dale of kindness to make anything blossom in 
 this old alley." 
 
 Mrs. Mulligan, by the way, was known to be 
 very severe on her grandson, Pat, and that young 
 man was in the habit of carrying with him to Sun- 
 day-school and everywhere else where he went, 
 the visible signs of her skill and powers, in the 
 matter of maternal discipline. Perhaps the old 
 woman had failed entirely to observe the point 
 of her visitor's remarks, but it is certain that she 
 spent so much time over her geranium that 
 morning, that the youthful Patrick, skirmishing 
 in her rear, and drinking liberal draughts from 
 the molasses cup on the mantel shelf, escaped 
 one whipping that week. 
 
 And it was not all giving. It never is. In 
 one of the dreariest of these tenements, at the 
 top of three crazy flights of stairs, Helen found 
 a pale young woman sewing, with a perfect, 
 happy family of babies, and dogs, and kittens 
 and canary-birds about her. There was a large 
 cage in the corner of the room with the door 
 open, and actually twenty-eight of the pretty, 
 singing creatures flying in and out. There was 
 an old blind poodle so devoted to the interests 
 of this happy commune that he would let the
 
 MJSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 birds sit on his back and tear off his wool to make 
 their nests of. And the cats would purr the 
 puppies to sleep, and the kittens would play with 
 the birds, and the babies would sit on the floor 
 and crow at the whole of them. 
 
 " I'm sure this is worth going anywhere to 
 see," said the young lady, in a state of great in- 
 ward delight going down to her carriage, and 
 she told Mr. Moore all about it before they reach- 
 ed home. 
 
 Then there was poor little Jimmy Ross, who 
 had had a terrible fall and had been very sick, 
 and would be very lame always. The poor 
 little fellow could n't get used to it. He had 
 been getting up in the world carrying papers 
 for a dollar a week and had visions of an inde- 
 pendent news-stand some of these days. 
 
 " He can't seem to be reconciled like, Miss," 
 said the anxious-looking mother. " He just sits 
 there in his chair all day and don't take no inter- 
 est. And he's growing real cross." 
 
 " The poor little fellow ! It's pretty hard work. 
 See ! I'm coming over there to see you, my little 
 boy! I know something about this, too per- 
 haps not as much as you do but I can tell you 
 something," she said, softly, coming up to the
 
 j68 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 child. And she took the little helpless creature 
 on her lap, and the pretty floating feather drooped 
 down over him, and the rosy atmosphere sur- 
 rounded him, and she whispered a long story in 
 his ear alone. Nobody else ever heard one just 
 like it. Even the padlocked book had never 
 known these secrets. Before she left him she 
 had brought back something like the hopeful 
 boy-look into his face, and the nice black walnut 
 planks and set of carving-tools, that came by ex- 
 press from the city of X in a few days, did 
 
 much toward keeping it there. 
 
 When she went out of that house her look was 
 quite triumphant. " Do you suppose I'm sorry 
 now for all those sick, weary days, and all the mis- 
 ery of that getting well, to find myself as I am ? 
 Don't you suppose I'm thankful and proud? 
 Why, what could I have ever done for this poor 
 little thing, if I hadn't been in the very same 
 place myself?" 
 
 The young lady seemed to be a little indig- 
 nant, and to be triumphantly refuting somebody 
 or some part of somebody, that had once upon a 
 time ventured to differ from these views. 
 
 It was just about this time that Miss Roberts' 
 acquaintance with one Mr. Humphreys, of the
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ify 
 
 law school and also of the mission Sunday-school, 
 was at its height. This young man had dark 
 brown hair and whiskers, handsome blue eyes, 
 and was as graceful as a woman. 
 
 He dangled a white hand lazily with the crim- 
 son tassel of the sofa pillow, and said things that 
 sounded original in a rich voice. He was not at 
 all insignificant, or a dandy. I have failed in my 
 picture if I have given that impression. He was 
 a good scholar, and would be a successful law- 
 yer a rising one, the professor said. He was 
 energetic, a very good vice-superintendent of the 
 Sunday-school, and foremost in college enter- 
 prises. But somehow you never would have 
 connected the thought of anything heroic with 
 him. If Oxford on its seven hills, had suddenly 
 fallen under a penalty to give up its noblest and 
 most precious, nobody would have looked to 
 George Humphreys as the first man to leap into 
 the gulf. Helen liked him. He talked well, and 
 was gentlemanly, and his eyes were very hand- 
 some. He liked Helen, as was more and more 
 apparent. His calls became a regular weekly 
 occurrence, and gradually lengthened, till they 
 included the entire evening and all the other 
 calls.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Oh, for Friday night, 
 
 Friday at the gloamin'! 
 Oh, for Friday night, 
 
 Friday 's lang o' comin'!" 
 
 He said one evening, not sentimentally, but twirl- 
 ing the tassel, and with such a look in his eyes as 
 even a sensible girl does not object to seeing 
 occasionally. Other young men bowed them- 
 selves away, but he stayed on ; other groups 
 broke up, but over in their corner these two 
 chatted and laughed, taking no note of time some- 
 times till the last bell rang. They talked about 
 everything under the sun, and certainly had some 
 capital times together. Dear Miss Prescott, who 
 was as innocent as a baby and as harmless as 
 doves, and who gave her practical sister a deal 
 of trouble by her natural inability to see the flir- 
 tations that were going on before her face and 
 eyes, until they reached alarming proportions, 
 this dear woman suddenly awoke one evening to 
 a sense of the two people over in the corner, and 
 went up stairs in some anxiety. 
 
 " I am afraid I haven't done my duty to her, 
 dear. An orphan Lucy's child I ought to 
 have been more careful." 
 
 Miss Maria, who, without anybody's suspect-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. iji 
 
 ing it, always saw everything that was going on 
 in the house, was prepared for this. 
 
 " Don't you be alarmed, Deborah. I took a 
 good look at that thing the third evening, and 
 concluded that I'd risk it. She is younger in 
 these things than some girls of twenty, but I'm 
 not afraid of her. It will settle itself without 
 any managing ; and, if it doesn't you know you 
 always approve of my ' treatment.' A little fresh 
 air won't hurt it, anyway. It's time that pony 
 came up. What with Ida, and the practicing, 
 and the chemistry lectures being over, she doesn't 
 get out anywhere, except in the direction of the 
 mud-turtles." 
 
 " I believe that is what I want this afternoon, 
 Miss Maria," said Helen one day, after Rufus had 
 been boarding at Mr. Moore's a week, and she 
 had had just one little ride. 
 
 " Of course it is, and there's that lonely Jeru- 
 salem road the mountains all about it, you 
 know that you've never seen. It must be be- 
 ginning to have a little color in it now. The 
 pony shall be here at two o'clock, and don't you 
 let me see your face again till tea-time." 
 
 Helen hadn't had such a ride for ever so long. 
 It was considered perfectly safe for her to go
 
 1 72 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 alone in Oxford, and there was no ambling Irish 
 boy behind to be thought of. She said one word 
 to Rufus and he went out towards the moun- 
 tains on and on a mile or two before either 
 of them thought of stopping. Then they took 
 it more deliberately, and she began to look at 
 the great brown hills and the clouds lying softly 
 against their rough cheeks. There was the faint- 
 est tinge of tender green in some of the ravines, 
 and a distant smell of spring in the air. Helen 
 was quite as happy as in those days at the sea- 
 side last year, but how much older she seemed to 
 herself. 
 
 " How wonderful it is !" she thought. " How 
 things do open ! How one does get on ! I won- 
 der if it is always so ! If it is, I wonder people 
 are ever tired of living. I'm not a bit afraid. 
 It seems to me nothing could ever quite terrify 
 me now ; I'm so sure things are for the best, but 
 I'd really like to know what will happen next." 
 
 And then she fell into that mood, which, per- 
 haps, all of us have had sometimes, of feeling 
 sure that something is going to happen soon. 
 Things have gone on so long. They must have 
 been for some purpose. They must be working 
 out something else* The clouds were rolling
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ^3 
 
 themselves up, their day's work almost done. 
 The world was turning over. Her life was mov- 
 ing on, too. There would be a to-morrow, and 
 to-morrow would be a new day. 
 
 " I wonder what it will be ! I wonder what I 
 should like best ! I mean, I wonder what would 
 be best for me." 
 
 She dwelt on this so long that she almost ex- 
 pected to find some great change at home a 
 letter with some great news, perhaps. But what 
 would be great news to her? Nobody could 
 leave her a fortune. Unless it were a fortune of 
 brothers and sisters, it would be nothing to 
 her. Nobody could die unless she had never 
 thought of that before her guardian. As Ru- 
 fus walked slowly down the long street towards 
 Miss Prescott's, and the clouds went on rolling 
 themselves up around the mountains, with tints 
 of purple and gold upon them now, and the 
 world went on turning over into the twilight, 
 these thoughts went on in the young girl's mind. 
 She wished it were not tea-time and she coming 
 down the hill. She had been off alone to " the 
 land east of the sun " she didn't like to come 
 back even to Oxford. But there was the stable- 
 boy waiting, and there was Professor Wright
 
 174 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 going in to tea, no turning back to speak to 
 her, and Rufus stopped before the gate. 
 
 " Oh, I don't want to take off my wings," said 
 Helen, out of the fulness of her heart. Her eyes 
 wandered off on to the sunset, along the hills, 
 now blue and distant, across the misty valley, 
 finally back to the professor, standing by her side. 
 He was waiting very patiently. Somehow 
 Helen very seldom thought of herself in that 
 way, but it seemed to her now that Professor 
 Wright was very sorry for her about the wings, 
 she meant. 
 
 " Nevertheless, will you come, and may I help 
 you," he said. 
 
 " Yes, sir, thank you. I'll come" she answered, 
 brightly, putting out her arms towards him. 
 
 The professor lifted her down, quite cavalierly. 
 Nobody would have thought him a particularly 
 awkward man just then. As they went toward 
 the house, Helen took occasion to say something 
 lightly about the coming spring and the length- 
 ening days. She felt now, and wished to show 
 that, though she had lost her wings, she was not 
 miserable. But her companion made no answer. 
 When they reached the door, he fumbled in his 
 pocket for his key, put it half way in, and then,
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 175 
 
 * deliberately turning his back to the door, looked 
 down at Helen. 
 
 " What were you seeing with those eyes off in 
 the sunset?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know, sir," she began with a 
 smile, but her face grew earnest. " Did you ever 
 have the feeling that some great thing is coming 
 to you that, somehow or other, you don't know 
 how or why, life is going to be changed right 
 here and now, and the to-morrows will never be 
 the humdrum things that the yesterdays were?" 
 
 Usually she would have been ashamed to ex- 
 hibit these foolish little notions to the wise man ; 
 but to-night, somehow, perhaps that sorry look 
 in his face had opened her heart. 
 
 " Yes, I have had that feeling," he answered, 
 still looking gravely into her eyes. 
 
 " And did it ever come true ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 He spoke almost sharply, as she had never 
 heard him speak before, turned quickly, pushed 
 the key into the door and flung it open, and they 
 went in under the glaring hall-light. 
 
 If any great thing did come to Helen that 
 night, it came very silently. The to-morrow 
 went on very like the yesterday. Music flour-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ished. Miss Maria was very kind. Miss Pres- 
 cott was busy, but tender. In the Lessing read- 
 ings Professor Wright gave tremendously long 
 lessons, and was not quite so interesting as he 
 used to be. Miss Haas talked a great deal, and 
 wrote scores of the learned treatises, as usual. 
 On the Friday evenings Mr. Humphrey contin- 
 ued to call, but the calls became gradually 
 shorter. His eyes were not so very handsome, 
 after all. 
 
 Ida came down stairs less frequently, at length 
 not at all, till the book-cases were taken out of 
 the little study and a little white bed put in their 
 place, where she could lie all day and have music 
 from the girls' parlor, when she wished it. She 
 finished the afghan for Miss Prescott, and one 
 night put a little pearl ring on Helen's finger, 
 which you may see there to-day. 
 
 Mrs. Manly came in March. Ida wrote for her 
 herself, on one of her " well" days. At last there 
 came an April evening, when she asked Helen 
 to play the " Slumber Song." " There, that will 
 do ; thank you, dear," she said, when it was 
 done. " Now come and kiss me. Good-night ; for 
 I am very tired." 
 
 "Say not good-night, but in some happier
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 177 
 
 clime bid me good-morning'," thought Helen. 
 The words had been in her mind all day, and she 
 whispered them to Ida softly, though, perhaps, 
 neither of the girls thought that that was the last 
 good-night. In the morning, Helen tried to 
 think of the " happier clime" and smile ; but in 
 that room it was so strange and still !
 
 " The sweet season, that bud and bloom forth brings 
 With green hath clad the hills and eke the vale ; 
 The nightingale with feathers new she sings ; 
 The turtle to his mate hath told her tale."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OD Almighty first planted a garden, and, 
 indeed, it is the purest of human pleas- 
 ures," said the good professor, one day, though 
 he was not given to quoting Lord Bacon or any- 
 body else. 
 
 It was the middle of the summer term now, 
 and the German readers sometimes graduated 
 from Lessing, and deep in Wilhelm Meister, sat 
 in the summer-house back of the hemlocks, while 
 Miss Maria, near by, in gardening hat and gloves, 
 bent over her pansy-bed. 
 
 "Ah, that reminds me, professor," said Miss 
 Haas, " I am looking for some specimens of the 
 acroclinium pectinatum. Have you any in your 
 garden ?" 
 
 " Come up and see," answered the professor, 
 in cheerful tones. " There are white lilies, too," 
 he added, turning to the other member of his 
 class, who, having taken in his sentiment differ- 
 ently, at the other end, so to speak, was wonder- 
 
 (181)
 
 1 82 JJ/7SS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 ing how anybody could be reminded of such an 
 ugly name by such a pretty saying. "And there 
 are my sunsets which you have never come to 
 see yet. I shall expect you both when? to- 
 morrow ?" 
 
 The good man was in one of his kindliest 
 moods to-day, though, to say the truth, the 
 kindly moods seemed to be upon him almost 
 every day now. 
 
 The summer seemed to come very near to his 
 heart. He actually seemed to take a personal 
 delight in the bursting of every bud and the 
 coloring of every flower. 
 
 Helen looked at him sometimes, as the three 
 sat in the summer-house (they had all their les- 
 sons there now) and thought that, with all his 
 calm gravity, he was the most simple, light- 
 hearted person she ever saw. 
 
 There is a wonderful child-likeness and sim- 
 plicity in the heart of a good man when he is 
 happy ; something quite different from what is 
 to be found in the heart of the purest woman. 
 The young girl, not accustomed to observing 
 men, speculated on this sometimes. " Why is it, 
 I wonder ? Does all the man's wisdom lie in his 
 head, all the woman's in her heart ? She pon-
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. i g 3 
 
 ders deep things in her heart, he thinks them 
 with his head, and gives up his heart with sim- 
 ple sincerity to the joys that God sends it ?" 
 
 You see Helen was very far from being an 
 " advanced thinker " on the woman question. 
 But then she was only a foolish, honest young 
 girl, and had known very few men, and those 
 were good ones. 
 
 The next day it rained, but on Friday after- 
 noon, as the old college bell was lazily turning 
 over in its tower and tolling out five, two ladies 
 stood at the door of Professor Wright's house on 
 the hill. 
 
 It was a square, white house, like all the Ox- 
 ford houses, standing modestly and contentedly 
 back of its elm-trees. The professor opened the 
 door himself, and took them in through a spa- 
 cious, empty, oil-clothed hall, with stairs in the 
 distance, to a large front room. Here there was 
 a carpet of melancholy hue, a few plain chairs 
 and a table, the property of the librarian's family 
 to whom Professor Wright rented the greater 
 part of his house, " for the present," Mrs. Haas 
 said. To this family also belonged the baby-car- 
 riage they had seen in the yard, and the three 
 children tumbling over each other on the grass.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 11 1 want you to see the view from this window. 
 It is a little different from any we shall get up- 
 stairs, and then, when you are cool and rested, 
 we will attend to the botany." So presently, 
 with a couple of camp-chairs strung across his 
 arm, the host preceded them through the hall, 
 out at the back door, and under the apple-trees 
 into the garden. 
 
 It was a large, old-fashioned garden, and old- 
 fashioned flowers growing in it; rows of tall 
 hollyhocks against the side fence, purple phlox 
 and passion flower, and more white lilies than 
 Helen had ever seen together before. It had a 
 neat, well -tilled look, the result of one of the 
 wise man's mottoes : " Rest is doing something 
 different." Where the garden ended, a fragrant, 
 grassy field began and sloped off toward the 
 river and the hills. 
 
 The professor, well pleased with the lively 
 admiration of his guests, put down the camp- 
 chairs in a shady, breezy spot. Helen took 
 her's, but Miss Haas was interested in a rare 
 specimen of beetle, just then disporting itself on 
 the path. 
 
 Professor Wright provided her with various 
 sticks and poking appliances, and stood by her
 
 MISS ROBER TS FOR TUNE. j 3 5 
 
 for a moment, and then, stepping in among the 
 rows of queenly lilies, broke off a richly-laden 
 stalk, which he brought to Helen. It was like 
 those the Madonnas carry in the old pictures. 
 " Bear a lily in thy hand, Gates of brass shall 
 not withstand, One touch of that magic wand," 
 he said, and his voice grew so kind and serious 
 that Helen took the flowers, as she would have 
 taken a crown, and, without speaking, looked 
 deep down into the heart of the largest and 
 fairest of them all. The good man, standing up 
 over her, seemed to read her thought and ex- 
 pressed it for her. " I think one can never look 
 lightly on a lily, when one remembers who it 
 was that said of them, ' Consider.' ' Then, after 
 a little quiet " Now, will you go down the gar- 
 den (I'm afraid there is n't much to see) and help 
 in the search for the acroclinium, et ceteras, or 
 will you stay here with the lilies ?" 
 
 Helen preferred to stay. 
 
 " There they go, like Adam and Eve," she 
 thought, as the black coat and the light-blue 
 dress went down the walk. " But, oh, how nice 
 this is here, under the trees. And what a famous, 
 old-fashioned house. Why, it might be made 
 charming those four square rooms and the
 
 1 86 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 great hall with the recesses in it. Some people, 
 Miss Maria, for instance, would make it lovely. 
 But, dear me, Miss Haas will sculp on the front 
 door-step, and have a row of dictionaries across 
 the parlor floor. I wonder I can't help wonder- 
 ing sometimes, and I'm going to Miss Roberts, 
 for once, you need n't stop me I do wonder that 
 good, rare man did n't choose a different sort of 
 woman to be his wife, somebody like Miss Maria, 
 free and simple. He is so simple himself. But 
 then, as Mrs. Haas says, ' Theo's intellect !' Yes, 
 to be sure, ' Theo's intellect.' The acroclinium 
 pectinatum did not prove to be a product of the 
 professor's garden, but Miss Haas was apparently 
 just as well satisfied with a long switch of the 
 diacophyllium capitalum with which she gesticu- 
 lated, and on which she descanted, as she came 
 up the path. 
 
 They sat a little while under the apple-trees 
 talking, or hearing Miss Haas talk. Helen no- 
 ticed that the professor had given this lady no 
 flowers. " I suppose he knows she does n't care 
 about them," she concluded ; "and his politeness 
 is of the kind that does just the thing that is 
 most pleasant to every one." 
 
 The study up-stairs was built of books. There
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 were books on this side, books on that side, 
 books at the ends coming close to the windows, 
 and in the middle a double row of books reach- 
 ing- nearly to the ceiling, and forming a complete 
 partition, so far as it extended between the two 
 halves of the room. It looked like the library 
 of an older and richer man than Professor Wright 
 was supposed to be, and he presently explained, 
 a little apologetically (for if the good man had 
 a fault it was that pride of being poor, to which 
 men whose fortune consists in brains are liable,) 
 that he had availed himself of a very favorable 
 opportunity to purchase the stock in trade of his 
 predecessor in office. 
 
 Miss Haas was at once swallowed up in a 
 huge old volume of Pliny. Helen, who, though 
 not precisely of a domestic turn of mind, had, 
 nevertheless, an eye for household arrangements, 
 observed with satisfaction that there was a pretty 
 dark green carpet on the floor, and further sur- 
 veyed the apartment, while the professor, on hos- 
 pitable thoughts intent, sought out his rarer and 
 more interesting books to show her. 
 
 This middle wall of books, whatever might 
 have been its first impression on the beholder, 
 had the effect of adding to the coziness of each
 
 !88 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 particular division. On the one side, before the 
 window (and facing- it,) stood a black lounge, 
 with the greenish - gray shawl thrown over its 
 arm. A Claude Lorraine glass hung in this win- 
 dow, the only object of an ornamental nature to 
 be seen in the whole apartment, unless a small 
 map of Palestine pinned to the door might come 
 under that head. " But this is the living-room, 
 evidently," thought Helen, following the host 
 into the other compartment. Here was the 
 study-table before the open window. Above it 
 hung Jimmy, the mocking bird, singing with all 
 his might, and in at the window came all the 
 sweet airs and sounds of the summer afternoon. 
 
 " Oh, what a window ! I almost think /could 
 write a sermon here," and Helen looked off with 
 wistful eyes, across the green, peaceful fields to 
 the hills. 
 
 " I don't doubt it. Sit down here and take it 
 all in," said the professor. 
 
 Helen hesitated. She was a national little 
 maiden. It seemed to her that she was not the 
 one to sit down first at that study-table. Then 
 she felt a little awe of the place. That was 
 where those words were written, and those 
 thoughts thought. She glanced towards Miss
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 1 89 
 
 Haas, who, sitting on the end of the lounge, was 
 visible from this point, but that lady was turn- 
 ing over a fresh page in her big book, and the 
 professor was waiting, a little gravely, she 
 thought. So she sat down in the stiff leather 
 chair, and the tall man, bending over her, point- 
 ed out the notable peaks in the distant moun- 
 tains, and then, bringing a field-glass from an- 
 other room, showed where the little white 
 villages nestled in the nearer hills. There is 
 nothing on earth sweeter than that Oxford view. 
 There are no hills that gather softer shadows in 
 the long summer afternoons, there are no mead- 
 ows that lie in purer sunlight, there is no river 
 that carries more peace in its broad course. 
 Helen looked till that sigh that sometimes comes 
 from very comfort broke from her lips. 
 
 " Sweet fields arrayed in living green 
 And rivers of delight," 
 
 she said, softly, half to herself. 
 
 " Yes, those words come to my mind often 
 and there's an infinite rest in them," said the 
 quiet voice at her side. 
 
 " And we stayed there all the evening !" says 
 the padlocked book, under date of the next day,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " till the moonlight came ! When the clock 
 struck six and we spoke of going home, the pro- 
 fessor, that professor informed us, pointing to 
 the west, that the panorama did not begin to 
 move till precisely half-past seven o'clock, and 
 that he had told Miss Maria we should not be 
 home to tea. That man had actually got up 
 (over in the corner, where nobody thought of 
 looking till the right time), the funniest, mascu- 
 linest, j oiliest little spread. There were straw- 
 berries, and bananas, and confectioner's crack- 
 ers (no bread, and a very remarkable collection 
 of crockery), and the librarian's wife sent up 
 coffee, which a small girl handed around in great 
 style. Only Miss Haas would discourse on its 
 being bad for our constitutions, and when Jimmy 
 sang loudest (Jimmy is a pretty, brown, merry 
 little thing, and I gave him a strawberry), she 
 put her fingers in her ears. The sunset I shall 
 never forget .it, I think, and it was sweet to see 
 the moonlight steal over those fields. 
 
 " I wrote my name on the fly-leaf (the one at 
 the end) of Professor Wright's Greek Testament. 
 He asked me to, and looked very serious about 
 it, and afraid I would n't be willing to do it. He 
 said that sometimes when people visited obser-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. igi 
 
 vatories or strange places once in a life-time, 
 perhaps they left their names recorded, and he 
 would like to keep mine." 
 
 A person interested in the progress of the arts 
 and sciences, or a painter in search of a subject, 
 would have gazed with pleasure on the scene 
 presented in Helen's room on Saturday after- 
 noon of this same week. 
 
 At the round table sat Miss Haas, her eyes 
 gleaming with pride, her dress streaked with 
 acids, and before her fumed, and boiled, and bub- 
 bled an immense shallow vessel full of water 
 which was being rapidly decomposed by means 
 of a galvanic battery. Vile odors issued from 
 the seething mass, but the presiding vestal was 
 happily unconscious of them. This battery was 
 the work of her own hands, and this was her 
 first experiment. Since the chemical lectures on 
 the hill had been given up, Miss Haas had de- 
 voted herself to the science, probably to the 
 great edification of her large class of younger 
 pupils, but much to the discomfort of her room- 
 mate, who, in the multitude of bottles, and re- 
 torts, and loathsome messes set away to fume in 
 secret or "precipitate" at leisure, was almost 
 afraid to water her ivy or to clean her teeth, lest
 
 192 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 she should be making use of some powerful acid 
 or deadly poison. The battery and the experi- 
 ment, however, were not the whole of the picture. 
 
 Opposite Miss Haas sat little Mary Mitchell, 
 taking a drawing lesson. Her yellow braids 
 hung dejectedly down her shoulders, and her 
 poor little nose was screwed into a most unclassic 
 shape, by reason of the odors aforesaid, but she 
 worked away bravely. 
 
 " A little more shading there, my dear. Ah ! 
 you have finished the chimney. This is the way 
 to do the roof, child," and the woman of a thous- 
 and and one accomplishments reached across the 
 table and gave two or three decided strokes in 
 the deficient quarter. Nor was this all. On 
 Miss Haas' knee lay a volume of Italian poems 
 which she had drawn to-day from the library, 
 and, occupying the little remaining space on the 
 table, was an open lexicon. And that all her va- 
 ried powers might have still more play, this wo- 
 man of women held in her respective hands a 
 little block of holly-wood, and a penknife (she 
 was learning wood-carving), and gave an occa- 
 sional touch to the somewhat remarkable little 
 
 animal that was destined to form the handle to a 
 paper-cutter.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 193 
 
 Helen, at as great a distance as possible from 
 the odors, in the rocking-chair, by the window, 
 was in a most unusual state of hilarity, conse- 
 quent partly on the performances at the round- 
 table, and partly on the volume of " Pickwick" 
 
 in her hand. 
 
 "Is it so very amusing, my dear? I never 
 
 heard you laugh so." 
 
 This was when, at one fearful splutter and gasp 
 of the expiring liquid, Miss Haas laid down her 
 knife, shut her book, and rose with a determined 
 countenance to face the battery. 
 
 " Yes'm, you've no idea how funny it is," said 
 Helen, forgiving herself for the double entendre, on 
 the ground that nobody saw it but herself. " But 
 there I must put this up, and see about that 
 carriage. It is almost four o'clock." 
 
 " What are you going to do, my dear?" 
 
 " I am going to call on Mrs. Mulligan, Miss 
 Haas." 
 
 "Why do you go to-day, dear? It is so 
 warm." 
 
 " Chiefly because I don't want to," said Helen ; 
 but this was in a very low voice to herself, as she 
 went out of the room. 
 
 It appeared, on inquiry, that Miss Prescott was 
 9
 
 194 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 using the carriage then, but would be home at 
 four o'clock. 
 
 Helen, therefore, with Mr. Pickwick and his 
 friends, betook herself to the seat under the elm- 
 tree, to wait for Miss Prescott, and to intercept 
 the stable-boy who should come to take the car- 
 riage home. Miss Prescott, always prompt, soon 
 appeared, and Helen took her place. 
 
 Ida's afghan lay over the seat. " Keep it," 
 said Miss Prescott, as Helen would have handed 
 it to her ; " keep it, dear. I like to have it with 
 you," and she laid her gentle hand for a moment 
 over Helen's. 
 
 Mrs. Mulligan was at home, and received, this 
 afternoon, in a large-figured red and yellow dress 
 and a very ruffly cap. Jimmy Ross was at home, 
 
 
 
 too, (poor fellow, there was all too little chance 
 of finding him anywhere else at present,) but his 
 face was brighter than Helen had ever seen it 
 when he told her of the bracket he had sold last 
 week for three dollars, and of the order for an- 
 other like it he had just received. 
 
 " I've a great mind not to go anywhere else to- 
 day," thought Helen, coming away from Jim- 
 my's. " There's that new boy, I ought to go to 
 see him, I suppose, but I don't feel like it. I
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: ig^ 
 
 can't talk good to-day. I believe I won't go. 
 Yes, I will !" 
 
 The new boy lived in an old street, the oldest 
 and poorest Helen had seen in Oxford. Little, 
 low cramped houses, with bare and sometimes 
 filthy door-yards, and sometimes none at all, hud- 
 dled together, close and hot. At last she knocked 
 at the door of the last in the line, " on the corner 
 by the old grave-yard," as the boy had told her. 
 As she stood at the door, a crowd of dirty, mis- 
 erable children swarmed about the horse and 
 carriage, and Helen bethought herself to take the 
 precious afghan on her arm, before she went in. 
 
 "Come in, miss," said the feeble, anxious, 
 wretched-looking woman who opened the door 
 of the little upper room. " Johnny's near about. 
 He'll be in soon, I think." 
 
 It was a very small room, and in it were a 
 cooking-stove, a bed, a table, a lounge, and sev- 
 eral chairs. Only one window, and that shut. 
 The thermometer would have stood above 90. 
 A man lay in the bed, his head near the stove, 
 and a heavy quilt over him. Two or three very 
 young and sickly-looking children toddled about, 
 and the woman feebly held another baby to her 
 bosom. It was hard to talk "good" here. Helen
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 thought of Mrs. Pardiggle at the brick-maker's, 
 and refrained from any but general observations 
 at first. 
 
 But the new boy soon came in. She had 
 liked the open-faced, red-haired, plucky little 
 fellow last Sabbath, and found a good deal to say 
 to him now. She was always afterwards thank- 
 ful for that quiet little talk in the corner. 
 1 While she was talking, the mother was busy 
 about the stove, and the children played around 
 the strange lady, looking with wonder at the 
 shining bracelets, and the roses on her hat, and 
 the wonderful bright thing she held loosely in 
 her lap. After awhile, turning around, she found 
 that they had taken the afghan away. They had 
 carried it off to the bed, and were making a tent 
 of it over the sick man's head. 
 
 " Is your father very sick ?" asked Helen, after 
 Johnny, by various wiles and devices, had suc- 
 ceeded in recovering the purloined property. 
 
 " I wish you'd come and see what you think of 
 him, miss," said the woman. 
 
 The spirit of daintiness within her demurred 
 and, then, she knew so little about illness. But 
 it touched her, to have this poor woman asking 
 such a thing of her, and Johnny was looking on.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 She took the chair they placed for her, near the 
 bed and very near the stove. 
 
 The man had a gruff voice, and, besides, was 
 evidently too ill to talk. Helen asked if they 
 had called a doctor, and they pointed to a row 
 of bottles on the table. 
 
 " Come again, Miss," said the woman, follow- 
 ing Helen to the door. "I'm so troubled about 
 my man that I cannot hardly speak to nobody 
 to-day. The doctor thought belike it was the 
 small-pox. There's a deal of it about. Old 
 Tommy Carew died of it last night, and there's 
 two took sick to-day just around the corner.'' 
 
 Helen said good-bye and shut the door. She 
 was" not of a temperament to be easily frightened. 
 Her heart did not flutter and she did not grow 
 pale, but she sat right down on the stairs (there 
 was nobody near) with a serious face. 
 
 " One thing is certain, I've been pretty thor- 
 oughly exposed. If this is the disease, I may 
 carry it to other people. And this afghan it 
 has been all over the man's bed. What must I 
 do ? I shall have to get to a doctor just as soon 
 as possible, and have him tell me what to do. I 
 mustn't see anybody first. I'll go right away." 
 
 She carried the afghan loosely on her arm. It
 
 1 98 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 was heavy, and began to drag, and just at the 
 gate caught in something, and fell from her 
 hands. At the same instant a quick step came 
 along the walk, and Professor Wright was before 
 her. He stooped and took up the afghan before 
 she had time to speak a word. 
 
 " Oh, Professor Wright, please don't !" 
 The bewildered man only drew it closer, and 
 threw it over his shoulder. 
 
 " What is the matter ? Can I help you ?" 
 She told him quickly, and begged him to go 
 away. The smile that came over his face was 
 his only answer, but it said a great deal. It did 
 not put her away and resist her thoughtfulness ; 
 it was too kind for that. It did not laugh at her 
 fears ; it was too grave for that. But it said, as 
 no words could have said, how very absurd and 
 quite out of the question that " going away " 
 was, and it brought such a wonderful sense of 
 strength, and safety, and being taken care of, as 
 Helen had never had in her life before. 
 
 " Let us come to the carriage. We can talk 
 more easily there." 
 
 The good man did not say, as he sat down by 
 her side and took the reins in his hand, that he 
 was glad he happened (he would not have said
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 199 
 
 happened) to be coming along the street just 
 then, but Helen felt almost as' sure of it as she 
 did of her own relief and comfort. 
 
 " First, about the man. Is he suffering ? Does 
 he need anything at this moment ?" 
 
 " I think not. He seemed to have remedies, 
 but no comforts and that dreadful cooking- 
 stove. They had had Dr. ." 
 
 " Perhaps we can get him taken to the hospi- 
 tal. We will see," and to Helen's great relief he 
 chuckled to the horse, and they started off at a 
 gentle trot. She had been very much afraid that 
 he meant to go in. 
 
 "And now " he said, after they had gone a 
 little way, turning to her with something of the 
 smile again. So she told the story. 
 
 " I thought I ought to go to a doctor and find 
 out what to do," she said in "conclusion. 
 
 " You were right." 
 
 Helen noticed now that they had already 
 turned into Dr. Wood's street. 
 
 " I should have more doubt as to the disease, 
 if I had not learned since I left home this after- 
 noon, that it has broken out with some violence 
 in this very quarter of town. Taking it for 
 granted that this is a case of it, I do not know
 
 200 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 * 
 
 how much danger there is in such an exposure. 
 I am inclined to think there is little, but I may 
 be wrong. We can only do what we can, and 
 wait." 
 
 " If only I could have got home without see- 
 ing you. If only you hadn't taken up that af- 
 
 ghan, Professor Wright !" said Helen, with a re- 
 
 
 turn of her first anxiety. 
 
 The professor turned to her suddenly, and laid 
 his broad hand over her two little ones, and 
 looked into her face. 
 
 " My little child, it would be impossible for me 
 to tell you how much rather, if this thing comes 
 to either of us, I would have it come to me," he 
 said slowly, and in a deep voice. " But that we 
 cannot regulate," he added presently, in his usual 
 manner. " That is not for us to know. Only we 
 are always sure that, however it comes, it is right." 
 
 There is nothing like a cheerful mind to keep 
 off disease, and there is nothing that so tends 
 to a cheerful mind, as looking the whole truth 
 bravely in the face. These two people drove up 
 to the doctor's as if they were out on a pleasure 
 drive, and sat half an hour waiting in the office, 
 talking of everything but the errand that brought 
 them there.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2OI 
 
 The doctor, as is the manner of doctors, said 
 what he had to say in few words. 
 
 " No doubt about the disease. I've been there 
 since you left. Didn't shake hands with him or 
 touch him ? That's right. Well, there's about 
 one chance in ten that you've taken away some- 
 thing of it not much more. Take off all your * 
 clothes and have them thoroughly aired, and take 
 a thorough bath." 
 
 He held Helen's hand for a moment, and look- 
 ed at her tongue. Her delicate face and figure 
 always made people a little afraid of her. 
 
 " Umph ! Seem to be in a healthy condition. 
 Very little danger. But if you have, either of 
 you, even a headache in the course of a fortnight, 
 let me know." 
 
 They managed the getting home nicely. The 
 professor hailed a convenient small boy, and 
 Helen sent in by him a hast}'' note to Miss 
 Maria. 
 
 Miss Maria's part of the work was the hardest, 
 but one of her happy thoughts came to her, and 
 in a few minutes Miss Haas received an urgent 
 invitation to take tea at a neighbor's house, and 
 play for some young visitors. So, when they 
 drew up at the gate again after an hour's drive 
 9*
 
 202 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 around the outskirts of the town, the small boy 
 was waiting with another note, which read thus : 
 " All right ! Come home, dear child ! I'll do as 
 you bid, and keep away, unless you ring the bell. 
 If you need anything, ring, and nobody else shall 
 come." 
 
 Helen found the halls empty and the chemicals 
 fizzing away alone in her room, and Miss Maria, 
 true to her word, made no attempt to see her 
 till she came down, fresh and sweet, in a white 
 dress and lilac ribbons, to tea. Then the dear 
 woman caught her under the stairs and kissed 
 her fervently. The evening went pleasantly. 
 The professor stayed long (though nobody spoke 
 of music), and if he missed Miss Haas, her mo- 
 ther certainly did her best to make good the 
 loss. Helen went to sleep as lightly as a child, 
 and in her evening-prayer forgot to say anything 
 about the danger she had been in, so many other 
 things came into her heart to say. Love, friends, 
 care these were the things her heart had always 
 cried for. When they came, was she not to be 
 thankful for them ? And for such friends, were 
 there not some things she might ask ? 
 
 On Monday morning the paper announced that 
 varioloid of a malignant type, had broken out in
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 203 
 
 the west district. The next day the man whom 
 Helen had seen, died ; and before the week closed 
 the open-faced, red-haired boy lay in his little 
 grave. The mother and the sickly babies were 
 left. The doctors divided the district between 
 them, and would let no one else visit the suffer- 
 ers. In a fortnight the mortality was said to be 
 decreasing. 
 
 On the hill, the two weeks passed a little slowly, 
 but not anxiously. Helen found herself looking 
 over her little effects, and putting them in order, 
 but she was almost singing as she did it. She 
 felt a little sudden pang of concern occasionally 
 as she looked at the good professor, but his 
 strong, manly frame, and his cheerful manner 
 (he had never seemed more cheerful than now) 
 quickly drove all boding thoughts away. 
 
 Nevertheless, coming up one evening, after a 
 long, pleasant sing, she was conscious of a strong 
 and thankful sense of relief when she remember- 
 ed that it was two weeks and a day since that 
 call in the west district. 
 
 The next morning, the professor did not come 
 to breakfast. The librarian's little girl, whom 
 Miss Maria met in the street, said he had a head- 
 ache, but that he told her mother he thought he
 
 204 MISS ROBERTS ' FORTUNE. 
 
 should be out by dinner time. But he did not 
 come to dinner. 
 
 " I'm going up to see about it," said Miss Maria 
 to herself, that afternoon. She did not say any- 
 thing to Miss Prescott, for that Saturday after- 
 noon's adventure had never been mentioned be- 
 yond the original circle, and, it might be, this 
 would amount to nothing. " But it will do no 
 harm to know, whatever it is, and that poor child 
 is as pale as if she had committed a murder." 
 
 Miss Maria went, but the professor could not 
 see her. The librarian's wife said that he had 
 remained in his room all day, and that this after- 
 noon a boy had come (from the west district) " to 
 stay with him a few days," the professor said. 
 The boy brought the messages to his door, and 
 delivered them to the librarian's wife, and she 
 brought them to Miss Maria. 
 
 The professor declared himself to be as cheer- 
 ful as possible, and very comfortable, not at all 
 sure that this was what they feared, but inclined 
 to think it best to shut himself up for a few days. 
 And he desired his very best regards to all at 
 Miss Prescott's. The doctor had called once, 
 and was coming again, the lady said. 
 
 Miss Maria walked home briskly, and, like the
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 20$ 
 
 blessed little woman that she was, came right to 
 Helen's room (Miss Haas was practicing) and 
 told her all about it. " I thought I would take 
 the carriage and just drive around to see the 
 doctor," she said. " Would you like to go with 
 me?" 
 
 The doctor was not in. It was nearly tea- 
 time, and they dro.ve home, Helen still a little 
 pale, but a good deal brighter for the drive. 
 
 After tea, Miss Maria went again to the doc- 
 tor's. Helen sat with Miss Prescott, listening to 
 a gentle, gossippy account of Oxford in the old 
 times when her father was professor, and then 
 played a little for Miss Haas, who was missing 
 the " dear professor" sadly, and then (Miss Maria 
 was gone so long) went up stairs to try to find 
 something to read. She was still searching 
 (though there were Charles Lamb and Browning 
 and " Hymns and Meditations," and the unfinish- 
 ed " Pickwick," and many other favorites on the 
 table) when Miss Maria came in. She sat down 
 by Helen's side and took off her hat. " Well, 
 dear" her tone was cheery, as usual, but had a 
 firmness in it that showed she had something to 
 tell " the doctor says he has the disease, that it 
 begins to look like a pretty serious case, but that
 
 2o6 7I//56 1 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 there is no doubt, scarcely any doubt at all in the 
 doctor's mind, that his strong constitution and 
 general good condition will bring him through." 
 
 Miss Maria, too, believed in the whole truth, 
 and it came to Helen with the gratefulness with 
 which it always comes to an anxious mind. But 
 somehow, suddenly, all the pent-up and half un- 
 conscious solicitude of these two weeks, and all 
 the sharp regret of that moment when she had 
 seen Professor Wright stoop and take up that 
 blanket, seemed to come over her like a flood, 
 and she put her hands before her face and bent 
 her head to Miss Maria's friendly, sheltering arm. 
 She did not cry. She was the sort of girl that 
 seldom does cry, except at the times you don't 
 expect her to. Perhaps everybody knows some 
 such girl. 
 
 Miss Maria drew her close, and patted her in 
 her cheery, loving way. " I know just how it is, 
 dear. Without a particle of fault or responsi- 
 bility, you have the feeling that, somehow or 
 other, you have brought this on that good man. 
 Now, you know, dear, that is very unreasonable. 
 He would probably have walked right into it 
 that very afternoon if he never had seen you, 
 and, at any rate, you could n't possibly have helped
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 207 
 
 it you were already doing all you could to help 
 it and besides, dear child, it is the Lord's doing." 
 
 Helen looked up much relieved. It is often 
 the greatest comfort in the world to hear a plain 
 statement of what we know perfectly well. Then 
 she put her head down again. Other thoughts 
 had come, or the same ones back again. 
 
 " If I could only do something, Miss Maria," 
 she said presently. " I have been thinking of 
 that. Now, that boy, I presume, is no nurse at 
 all, and the doctor is full of business. If we 
 could get a good, experienced, professional nurse 
 for him that would be doing more good than 
 we could do in any other way." The young 
 girl's face was bright in a minute. " Miss Maria ! 
 You are the most comfortable woman. How 
 glad I shall be if I may help in that way. Where 
 can we find one ?" 
 
 " I think we should have to go to the city, to 
 some of the hospitals. Possibly one might be 
 found in X ." 
 
 " My guardian knows all about the X 
 
 Hospital. Perhaps he could help us." 
 
 " Perhaps so. That would be far better than 
 going to the city with nothing but a woman's 
 word by way of introduction. We might, at
 
 2o8 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 least, try that first, dear. I might go down on 
 the midnight train," she added, after some 
 thought. 
 
 Helen's eyes looked disappointed. 
 
 " Would you like to go, too ?" 
 
 " Yes, please ; very much." 
 
 " Then be a good girl, and you may." 
 
 "Are you not a little afraid, dear, that it will 
 be too hard for Helen ? the excitement and the 
 broken rest ? Could you not go alone ?" said 
 Miss Prescott, when the plan was unfolded to 
 her. 
 
 " Deborah," said Miss Maria, seriously, turn- 
 ing around from punching the last bundle into 
 the little bag, " I have been young, and now am 
 old, but I remember something about girls ; 
 and I do assure you that child will sleep more on 
 the midnight train to-night than she would any- 
 where else." 
 
 " Very well, dear. Perhaps you are right," 
 said Miss Prescott. She knew the whole story 
 now, of course. 
 
 Quiet little Mr. Saxton, sipping his coffee over 
 his morning paper, and Mitty serenely regarding 
 him from between the tea and coffee-pots, had 
 perhaps never been more surprised than when
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 209 
 
 these two dusty, heated travelers appeared before 
 them. But the ready, little man took in the 
 whole case at once. 
 
 " Of course. Yes. I think I know where I 
 can find just what you want. Mitty, please take 
 the ladies up-stairs. As soon as you have break- 
 fasted, and are a little rested, we will go out and 
 see about this matter. My dear, you are looking 
 well," as Helen lingered a moment, and pleased 
 him by saying how natural and pleasant things 
 looked at home. 
 
 " Quite a woman quite a woman. Almost as 
 old," the little man murmured as he walked back 
 to the table. But he did n't take up his paper 
 again, and he let his coffee stand till it was cold. 
 
 On the noon-train the two ladies went back, 
 taking with them a quiet, insignificant-looking 
 
 man, who was said to be the best nurse in X 
 
 county. 
 
 Helen found a visitor in her room. 
 
 " He came last night," said Miss Haas, bend- 
 ing over a dictionary with her fingers in her ears. 
 
 It was Jimmy, the mocking-bird ! Tied to his 
 cage was a little folded slip of paper, with Helen's 
 name written on it : 
 
 " I thought you would be willing to take care
 
 2 io MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 of Jimmy for a few days," it said. " I think it 
 will be only for a few days if more for as 
 long as you will care to keep him. I have told 
 him to be a good boy, and to sing you his very 
 choicest songs. You must see to it that he is 
 good and merry." 
 
 Helen quickly put the paper in her pocket, 
 and took the cage out of the room. 
 
 " That horrid, unnatural, stolid woman ! I 
 never heard of anybody that didn't like a mock- 
 ing-bird did you, Jimmy? Never never in 
 my life ! And you didn't come for her either, 
 did you, Jimmy? You are all every bit for 
 me. And you are to be good and merry. Good 
 and merry ? What must I be then ? I won't be 
 naughty. I will try not," and she bit her lips 
 hard. 
 
 " Miss Maria, may I keep Jimmy in this little 
 reading-room? Miss Haas I mean he sings 
 rather loud, you know. And I would like to 
 have him here." 
 
 Miss Maria, who had happened to pass the door 
 and catch the tableau in Helen's room, kissed her 
 heartily without a word, and hung up the cage 
 instanter. 
 
 Jimmy undoubtedly looks back on these days
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 2 1 1 
 
 at Miss Prescott's, as the most remarkable period 
 of his existence. He was hung up high, he was 
 set down low ; he was put out in the sunshine on 
 the piazza roof ; he was taken in under the shade 
 of the green blinds, where it must be a great deal 
 cooler and pleasanter for him. His boiled eggs 
 were of every possible degree of consistency, ac- 
 cording to the varying directions of the school- 
 girls, and he had more white sugar the first day 
 than he had ever seen in his life before. Three 
 times a day his new mistress brought him her 
 apron pocket full of delicacies in the way of bugs 
 and beetles, which he pulled to pieces and ate up 
 in a shocking manner, right before one's eyes. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Maria ! I'm afraid I've undermined 
 his constitution with grasshoppers," cried Helen 
 one morning, when the little fellow hung his head 
 on one side, and stopped singing for at least a 
 second and a half. " Alice Gray says she never 
 gave her bird grasshoppers. They're awfully 
 indigestible. And Jimmy has eaten at least six- 
 teen this morning." 
 
 But he lived through all the experimenting, 
 and seemed to thrive. He did sing his choicest 
 songs, and he was himself, and helped others to 
 be "good and merry."
 
 2 1 2 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 Mrs. and Miss Haas had been very much 
 shocked when they learned the nature of Pro- 
 fessor Wright's illness. The elder lady was es- 
 pecially excited. She wept, and moaned, and 
 prayed, and shrieked, and wrought herself up 
 into a regular French passion, and at last Miss 
 Maria put her to bed and gave her paregoric. 
 Miss Haas, however, after the first shock of sur- 
 prise and disgust was over, conducted herself 
 with composure. 
 
 " That dreadful disease ! I always supposed it 
 was confined to the lower classes. But the dear 
 professor so interests himself in the masses. Ah, 
 well ! he has the best of care. I trust he will 
 not succumb." 
 
 From this time she appeared very much as 
 usual, except that she made two mysterious trips 
 
 on the " Oxford, X , and Springfield railroad," 
 
 and was gone all day. It was a little noticeable 
 that neither of these ladies seemed to think of 
 the possibility of going to their friend in his need, 
 and neither of them made any practical sugges- 
 tion for his benefit. 
 
 There were some anxious days at first. The 
 reports of the doctor were unsatisfactory. Noth- 
 ing definite could be said. There was the same
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 2 1 3 
 
 
 
 dull tale every day "a very sick man" "a 
 serious case." What would be next ? Who should 
 say ? Then they spoke more hopefully. " If he 
 holds out a little longer, there will be a change. 
 He will come up." Then the change came 
 ' out of danger." Then the long days of con- 
 valescence. These days were not forgotten by 
 the good man's many friends. A thoughtful lit- 
 tle gentleman in X remembered them. The 
 
 choicest fruits and dainties came up by express 
 from that city. All Oxford showered down flow- 
 ers upon him. 
 
 One day Helen ventured to send a dish of pan-- 
 sies (she knew he was swallowed up in roses, 
 perhaps nobody had thought of pansies) from 
 herself and Jimmy. And she found them again 
 in a sermon after many days. 
 
 At last it was such a long four weeks to 
 every body at last one morning the professor 
 came down to breakfast. He looked wonder- 
 fully tall, and, somehow, very loosely put to- 
 gether ; and, though it was July, the greenish- 
 gray shawl hung over his shoulders. The fam- 
 ily was assembled in the girls' parlor, prayers 
 just over. 
 
 There was a general, pleased rush to the door,
 
 2 1 4 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 # 
 
 as the good man was seen coming up the walk. 
 Mrs. and Miss Haas fell upon him and gushed. 
 Miss Maria gave him her hearty hand-clasp and 
 good-morning. Miss Prescott welcomed him in 
 her own gentle way. Helen, a little pale, and 
 frightened in spite of herself, waited for her turn. 
 The professor left the others and, with his very 
 rarest smile, came and held her hand for a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 " Has Jimmy been a good boy ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 And that was all that was said.
 
 " Hark ! how the birds do sing, 
 
 And woods do ring, 
 
 All creatures have their joy, and man hath his ; 
 Yet, if we rightly measure, 
 Man's joy and pleasure 
 Rather hereafter, than in present, is. 
 
 " Not that he may not here 
 
 Taste of the cheer, 
 
 But, as birds drink and straight lift up their head, 
 So must he sip and think 
 
 Of better drink 
 He may attain to after he is dead."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HE long vacation came on apace, and brought 
 -*- a thorough change of scene for every body. 
 Miss Prescott and Miss Maria went to the moun- 
 tains this year. Mrs. and Miss Hfaas accepted a 
 timely invitation from an old traveling acquaint- 
 ance to pass the season in a Newport cottage. 
 Professor Wright treated himself to a fishing 
 and hunting trip in Maine and New Brunswick. 
 
 Helen went home to X , this time to Uncle 
 
 Roger's. 
 
 It was pleasant to see the handsome house open 
 again. It was pleasant to see Aunt Matilda's 
 pleasant face, and wonderful to see her piles of 
 pretty things. For at least a day and a half 
 Helen's feminine soul delighted itself in trifles. 
 The laces were so exquisite, the little hats and 
 bonnets were so dainty. There was a camel's- 
 hair shawl for each of the girls ; a red one for 
 
 Lily, a lovely white one for Helen ; and there 
 10 (217)
 
 21 8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 were Paris dresses in soft shaded browns and 
 greens. 
 
 It was strange, through all this summer (at 
 least Helen thought it so), that though she knew 
 in her heart she cared more for the real and deep 
 things now, though she coveted the " best gifts" 
 more than ever in her life before, she neverthe- 
 less found more pleasure in these pretty trifles 
 than she used to feel in them. Two years ago 
 how she had sometimes fretted, and chafed, and 
 cried out against the nonsense and the " flum- 
 mery." But now Aunt Matilda's genuine delight 
 in a Roman sash or a little blue bonnet, was quite 
 contagious. Whether was it that the womanli- 
 ness within her all the womanliness, little and 
 great was waking up, or that a little seed long 
 planted in her heart, which she was beginning to 
 " keep and cultivate," had something to do with 
 it ? Who shall say ? A pretty thought that she 
 had found once in her reading somewhere, came 
 back to her now : 
 
 "Leaves are light, and joyous, and trifling; 
 they even dance ; yet God, in his wisdom, has 
 made them a part of the oak." 
 
 " Only, I suppose one ought to be sure what 
 is leaves and what is in the grain," she consid-
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 2 IQ 
 
 ered. " Ah, yes if that delight over the blue 
 bonnet be only leaves, something little, light, 
 outward merely a trimming what a rare and 
 charming woman Aunt Matilda is !" 
 
 Helen had not philosophised a great deal on this 
 subject. If she had, perhaps, she would have 
 divided womankind into three classes. First, the 
 woman who gives herself to the pretty and little 
 things of life, till into the very texture of her 
 heart is woven a fatal net-work of lace and 
 gauzes. Second, the woman who, with lofty aim 
 and pure heart, lives far above these things, and 
 steels her soul to vanities. Third, and most beau- 
 tiful of all, the woman who, with real, apprecia- 
 tive, hearty pleasure, wears her laces and her 
 diamonds ; yet who, with one sweep of a small 
 white hand, will brush them all away, and hold 
 still her best treasures, fast and safe. The trifles, 
 then, came pleasantly, and, perhaps, not unfit- 
 tingly, into the young girl's summer. 
 
 There was a pleasure of another and a better 
 kind, in being with Lily and Dora once more. 
 Those months in Platoville had done more to 
 make the cousins friends than all their lives be- 
 fore. Lily was pretty. She always seemed to 
 be growing pretty, and gave you a fresh sense
 
 220 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 of her prettiness every time you saw her, though 
 it might be twenty times a day. Dora was 
 grown quite out of Helen's knowledge. She 
 was fifteen now, and very tall for that age. But 
 she utterly refused to adopt the manners and 
 proprieties of a young lady. She wore her dresses 
 as short as the dressmakers would make them ; 
 she affected sailor-jackets, and hats, and bows 
 (though they had been " out" and panniers " in" 
 a year) : she actually carried a cane, whenever 
 she could get one into the street without being 
 discovered by some of the family, and she sent a 
 dagger to her mother's heart by coming home 
 from down-town one warm morning with most 
 of her handsome dark hair done up in a paper, 
 " for future use," she said, while the little that 
 remained on her head was cropped as close as 
 Jerry Cruncher's. She had imbibed woman's 
 rights' principles from some western maiden 
 cousin, and distributed tracts on that subject 
 among her elders, with great zeal and some suc- 
 cess. She had not lost her fondness for Helen, 
 and the three girls had many a talk and laugh to- 
 gether over the old Platoville times. What ages 
 ago those times looked now ! 
 
 Altogether, things went on so pleasantly that
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 221 
 
 Helen had been at least two weeks at Uncle Ro- 
 ger's before the old, queer, out of place feeling 
 came upon her at all, and then it didn't stay very 
 long. 
 
 You are not to suppose, however, dear reader, 
 that this young girl always did and always said 
 just the right things during these two weeks. 
 You are not to suppose that in any thing she had 
 " already attained." This is a story-book, and 
 story-books cannot stop to pick up the hero 
 every time he falls, or even to count the times he 
 falls. It is for them to record whether he ever 
 gets to the end or anywhere near there, and per- 
 haps note something of the way along which he 
 goes. After they went down to Siloam, whither 
 the warm weather soon drove them, Helen was 
 not so good a girl as she had been before. She 
 resisted the special dressing for dinner, as in 
 times past, and would not take care of her com- 
 plexion. She did worse things than those. She 
 refused to go one day with her aunt and Lily and 
 
 a troop of X fashionables down the harbor to 
 
 the light-house, just the trip she had so wished 
 to take last summer. The only reasons for this 
 refusal were, that she didn't like the party, 
 that she felt just like sitting on the rocks all
 
 222 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 day, and that she had a tale she wished to tell 
 the padlocked book. She pleased herself that 
 day, but she did it with an uncomfortable sense 
 that she was doing not only a queer but an un- 
 gracious and a niggardly thing. She might have 
 given them the little of herself they would have 
 asked for ; and if they had chattered, there were 
 the sea, and the breeze, and the sky all her own. 
 But this very fall was the occasion of another 
 little progress. To make up for this lost day, 
 Helen invited herself to the great hop of the sea- 
 son, at which Lily was to dance with the wealthy 
 and distinguished John Johnson, Jr., just grad- 
 uated from Harvard, and wear the new pink silk, 
 with the elegant lace overskirt. Helen arrayed 
 herself in a soft, gauzy dress, of very delicate lav- 
 ender. She chose it, after having the two on her 
 bed all day, instead of the new Paris green, with 
 point-lace trimming. The last time she had worn 
 this dress (at the soired at the end of the term), 
 a wise man had asked her what color she called 
 that, and said it was like a little summer-evening 
 cloud. But whether that fact had any thing to 
 do with the choice to-night, she could not have 
 told you if you had asked. 
 
 "All ready?" said Aunt Matilda, turning
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 around from her mirror, when Helen presented 
 herself for inspection. " How pretty you grow, 
 child. You have a great deal more style than 
 you used to have. But you don't do yourself 
 justice. You ought to dress every evening, and 
 go to all the hops. There are so many agree- 
 able people, and you'd find plenty who don't 
 dance." 
 
 " Who makes your bows and ties your sashes 
 at Oxford ?" said Lily, coming up to perform the 
 latter office. " You used to hate to make bows 
 so. Does your room-mate do it?" 
 
 " My room-mate ! Oh, girls (Aunt Matilda 
 had gone out, and Dora stood by, very uncom- 
 fortable, in white tarletan) I only wish you could 
 see," and she tried, in a few words, to set Miss 
 Haas before their eyes. 
 
 " That's the kind of girl mother used to say 
 you would make," said Lily. " You used to be 
 poking over your old German dictionary all the 
 time, and you always knew so much more than 
 anybody else." 
 
 Lily had at times the grace of plain speaking, 
 as well as the grace of prettiness. Helen put 
 both hands quickly before her face. 
 
 " You're not going to cry and spoil your eyes,"
 
 224 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 said Lily, in some anxiety. " Why, you know I 
 didn't mean any thing, old girl." 
 
 " No, but I wonder " and the sash being tied, 
 she suddenly left the room. 
 
 " She hasn't got over all her queer ways yet," 
 thought Lily. 
 
 But Helen soliloquised in her own room. " I 
 do wonder if that is one of the things I'm being 
 delivered from. Of course I'm not half so clever 
 as Miss Haas, and never should know half so 
 much. I don't mean that. And my mind doesn't 
 run to beetles and galvanic batteries, either (I 
 never took to the natural sciences), but did I ? 
 was I in that danger ? How wonderful it is ! 
 How He does take care !" 
 
 Helen really quite enjoyed the evening, (or 
 rather night, for they did not shut their eyes till 
 three o'clock,) but chiefly because Dora was near 
 her, sitting out on the piazza outside in the dark, 
 and making the most diverting remarks on the 
 people she could see, but who could not see her. 
 
 " I must try to do something for that child," 
 Helen thought, "but how to begin what to 
 say !" 
 
 An opportunity soon offered. Dora was the 
 kind of person to furnish her own texts. The
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 22$ 
 
 two were sitting on the rocks one evening, and 
 had not spoken for some minutes. 
 
 " I hate folks," said Dora, suddenly. " Don't 
 you?" 
 
 " I know what you mean," said Helen, after 
 looking at the girl's face, and seeing that this 
 was not a thing to be laughed at. 
 
 " Yes, I do sometimes." 
 
 " No, you don't know what I mean, then," said 
 the child, fiercely, " for I hate them all the time." 
 
 There was no use in telling her that she did n't 
 mean this. She would have meant it, if one 
 had. 
 
 " Look at them now, training up and down 
 that veranda like a funeral procession in gay 
 colors. There's that old pussy-catty Mrs. Brown, 
 who patronizes mother so and ' my dears' us all. 
 She came out yesterday after dinner and began 
 to talk to me, and thought I was going to prom- 
 enade with her, I suppose. Why, you don't 
 know how I felt. I thought I should knock her 
 down if she said another word, and I rushed 
 right off as fast as I could go, without saying a 
 word, and did n't stop till I got to the woods. I 
 suppose she thought I had gone wild. She 
 looked afraid of me at breakfast. What does she 
 10*
 
 226 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 think of, do you suppose, that old bundle of silk 
 and lace, when she sits there blinking- at the 
 water and the sky, what do you suppose she 
 thinks of? where's her soul ? Why, I'd a great 
 deal rather have my Jip." 
 
 Helen mildly suggested that Mrs. Brown 
 probably had a soul, somewhere behind her cap- 
 ribbons, if she did n't wear it on her face. 
 
 " And there's her scapegrace of a son," con- 
 tinued Dora, too excited to make any conces- 
 sions, " who depends on his imagination for his 
 facts, and on his memory for his jokes (Dora had 
 just heard that and was immensely tickled by 
 it), and has a head about as big as a pea-nut shell. 
 What do you suppose he's here for, and all that 
 over there right before his eyes," and she pointed 
 to the sunset. 
 
 " He who runs may read," thought Helen. " I 
 saw that fellow do a nice thing once, though," 
 she said, aloud. 
 
 "What was it?" said Dora, snapping off a 
 daisy's head with her little stick. 
 
 " You know he's a sophomore at Oxford. I 
 was riding there one day when I saw what I 
 never saw before, a woman so intoxicated that 
 she could hardly walk. She was going down a
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 227 
 
 hill to her house, and there was a steep bank 
 down to the river on one side of her. She came 
 very near falling off there two or three times. A 
 party of students came along just then and were 
 looking at her, and after a few minutes, this 
 Brown stepped out from the rest, and made this 
 dirty, miserable creature take his arm, and walk- 
 ed home with her. All the way. I know it, 
 for I walked my horse to see." 
 
 " 'A fellow-feeling' and so forth," said Dora. 
 
 " That's what I thought at first, and then I 
 thought even if it were so, and all the more be- 
 cause it was so, it was a real noble knightly thing. 
 And I've never laughed at his little head and 
 his big seal rings since." 
 
 " Well," said the child, a little staggered, " it's 
 just as true nevertheless, in general, and especi- 
 ally with women. They're a set of unmeaning, 
 unthinking creatures. They have allowed their 
 intellects to be dwarfed, and their liberties 
 trampled on till" she looked at Helen and they 
 both laughed. " Anyhow I do mean it," con- 
 tinued the discomfited Dora, returning to the 
 original vein, which worked better. " Why, 
 when I'm shut up with mother and Lily for half 
 a day, you have no idea how I feel. I really feel
 
 228 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 as if I should suffocate if I could n't get out here 
 to these jolly old rocks. They understand a fel- 
 low. They know enough not to torment you 
 with senseless questions and stupid exclama- 
 tions." 
 
 ft. 
 
 " Yes, I have an idea. I do know just how it 
 feels," said Helen, and then the prettiest little 
 sharpie came by and they had to stop to speak 
 of that, and then they went off on a long, ram- 
 bling talk about boats, and rocks, and folks. 
 Helen wound it up as follows : " Well, my dear, 
 that's quite a little preach, isn't it? But you 
 know I'm ever so mucJi older than you are, and 
 I've been to school at Oxford. I have some 
 people I want you to see, and then we'll see what 
 you say. I can't do much for her myself," she 
 thought ; " but I can put her in the way. That's 
 something. She shall go to Oxford if I can 
 bring it to pass." 
 
 Helen saw very little of her guardian through 
 all the summer. While she was at Siloam he 
 came down once, and they had a whole long day 
 on the rocks. He seemed a little tired and worn. 
 It was a busy time he said. Helen had loved 
 the little man so much more since Miss Prescott 
 had told her that about him. She wished i.e
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 229 
 
 could know how much she loved him for it. She 
 looked at him long as he sat with a quiet, com- 
 prehending gaze, looking out over the water be- 
 fore him, and thought of his long, silent, sup- 
 pressed life. She wished^ she had been a better 
 child to him. He turned around once and 
 caught her look. It seemed to make him a little 
 nervous. She smiled and said she wished he 
 could give himself a vacation. What a dreadful 
 thing that business was. 
 
 "Ah, I'm getting to be old an old man ; your 
 
 guardian seems to you like an old man, does n't 
 
 he?" and he got up nervously and walked a few 
 
 .steps, and came back nervously and sat down 
 
 again, and repeated the question. 
 
 " Why, no, sir," said Helen, with perhaps the 
 most sunshiny smile she had ever given him, 
 " why, no, you never seem old to me, Mr. Saxton. 
 You are just as you were when I was a little girl." 
 
 The little gentleman got up again and walked 
 away, and came back again and sat down. . 
 
 " When are you coming home?" he asked sud- 
 denly. " I mean what are your plans ?" Her 
 plans ? They had always been his plans before. 
 
 " I don't know, sir, I'm sure. I was going to 
 ask you to-day," she said, playfully.
 
 230 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Tell me what you wish, my child," he said 
 simply, and waited for her answer. 
 
 Helen murmured something about Oxford and 
 next term. She fancied he looked a little disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 " More school ? Very well." 
 
 " Just to finish out the year, you know, sir," 
 she said, in a deprecating tone. " Only till 
 Christmas. And then I shall be twenty-one." 
 She did not say this at all exultingly. Beyond 
 twenty-one it was a very vague prospect. She 
 dreaded it a little. 
 
 " Yes, then you will be twenty-one. Then you 
 shall do just as you please," he said, rising again-. 
 " It is better so. School again till Christmas, 
 and then " 
 
 " I wish it might always go on as it is," said 
 Helen, with a real little pang of heart-ache. 
 
 " Supposing We don't think of it much till the 
 time comes," said the kindly man, coming back 
 to her side. 
 
 " Well, sir, I will try not." And then she told 
 him about Dora, and he quite agreed with her, 
 and helped plan the attack on Aunt Matilda, and 
 said he would speak to Mr. Wood if she wished, 
 and was so kind, and dear, and fatherly, that she
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 23! 
 
 thought of him, and blessed him in her heart all 
 the evening- after he had gone away. 
 
 She did not see him again before she went to 
 Oxford. When he and Dora stopped a day in 
 
 X , on their way to school, Mr. Saxton was 
 
 away on business. 
 
 At Oxford, there were a few changes. Some 
 new girls, and some old ones missing, of course. 
 There was a student as chaplain in place of Pro- 
 fessor Wright, who had only held that- office as 
 a special favor last year. The professor, how- 
 ever, still had the Bible -class, and retained all 
 his duties and privileges as friend and adviser of 
 the whole establishment. He kept the German 
 readers, too, but was to have them separately 
 ' this year. Miss Haas was anxious to read Kant. 
 The professor had found something else which 
 he thought Miss Roberts would enjoy better, 
 and he had plenty of time for her. The good 
 man was as good as ever, and as brown and 
 sturdy after his summer as one could wish to see 
 him. 
 
 Just one week of the term had passed, and 
 Saturday morning Helen sat under the elm-tree 
 with Miss Maria and some of the new girls. 
 Dora, near by, was teaching ring-toss to another
 
 232 ,1/755 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 group. The September sunshine came down 
 through the leaves and flecked the girls' light 
 dresses with bright spots. Oxford had never 
 seemed more beautiful. The hills stood out blue 
 in the clear air, the river sparkled, the fields were 
 golden with grain. Professor Wright, with the 
 mail, came up the street, and in at the gate. He 
 distributed his favors to the nearer group, and 
 then came and handed Miss Maria a letter which, 
 he confessed, he had taken out of the office yes- 
 terday. 
 
 "I never knew a man yet who could be de- 
 pended on for women's letters," said Miss 
 Maria good-naturedly. " The best of men fail 
 there." 
 
 " In fact, I've sometimes thought the best of 
 men are a little worse than anybody else, Miss 
 Maria," said Helen, a little archly. She had 
 been one of the sufferers from the professor's in- 
 firmity, and was growing bold in measures for 
 redress. 
 
 " Now, if I were so vain as to suppose that 
 that remark could refer to me," said the profes- 
 sor, with a grave mouth and a smiling eye, " I 
 should endeavor to clear up my character imme- 
 diately by doing my duty promptly for once ;"
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 233 
 
 and he drew out of another pocket a letter for 
 Helen. 
 
 It was from Mr. Saxton. 
 
 Helen opened it as soon as the little laugh sub- 
 sided. Etiquette was not strict at Oxford, and, 
 besides, Mrs. Haas had arrived by this time, and 
 was devoting herself to Professor Wright. 
 
 The letter ran as follows : " MY DEAR CHILD, 
 I do not wish to alarm you by what I am going 
 to say. I have been ill a day or two, and there 
 are some things I should like to say to you be- 
 fore the illness increases, as it, of course, may do. 
 If you can come conveniently, I shall be very 
 glad to see you. Yours, EDWARD SAXTON." 
 
 Helen's face changed color quickly as she read 
 the few words ; but no one was noticing her, and 
 she made no sound. She folded the letter and 
 held it for a moment, and then followed Miss 
 Maria into the house. Every body with a trouble 
 went straight to Miss Maria. 
 
 " There is a train at eleven, dear. Now, what 
 is there to do ?" said that dear woman, having 
 read the letter. Her sympathy was always of 
 that kind which is easiest to take as well as most 
 useful. 
 
 There were not many things to be done. The
 
 234 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 morning seemed long, and Helen looked at her 
 watch many times before eleven o'clock came. 
 
 At home, Mitty met her at the door, and, speak- 
 ing in a grave whisper, led the way into the li- 
 brary. 
 
 There she entered upon a detailed account of 
 the beginnings and progress of Mr. Saxton's ill- 
 ness. 
 
 ! " Can I go up now ?" said Helen, interrupting 
 her. 
 
 " The doctor is there," said Mitty. 
 
 " Then I'll wait and see him ;" and she sub- 
 mitted to a continuation of the tale. 
 
 The doctor came down soon. The kind, old 
 man sat down by Helen, and put his arm about 
 her. 
 
 She had known him since her babyhood, and 
 his face always appeared to her now through a 
 mist of childish dreams and fancies. 
 
 " He is very comfortable," the doctor said. 
 " There will be very little suffering, and I think 
 his mind will remain clear. You need not be 
 afraid of talking too much. Do just as he says. 
 Nothing seems to excite him. It is one of those 
 cases, of which I have seen a few, in which the ' 
 patient seems to take things into his own hands,
 
 MISS ROBERTS* FORTUNE. 235 
 
 and understands the disease better than any one 
 else does. He had arranged all his papers and 
 written directions about some special matters be- 
 fore he sent for me. He knows more about him- 
 self than I do." 
 
 In half an hour Helen went into the room. 
 The door was partly open, and he was alone. 
 The room was still and peaceful. All the calm 
 of the man's life seemed concentrated there. 
 The air stirred the lace curtains gently, the pleas- 
 ant sounds of the distant city came in. It seem- 
 ed impossible to think of anything but peace. 
 
 " Thank you for coming so soon, my dear. I 
 am very glad to see you." Helen stooped and 
 kissed him. " This is very pleasant. I hoped 
 you would be able to come," he said, gently. 
 "After you are rested, come and see me ;" and he 
 released her hand. 
 
 " I am rested, now, sir." 
 
 "And have had your tea?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Then sit where I can see your face, please." 
 
 She took a large, white-covered easy-chair that 
 stood by the bed. 
 
 " There are some things I wish to say to you. 
 First, some business matters. Perhaps they
 
 236 ^//55 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 will seem dry to you, but you have a clear mind. 
 I think you will follow me. And it is important 
 that you should know them." And he told her, 
 with great particularity and carefulness, just what 
 and in what state her property had been origi- 
 nally, how it had been expended and invested, 
 and how it stood now. Then there was a little 
 pause. "And now, my child, you have been very 
 precious to me" 
 
 Helen seized the hand which lay extended to- 
 ward her, and bent her head low over it. 
 
 " I thank God that He gave you to me. It 
 has been the great joy of my life. I loved your 
 mother, Helen. Why should I say I loved ? / 
 loved her forever. I want to tell you that you 
 are growing up into her beautiful womanhood. 
 May God make it a blessing, as he made her's." 
 
 Helen was looking at him now. He had 
 gently lifted her head, and was looking into her 
 eyes. 
 
 " I have here a little ring which was intended 
 for your mother's hand (he drew something from 
 under the pillow). It was not for me to place it 
 there, but I would like her child to wear it." 
 
 He stopped, seeming to see a question in 
 Helen's eyes, and said in a deeper tone, " It was
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR T UNE. 237 
 
 not her fault, .dear, that this was not so. It was 
 never her fault. It was only mine only my 
 rashness and folly. But God has forgiven me." 
 
 He waited a little, and then, taking Helen's 
 hand, fitted the ring to her finger. 
 
 " I do not mean it to take the place of any 
 other that may come, my child. I have thought 
 sometimes of that if you were quite willing 
 quite ready but that is all over;" and he 
 smiled. '" But let this have a place and value of 
 its own." 
 
 Helen bent her head again and kissed the un- 
 conscious stone as it lay on her finger. It seemed 
 impossible for her to speak. And yet she so 
 wanted him to know. She lifted her head at 
 last. 
 
 " I wish I could only say I wish I had been 
 a better girl," she whispered, and then the tears 
 came like a flood. 
 
 " Why, my child my child. Yes, I know you 
 have loved your guardian and God bless you 
 evermore for what you have been to me. And 
 now, my dear, I think you had better go," he said .; 
 and after, a ' little quiet' " Good-night. Come in 
 and speak to me in the morning." 
 
 She went in in the morning. He seemed more
 
 238 7I//55 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 feeble, but the calm and quiet filled the room as 
 before. Helen lingered by him. Was there noth- 
 ing she could do for him ? Was her hand pleas- 
 ant to his head ? Would he like her to read ? 
 
 " I thank you, dear, but I think not." 
 
 The Bible lay on the table. He had been read- 
 ing himself. It was open to these words Helen 
 saw them as she turned away : " He that dwell- 
 eth in the secret place of the Most High shall 
 abide under the shadow of the Almighty." And 
 he needed no caressing. He had lived without 
 the tender touch of loving hands. He would die 
 without it. 
 
 So all that Sunday morning Helen sat alone. 
 There was a little autumn chill in the air, and 
 Mitty had made a bright wood fire in the grate. 
 Helen held a book of sermons in her hand, but 
 she did not read. The flash of that new ring 
 kept coming into her eyes, and her thoughts 
 were busy with a story of faithfulness and beau- 
 tiful living, better than a sermon. About noon, 
 the doctor came down stairs. He put his arm 
 around Helen again. There was no one to call 
 her " my child" any more. 
 
 Helen stayed at home two weeks. Aunt Ma- 
 tilda and Uncle Roger drove around that Sun-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 239 
 
 day afternoon, and urged her coming to their 
 house, but she refused. Aunty evidently felt a 
 little hurt, and thought it " looked strange," but 
 could not change her mind. There were many 
 calls from Mr. Saxton's old friends that week, 
 and she felt a wish to see them all and show them 
 some kindliness, for her guardian's sake. Some 
 of them had things to tell her which made her 
 proud and glad. All of them honored and loved 
 him. Perhaps there is nothing (on the human 
 side) any of us need so much wish for, in death, 
 as to be thus loved, and honored, and lamented, 
 and yet to leave no hearts utterly broken, and no 
 lives quite desolate, because of our going away. 
 Besides the friends, there were lawyers coming 
 and going, and papers to be heard and read. When 
 Mr. Saxton's will was opened, it was found to 
 bequeath liberal sums to a few public charities, 
 many smaller sums to individuals, a thousand to 
 a young man here, another to a poor woman 
 there, and the rest of his property, without re- 
 serve, to Helen. She was a rich girl, and almost 
 twenty-one. The house and furniture he ex- 
 pressed a wish that she should hold and make use 
 of till she had good reasons for leaving it. To 
 Mitty a liberal annuity was given, with the desire
 
 240 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 that she should keep her post as housekeeper 
 under Miss Roberts. After all these things were 
 settled, Helen thought it right to return to Ox- 
 ford. She longed for it with all her heart, and 
 surely she might put off these new responsibili- 
 ties till after her birthday. But business pur- 
 sued her. Uncle Roger, who, since her guar- 
 dian's death, had taken a great interest in her 
 concerns, wrote her to say that some of her funds 
 were unwisely invested. The stocks were falling 
 fast. The companies were going down ; she 
 ought to make a change. 
 
 The lawyers, in whose hands her property lay 
 till her majority, wrote to say that they would 
 like to consult with her in regard to the disposi- 
 tion of some unappropriated money, and some 
 which it might be well to transfer, and that they 
 thought it desirable that she should be in the city 
 that winter, if possible. 
 
 Uncle Roger wrote again to say that he knew 
 of a most magnificent opportunity for investment, 
 into which he intended to put every thing he 
 had ; that she had better look out for those law- 
 yers (they were tricky fellows, the best of them), 
 and finally that he thought it very strange that 
 she didn't show sufficient interest in her affairs to
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 34! 
 
 come home and attend to them ; and that, under 
 these circumstances, if every thing went to ruin, 
 it would not be at all singular. 
 
 With this last letter Helen went to Miss Maria. 
 " I am afraid I ought to go/ she said. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, I believe you ought. We 
 must take things as fast as they come, in this 
 world, and sometimes they do seem to come very 
 fast. This is evidently the thing for you now." 
 
 " And when I have settled up every thing, and 
 am a rich old maid, I'll come back and make 
 myself a life-member," said Helen, trying to 
 smile, but with a wonderful sinking in her heart. 
 
 So she went that very afternoon and said good- 
 bye to all the boys, and Mrs. Mulligan, and Jim- 
 my Ross, who drove a thriving business in brack- 
 ets by this time, and whom she made happy, by 
 leaving an order for an elaborate book-rack. 
 
 Last, she went to a little bit of a neat brown 
 house, in a comfortable street. Here lived the 
 poor woman whose husband and boy had died 
 last summer, and her four little children with her. 
 But, instead of the cooking-stove, and the bed, 
 and the lounge, and the one window, there was 
 a decent little parlor, with a strip of carpeting 
 
 across the middle of the floor, and green paper 
 ii
 
 242 MISS XOBERTS' FORTUNE, 
 
 shades at the windows, and back of it a bed-room 
 and a kitchen. This woman had been found to 
 possess a neat little trick of lace-mending and fine 
 needlework, and had been appointed seamstress 
 extraordinary for the Misses Prescott and Miss 
 Roberts, and gradually for several ladies on the 
 hill. 
 
 " Miss Maria's ingenuity and my money can do 
 something," thought Helen, surveying the little 
 house. " But I can't have her always. The only 
 thing for me to do is to go to work and get an 
 ingenuity of my own." 
 
 The next day Helen packed her books and 
 took down her little pictures, and brackets and 
 trifles, and by Friday morning was ready to go. 
 The morning was rainy and dull, and though she 
 resolved in her heart that she would not be so 
 till she got away, at least, it was a little hard to 
 help it. Professor Wright, who had a standing 
 invitation to drop into breakfast, dine or sup at 
 any time, came down under his blue umbrella 
 this morning. It was good to see him again (she 
 had said good-bye last night) and precious to hear 
 him pray once more. Helen stopped a moment 
 after prayers and stood at the window looking 
 up the familiar street, through the rain.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 243 
 
 " I am sorry it should rain to-day," said Miss 
 Maria, flitting off to see the butcher's boy. 
 
 " And when you came, we put on all our dia- 
 monds. What do these things signify ?" said the 
 professor, stepping towards the window. 
 
 Helen smiled in the midst of her dismalness. 
 
 " I only know that I don't want to go. And it 
 is perfectly useless for me to begin to thank peo- 
 ple,'" she blundered out. She hadn't attempted 
 any thanks last night. It really seemed as if she 
 ought to. 
 
 " What is useless and unnecessary needn't be 
 done," said the professor in a deep, kind tone. 
 " But you will come and see us sometimes ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir. Do you ever come to X , Pro- 
 fessor Wright ?" 
 
 " I never have been there, but I think I shall 
 go sometime." 
 
 The college-bell began to ring. 
 
 " No, not good-bye yet. I will see you at the 
 depot." 
 
 But he took her hand, and held it for a moment 
 before he went. And going up-stairs Helen re- 
 membered that Mrs. Haas was going to the city 
 by the same train that would take her. 
 
 The wealthy Miss Roberts found plenty of
 
 244 MISS ROBERTS ' FORTUNE. 
 
 people to welcome her home. The new minister 
 called immediately a young man fresh from the 
 seminary, with bright black eyes and a broad 
 forehead, from which his long hair was brushed 
 back in a superior sort of way, which the young 
 ladies thought charming. 
 
 Ladies came in in the mornings. They sup- 
 posed she was not " going out " much, or seeing 
 a great deal of company, but they felt as if they 
 must come in, they thought of her so much, etc. 
 
 But Uncle Roger and the lawyers were more 
 attentive than anybody else. The senior member 
 of the firm with which Mr. Saxton had left his 
 business, was away in Europe. He was a gentle- 
 man of a reverend white head, a small voice, a 
 red face, and a gold-headed cane, for whom Helen 
 had a respect, chiefly founded on the facts that 
 she had seen him talking with her guardian once 
 in his office-door, and that he sat near them in 
 church. She would much rather have talked 
 with him about her business than with these 
 younger gentlemen, who seamed to know so much. 
 They talked about stocks and bonds in a way 
 that bewildered her. The "Air-Line" was up, 
 the " Under-Ground" was down; the "Bee-Line" 
 (Uncle Roger put in) was carrying everything
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 245 
 
 before it. She remembered perfectly well all 
 that her guardian had told her about her own 
 property, but the greater part of her wealth had 
 come from him, and he had said nothing of that. 
 
 " Well, Uncle Roger," she said at last one day, 
 after having patiently heard the Bee-Line consti- 
 tution expounded for the third or fourth time, " I 
 am sure I thank you very much for your interest, 
 but I believe I have decided not to do anything 
 about it. I prefer to leave things just as my guard- 
 ian left them, for the present, at least, even if I do 
 lose by it. I am sure he was the most success- 
 ful and the most careful of men, and things can't 
 have changed so in this short time." 
 
 " That shows just how little you know about 
 it, child. Money is constantly changing hands. 
 A sharp business man is always on the look-out. 
 I don't doubt your guardian would have made a 
 change by this time. If you're not up to the 
 tricks, you'll never keep your money anyway. 
 May as well lose it all at once." 
 
 This was puzzling, but somehow she believed 
 she was right. 
 
 " I do mean to be up to the tricks," she said. 
 "After my birthday I'm going to be my own law- 
 yer, and manage things myself. Indeed, I have
 
 246 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 looked in the papers a good deal already, and it 
 seems to me that the Under-Ground stock is just 
 as good as any other higher than a great many," 
 and she named several popular companies. 
 
 "Tricks of the trade tricks of the trade. 
 Bubble's always biggest just before it bursts," 
 said the man of business, and he drew up his 
 chair and entered into another long exposition. 
 
 " Nevertheless I don't mean to be obstinate, 
 Uncle Roger but I really can't change my mind 
 about it to-night, I must think of it a little long- 
 er," she said distinctly, before he went away. 
 
 The next morning the young lawyer called 
 around. He was in favor of the Air-Line, and 
 rather down on the Bee-Line. Helen repeated 
 her determination to leave things as they were. 
 
 " Of course we shall be glad to consult your 
 wishes, Miss Roberts, but you remember that 
 the property is put into our hands to manage 
 until your majority. We hold it our duty to act 
 according to our best judgment in every re- 
 spect." 
 
 This was a blow most unexpected. In all the 
 polite consultation she had really almost forgot- 
 ten that she was not a major. 
 
 " Then I'll leave it with them," she thought.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 247 
 
 " My guardian chose them. He must have 
 trusted them, and I will." 
 
 But that very evening, after she had gone up- 
 stairs and was reading in her' room, Uncle Roger 
 came again and the lawyer with him. They had 
 been consulting together. New facts had been 
 elicited in regard to the Bee -Line. The first 
 dividends had come in. The lawyer was inclined 
 to think, etc., etc. 
 
 "Very well," said Helen. "It seems it can 
 make very little difference what I think about it. 
 And, besides, of course you do know a great deal 
 better than I do what is best," she added, a pretty, 
 womanly graciousness coming into her voice and 
 manner. And the gentlemen bowed and smiled 
 themselves away. 
 
 After the lawyers were less attentive, there 
 were some hours quite alone and desolate. The 
 good old doctor came in during one of these 
 times, and, after he had said good-morning and 
 reached the door, came back into the library. 
 
 " I wish you would put on your hat, and come 
 with me fof a few minutes. I would like to show 
 you one of my patients." 
 
 Helen made herself ready, asking no questions, 
 and they soon stopped before a block of brick
 
 248 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 buildings in one of the business streets. They 
 went up many stairs, and the doctor knocked at 
 the door of a room in one of the upper stories. 
 Helen did not notice whether it was in the third 
 or fourth. It was not at all a mean room, though 
 very plain and even poor. There were a few 
 books on a table, and an easel and artist's mate- 
 rials in a corner. There was a very low fire in 
 the grate, and it was a chilly autumn morning. 
 On a bed in one corner sat a middle-aged woman 
 a lady by face and voice bending over a large 
 card-board, on which she was illuminating a Scrip- 
 ture text. A small, thin shawl was pinned about 
 her shoulders. She looked cold, tired, ill not 
 able to do even the light work she was doing. 
 The doctor evidently thought so, too, for he went 
 directly to her, took the card-board out of her 
 hand, and gently laid her back on the pillow. 
 She smiled a pleasant, almost merry smile. 
 " Now, will you introduce me to your friend ?" 
 The doctor performed the ceremony, and Helen 
 was at home immediately. The three fell at once 
 into an easy general conversation. Mrs. Moore 
 talked of everything heartily, intelligently, and 
 with a certain charm of cheerfulness that Helen 
 had never seen equalled, even in Miss Maria.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Helen had never seen any one she liked so well 
 on so short an acquaintance. But she was a lit- 
 tle puzzled. What did the doctor bring her here 
 for ? This was surely not a charity patient. And 
 yet she looked about the bare room and at the 
 little cheerless fire. 
 
 " How does my picture come on ?" said the 
 doctor at length, with a glance at the easel. 
 
 " Ah, doctor ! you are too transparent. I am 
 sure your office cannot hold another picture. 
 Harry is working away at it, though. Here he 
 comes !" 
 
 In at the door came a handsome, tall boy 
 of fourteen or fifteen. He bowed and shook 
 hands with the doctor, but did not speak, and 
 his mother only smiled at him without speaking. 
 
 " This is Harry my silent boy," she said pre- 
 sently, turning to Helen, and Helen thought with 
 a proud look on her face. And then she said a 
 few words to him in the deaf and dumb language, 
 and he came up with his bright eyes and ready 
 smile, and shook hands with Helen. Then he 
 went to the easel in the corner. The doctor fol- 
 lowed him, and had a few words with him on 
 paper about the picture, and then it was time to 
 
 go, and theyleft. The doctor looked in at an- 
 11*
 
 2 cjO MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 other door before going down stairs. The room 
 into which this opened served as a kitchen to the 
 other apartment, by a window in the sun sat an 
 old woman, shivering and drawing a faded shawl 
 about her. The doctor, without a W9rd, put a 
 bank-note into her hand. 
 
 "The Lord bless you, doctor," said the old 
 woman, her face brightening wonderfully, "for 
 that handful of coals in the grate is the last that 
 we have, and I couldn't bear to tell her. And 
 she awondering why I don't have time to come 
 and fix the fire ! And there isn't but five cents 
 in the purse for dinner, unless Master Harry sold 
 a picture while he was out just now.'" 
 
 Helen quickly opened her purse and pressed 
 another bill into the old woman's hand. 
 
 " Do tell me about her, doctor," she said, as 
 soon as they were in the carriage. 
 
 " All I know," said the doctor, " is that she is 
 a minister's widow, and that I have always found 
 'her just what you saw her this morning." 
 
 " I thank you for taking me there," said Helen.
 
 " So others shall 
 
 Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand 
 From thy heart, and thy hand, and thy brave cheer, 
 And God's grace fructify through thee to all. 
 The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, 
 And share its dewdrop with another near."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 "TVTOT many days after the " events narrated 
 -fc-^i in the last chapter," Miss Roberts' glossy 
 carnage, with the shining black horses and coach- 
 man, drew up before that same block of build- 
 ings on Water St. And a few minutes thereafter 
 Miss Roberts herself, with a basket of flowers in 
 her hand, stood at the door in the third or fourth 
 story, knocking a little timidly. Nothing had 
 been said about her coming again, and Mrs. 
 Moore was clearly not a person one could make 
 a charity of visiting. 
 
 Mrs. Moore would probably have been unable 
 to say, at that moment, whether she cared to see 
 the young lady again. But Helen's honest eyes 
 and simple manner settled the question at once. 
 
 " May I come again ? I wanted to." 
 
 " You are very good to come again. And 
 Oh, those flowers! please find a seat." But 
 Harry had already brought up a chair. 
 
 There was a better fire in the grate this time. 
 
 (*S3)
 
 254 Jinss ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Otherwise, the room was the same. The card- 
 board and illuminating materials were again on 
 the bed, but they had been moved aside to make 
 a place for Harry's books. There was a history, 
 an algebra, and, to Helen's surprise, a Latin 
 grammar, and Sallust. The morning lessons 
 were evidently going on, and Helen said some- 
 thing politely about interrupting. But Harry, 
 who seemed to take in everything that was said 
 through his bright eyes, bowed himself away to 
 the table with his algebra, and was lost to every- 
 thing but that in a moment. 
 
 " I have always attended to Harry's lessons 
 myself," said Mrs. Moore, seeing Helen's interest 
 in the books. " Of course, he is not open to ordi- 
 nary schooling, and I could not send him to an 
 institution. He has been able thus far. to keep 
 up with boys of his own age, and, what is per- 
 haps a little strange, he is particularly fond of 
 language. His father thought that he had bet- 
 ter be fitted for college, at least. But his fond- 
 ness for painting is of so great practical use to 
 us now, and, indeed, probably always will be to 
 him, so much more useful than anything else 
 could be, that we are giving a good deal of time 
 to that now. Have you been well ?" she added,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUXE. 
 
 255 
 
 politely, conscious of having talked a long time 
 of her own affairs, and leaning back a little wearily 
 on her pillow. 
 
 She looked still . paler and more feeble than 
 she had looked before, and Helen knew that 
 that bed-covering was too thin. Peter had been 
 told it was to be a short call, but still Helen sat 
 by the bed till, at least, half an hour had passed. 
 
 They talked, as before, of everything, books, 
 places, characters, pictures. Very few personal 
 questions were asked on either side, but Helen, 
 in some way, discovered that Mrs. Moore had 
 not walked for two years, and that there was no 
 hope of her ever being well. Harry, after a 
 while, left his book, and, with .his little pocket- 
 slate and pencil, joined in the conversation, and 
 afterwards showed Helen his pictures. She did 
 not consider herself a judge of such matters, but 
 they seemed to her remarkably good. She want- 
 ed to order one for herself, but hardly felt free 
 enough at present. 
 
 After she left them, following the doctor's ex- 
 ample, she knocked at the door of the next room. 
 The old servant was there again, this time bend- 
 ing over the stove, stirring something that looked 
 like hominy.
 
 256 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Come in, miss, I'm hearty glad to see you," 
 she said, wiping her hands and setting out a chair. 
 
 " I've been calling on Mrs. Moore. I came to 
 ask you if you are in need of anything to-day," 
 said Helen, a little bashfully. She was not much 
 accustomed to these things. 
 
 " Thank the Lord, miss, we have everything 
 we need to-day. There's two dollars in the 
 purse. You and the doctor was very kind, miss," 
 she continued, fancying that the young lady 
 looked surprised. " You was very kind, and 
 Miss Mary (she always called Mrs. Moore Miss 
 Mary) has sold two more of her little things, but 
 the money had to go. She must have medicines 
 and things to eat. But there's nothing now but 
 the rent. The rent comes due to-morrow. She 
 was talking about it to-day. She said she could n't 
 think of another thing to do, nor nothing more 
 to sell, but she believed the Lord would provide. 
 She would wait. Perhaps some of them as owed 
 her husband would have -it put into their hearts 
 to pay." 
 
 " The Lord will provide," said Helen, solemnly. 
 
 It was a very solemn thing to her, that she was 
 beginning to be used ; that He was letting her do 
 something just a little even.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 257 
 
 " I shall see you again soon," she said to the 
 old woman, and left. 
 
 " Where next, miss ?" said Peter from the box, 
 when she had shut herself into the carriage and 
 leaned back, expecting him to start. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know, Peter anywhere drive 
 around a little out on the harbor road till I 
 think." 
 
 She did think, looking steadily out of the win- 
 dow. 
 
 " Now, Peter," at length came the clear, de- 
 cided voice " now down to Mr. Mowry's office. 
 You know where that is on Water Street, I be- 
 lieve." 
 
 Peter, deeply meditating on that characteristic 
 of the female human mind, which resulted, in 
 this instance, in his driving back over ground he 
 had just traversed to a spot within a stone's 
 throw of the place he had just left, turned the 
 black horses and started for the city. 
 
 Mr. Mowry was the gentleman who owned 
 Mowry's building, at least Helen judged that to 
 be the case from the circumstance of his name 
 being attached to the building, and she found 
 herself correct. Before she left the gentleman's 
 office she had paid the rent of those two rooms
 
 258 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 in the third story for three months in advance, 
 and tucked the receipt carefully into the inner 
 compartment of her portmonnaie. Then she 
 went home and thought some more. 
 
 She did not like to force this little bit of a kind 
 thing on Mrs. Moore's attention at once. 
 
 She would rather she should not know of it at 
 all. And yet she could not quite bring her mind 
 to plotting even thus benevolently with the old 
 servant about her mistress's affairs. It suited her 
 better to be honest. Besides, Mrs. Moore had a 
 right to know, and if she did not know would 
 be likely to be troubled and . anxious, or, at the 
 best, suspect. It occurred to her to tell the doc- 
 tor, and let Mrs. Moore think herself indebted to 
 him. But she thought she would rather tell Mrs. 
 Moore than the doctor. She resolved on a com- 
 promise. She would do nothing about it just 
 now. The bill would not be sent in, and there 
 would be no immediate distress. She would 
 stay away from Mowry's building for a few 
 days. 
 
 Meantime, there was plenty to keep her busy. 
 She was not yet fairly settled as mistress of her 
 beautiful house. It was desirable that she should 
 look over everything with Mitty, and learn what
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 259 
 
 her possessions really were. She felt a wish to 
 open every individual book in the library, and 
 some of them she found so full of pencil -marks 
 by her guardian's hand that she was tempted to 
 linger long over their pages. Mr. Saxton's papers 
 (those which the lawyers had left) it was not easy 
 for her to look at yet. She found two or three 
 packets of old letters tied together, and directed 
 to herself, and some directed to other persons. 
 These latter she sent away at once. Then she 
 locked the secret drawer and put the key on her 
 watch-chain. Into the other parts of the secre- 
 tary she removed her own dainty, little, lady-like 
 writing materials. She had a feeling that her 
 guardian would like to have her use.it. 
 
 The family pictures, old-fashioned portraits of 
 ladies in low-necked dresses, with stiff roses and 
 mammoth fans in their hands, and of gray-wigged 
 gentlemen in ruffled shirts, were brought over 
 from Uncle Roger's and hung in the spacious 
 hall. Her mother's portrait was placed in her 
 own room, where she could see it from her bed 
 as in her childish days. She had never loved it 
 so well as now. 
 
 Two or three days having passed thus busily, 
 Helen dispatched a note one morning to Mrs.
 
 2 6o MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Moore, and at five o'clock on the evening of that 
 morning-, Harry kissed his mother good-bye and 
 started in the early autumn twilight for the 
 avenue. 
 
 Helen sat by the library table in the soft light 
 of the porcelain shade, and with the glow of the 
 anthracite fire behind her, when the boy brought 
 his bright eyes and handsome face into the pic- 
 ture. A pretty, hospitable grace came upon the 
 little lady as she rose to welcome her guest, and 
 drew him toward the fire, and took his little slate 
 and pencil from him, that he should not write till 
 he had warmed his hands. He sat down by her 
 side and the two kept up a lively conversation in 
 that quietest of ways. It might have seemed a 
 pitiful way, had it not been for the great intelli- 
 gence of the boy's face, and the ease and cheerful- 
 ness of his whole manner. But it was far too slow. 
 
 " I must learn your alphabet," wrote Helen on 
 the slate. " You must teach me after tea." 
 
 Mitty, from behind the tea-pots, looked with 
 blank amaze on the young visitor. She shrieked 
 and battered on the tray to see if he would take 
 a cup of tea, and gesticulated in such a remarka- 
 ble manner about the cream and sugar, that the 
 polite little fellow had all he could do to keep
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2 6l 
 
 from laughing. After tea, when Miss Roberts 
 had ordered " all them chanticleers" lighted in the 
 large parlors, and -the strange boy was taken in 
 to see the pictures, she followed in her black silk 
 dress and stateliest air to watch for further devel- 
 opments. 
 
 Mr. Saxton was a man of taste and culture, 
 and the pictures he had purchased from time to 
 time were good and rare ones. Harry was de- 
 lighted. His bright eyes sometimes danced, and 
 sometimes grew dark and serious. He came 
 back to Helen, who sat in a low chair, watching 
 him as he made the tour of the room, and point- 
 ed out those he liked best with a glowing face. 
 
 " You love your art very much ?" asked Helen, 
 on the slate, tlis face gave the answer. 
 
 " It is my life," he said. " The pictures talk 
 to me. They say so much to me." 
 
 " Do you love them better than your books ?" 
 
 " They come nearer to me, } js. Yet I like the 
 others very much. I like the Latin. The mean- 
 ing fits in so well." 
 
 " You intend to be an artist ?" 
 
 His face was a little grave as he wrote the 
 answer, " I hope so. I mean to be all I can 
 be."
 
 2 62 yf/AS'S ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 "Have you any plans?" 
 
 He shook his head. " I must wait and see." 
 That seemed to be the family motto. 
 
 "Any friends?" 
 
 He looked puzzled. " My mother and the 
 doctor " 
 
 Helen pointed to herself inquiringly. He 
 smiled and bowed a pleasant assent. 
 
 Harry reported his mother not quite so well. 
 It was time for another call Helen thought, and 
 she felt ready for it after that pleasant evening. 
 It was one of the pleasantest evenings she could 
 remember, excepting, of course, some at Oxford. 
 
 Before she set out the next morning, she had a 
 little colloquy with herself in her bed -room. 
 " I'll take that crimson coverlet." " Why do you 
 take that? There are plenty of nice bed-quilts 
 in the closets, or blankets. Blankets are very 
 useful things." " Because, it's a sort of a luxury, 
 a dainty. It will be easier for her to take such a 
 thing than it would be to take a great blanket, 
 lugged in as a charity. Besides, it is lighter and 
 pleasanter on one's bed." " Perhaps it won't be 
 warm enough." " Yes, it will. You know down 
 is warm enough." " Now, Helen Roberts, you 
 stop that''' " But this a color and style you par-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 263 
 
 ticularly fancy. You could buy her a down cov- 
 erlet if you wanted to. You are rich enough, 
 and there are plenty of them at Haberdasher's." 
 "No, I'll have this one. I'll have it because 
 you like it, Helen Roberts. It will do you good 
 to miss it. And I won't get you another for a 
 month, and not then, unless you behave yourself. 
 I heard a good man say once that we have no 
 right to condemn the penances and mortifications 
 of the Roman Catholics, unless we have some- 
 thing better to substitute for them, that it takes 
 a long time to reach the point where we can live 
 sweet and saintly lives spontaneously without 
 some help of this kind and that if we would 
 lift up our lives and make them Christ-like, it is 
 almost indispensable to deny ourselves, on prin- 
 ciple, systematically, and for the sake of denying 
 ourselves. I remember so well when he said 
 that. We were in the summer-house, and Miss 
 Haas had gone in, and I was feeling naughty 
 about something, and said something about pun- 
 ishing myself, and he asked if that did any good, 
 and there, my dear, I guess you had better 
 stop that, too. Come along with your crimson 
 coverlet. Here's Peter waiting." 
 
 The crimson coverlet, and Miss Roberts be-
 
 2 64 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 hind it, were very soon in that third story room 
 of Howry's building. " I brought you this," said 
 Helen, blushing brightly. " It is light and 
 pleasant sometimes when one does n't feel strong. 
 And this, too may I ?" she said, feeling sud- 
 denly that it might as well all be over with at 
 once, and drawing out the receipt. " And if 
 you knew how much more of a favor it is to me 
 than it can possibly be to you, you would n't 
 please I know you would n't thank me," she 
 added, hurriedly, looking very much as if she 
 had a great mind to run right away. A strange, 
 bright, loving look came to Mrs. Hoore's face. 
 Perhaps no one had ever seen Helen when she 
 was worthier to be loved. 
 
 " No, I won't thank you, dear, since you ask 
 it," said the lady, " but if you will come here, I 
 should like to kiss you, if I may." And Helen 
 sat on the edge of the bed for half an hour. Not 
 that they were sentimental at all. That would 
 have spoiled it all for Helen. But Hrs. Hoore 
 kissed her once heartily and fondly, and then they 
 talked of everything and were friends. 
 
 In a few weeks Harry Hoore was taking daily 
 
 lessons of Professor , Helen's old French 
 
 drawing-master (the best in X ), who was de-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 26$ 
 
 lighted with the boy's taste and skill, and proph- 
 esied great things of him. Miss Roberts also, 
 now quite practiced in the sign language, had a 
 pupil daily in history and algebra. Mrs. Moore 
 begged to keep the Latin as long as she was 
 able, but she was failing constantly now. 
 
 These things, with the making herself at home 
 in the library, and the German readings which 
 she kept up, albeit a little dolefully, and the let- 
 ters to Oxford, and the weekly dinner at Uncle 
 Roger's, and the consolations of the young min- 
 ister, and the droppings in of the friendly ladies, 
 preserved our young lady from ennui, and made 
 the days hurry on towards Christmas. 
 
 Aunt Matilda and Lily were very friendly, but 
 as they " went out" so much and Helen so little, 
 they did not meet so often as might have been 
 the case. 
 
 " I must go and see them oftener," said Helen 
 to herself (having nobody else to talk to,, you 
 perceive that this "young lady talks a great deal 
 to herself) ; " I must go oftener. Lily wonders 
 where I can be, when she calls in the mornings 
 and finds me out. She thinks it is queer that I 
 only go there when I'm invited. It is queer. It 
 isn't right." So she went around that very 
 
 12
 
 266 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 morning, for a little call, on her way down 
 town. 
 
 Aunt Matilda was in the up-stairs sitting-room, 
 busily engaged on a white muslin over-dress. 
 " We're trying to get it done for Mrs. Howe's to- 
 night. There have been so many parties this 
 week that Lily has worn almost every thing she 
 has, except the pink and point lace. She's sav- 
 ing that for Mrs. Smith's, next week. This over 
 the blue silk will be a pretty change. We did 
 think we could make something else do (the bed 
 was piled high with silks and laces), but Emma 
 Raymond came in and said that she was going 
 to wear lilac, and Jenny Osborne is going to wear 
 lilac so lilac wouldn't do, and we've been so 
 troubled about it, but finally decided on this." 
 
 The seamstress was busy, in another room, on 
 the waist, and Lily, tired out and listless, was 
 working away on a ruffle. Both the ladies con- 
 fessed themselves "perfectly used up" with the 
 week's dissipations. Helen happily bethought 
 herself in time, and offered to take another ruffle 
 and sew for awhile. 
 
 " Oh, that's charming of you, dear, and stay to 
 lunch ; why can't )^ou ? and let me send the car- 
 riage away."
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 2 6/ 
 
 So the call lengthened out into quite a visit, 
 and would have been a very pleasant and chatty 
 one, if the ladies had not been so exceedingly tired. 
 
 "Why must you go to-night, Lily?" Helen 
 ventured to ask. 
 
 " That's just what father says," said Lily. " He 
 says he doesn't see why we will come home and 
 scold about one party, and work all day to go to 
 another. But nobody knows any thing about it 
 who isn't in society. You would understand it, 
 if you went out more. And, then, if you could 
 dance and carry on, you would feel differently. 
 Why, of course, I must go." 
 
 " We owe some duties to society," said Aunt 
 Matilda, who always uttered that solemn truth 
 with an implicit faith that was beautiful to 
 behold. " And then why, Mrs. Howe was here 
 last week at our little company, and she would 
 think it very strange and the Gleasons, cousins 
 of the Huntingtons, from Chicago, are here. 
 They thought they were going to carry every 
 thing before them, the girls say. They are ex- 
 tremely stylish and very sweet girls but Lily's 
 Paris dresses have rather taken them down. Oh, 
 certainly, I think Lily ought to go to Mrs. 
 Howe's."
 
 2 68 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 This process of reasoning appeared unanswer- 
 able, and Helen kept silence. 
 
 " I wish you could go to the sociables, dear," 
 added the kind-hearted woman, noticing a serious 
 look on Helen's face. " Do you know, I think, 
 by spring you might begin to go out, in a black 
 silk and white over-dress, or something of the 
 kind. I think it would be quite proper. Why, 
 Mary Blake, whose step-brother died in July, was 
 at the party last night only five months ; and, 
 in your case, where there is no relationship " 
 
 Helen's face grew hot. She thought it was 
 about time to go, and went to the window to look 
 for Peter, and cool herself down a little. " I be- 
 lieve Aunt Matilda sincerely pit'/- me because 
 I dgn't go to these affairs," she thought, pressing 
 her forehead against the cool pane. " People 
 tell about the butterfly giddiness of the ' votaries 
 of pleasure.' It isn't that that appalls me. It is 
 the dead earnest they are in the hard work they 
 do the solemnity of the thing." And, having 
 relieved herself by these reflections, she went 
 back to the ruffles and sewed half an hour 
 longer. 
 
 Then Peter came, and they we t down among 
 the gay and crowded shops. It was the day be-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 269 
 
 fore Christmas, and the streets were full of smil- 
 ing, busy, happy people. Bless God for Christ- 
 mas ! for the one day in the year when every body 
 loves and every body is loved ; when the little 
 children and the poor are near to every body's 
 heart, 
 
 " And those that scarcely all the year 
 Had bread to eat or rags to wear, 
 Will have both clothes and dainty fare, 
 And all the day be merry." 
 
 Helen drove back along the avenue out towards 
 the golden winter sunset, with her lap full of 
 various paper parcels, big and little, for the 
 Christmas of her household, but indulging never- 
 theless in a strain of selfish melancholy. To- 
 morrow would be her birthday. Twenty-one, 
 and all alone ! 
 
 That very Christmas eve, looking at the same 
 golden sunset, another girl, a little older than 
 Helen, came up the avenue. She was walking 
 briskly, but Miss Roberts' carriage passed her 
 just before it reached her house and turned in 
 under the arched gateway. From the depot 
 across the city to Shady street was a long walk, 
 and one need be brisk on such a frosty evening. 
 Susy Converse hurried along, her black eyes
 
 270 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 shining and her cheeks glowing, though there 
 was nobody to see in the gathering darkness. 
 At length she stopped before a small house, and 
 putting down her bag on the door-step and tak- 
 ing a key from her pocket, she opened the door 
 with as little noise as possible. " I guess mother 
 doesn't know I have my key with me. I'll aston- 
 ish her," she thought. She felt her way through 
 a dark and narrow hall, and suddenly opened the 
 door, as far as it would open, into a brightly- 
 lighted little sitting-room. In the middle of the 
 floor, in a statuesque attitude, stood a funny little 
 woman, dressed in a purple and black brocade 
 silk, with remarkable arrangements of pink rib- 
 bons and black lace at the top of her head. Her 
 dark hair was brushed smoothly down on her 
 cheek, after the fashion of the bonnet-blocks one 
 may sometimes see to this day in an old-fashioned 
 milliner's shop, and then carried back to fall be- 
 hind her ear in two small curls. This little lady 
 was evidently in the midst of a profound curtsey 
 when the door opened, and the object of her 
 homage was the tall, light-haired amused-looking 
 young man whose back, opposed to the opened 
 door, had formed the obstacle to Susy's imme- 
 diate progress. The statuesque little lady was
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 2? I 
 
 evidently very much horrified by this sudden 
 irruption, but she allowed her daughter to kiss 
 her, and recovered herself sufficiently to per- 
 form the ceremony of introduction between the 
 bright-faced girl and the amused-looking young 
 man. 
 
 " This is my daughter, Mr. Williams ; and Su- 
 san, my dear, this is Mr. Williams, who is so kind 
 as to occupy the upper rooms of the house and 
 act as my protector during your absence. You 
 cannot think what a relief it is, my dear. I 
 should never be able to sleep a wink, if it were 
 not for having Mr. Williams in the house." 
 
 Mr. Williams, with becoming modesty, and 
 with an exercise of economy worthy of his posi- 
 tion as head clerk at Haberdasher's, covered in- 
 troduction, compliment and exit with one bow 
 and so departed. 
 
 " I am exceedingly mortified, my dear. I had 
 hoped to introduce you under more auspicious 
 circumstances. Mr. Williams is a very superior 
 young man, and your hair is so blown about. 
 But I have invited him to partake of our Christ- 
 mas dinner with us." 
 
 "Oh, mother well, are you glad to see 
 me?"
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 11 Of course, my dear, I am glad to see you. 
 Did you bring that valise from the depot, my dear 
 child ?" 
 
 " Yes, mother." 
 
 "Just like her father," murmured the little 
 lady, with a sigh. " No idea whatever of gentility. 
 Why, Mr. Converse would frequently go out in his 
 shirt sleeves and work in the garden all day. He 
 usually spent his Saturdays so, though I always 
 told him it was unworthy of his position as school- 
 master." 
 
 Susy, not thinking it necessary to remark that 
 by bringing the bag she had saved fifty cents 
 which she had put into a bunch of celery (Mrs. 
 Converse's "particular wanity") for to-morrow's 
 dinner, went cheerily about the room, getting off 
 her things and stirring up the fire. 
 
 " Had tea, mother ? " 
 
 " No, my dear ; I have only made a few little 
 preparations. You know it is difficult for me to 
 bring my mind to these things. I was so differ- 
 ently brought up in the very lap of luxury, as 
 you may say. I feel it so keenly ;" and the poor 
 little woman shook out a large handkerchief, 
 with a very deep lace edging, and applied it to 
 her eyes. It looked as if it might possibly be
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 one she had taken from Luxury's pocket when 
 she sat in her lap a. great many years ago. 
 
 " My little waiting-maid," the lady continued, 
 " the little Ann of whom I wrote you, left me 
 last night. She complained that it was cold sit- 
 ting in the kitchen in the evening. Of course, 
 in our reduced circumstances (and Mrs. Converse 
 lowered her voice to a whisper lest the young 
 gentleman up-stairs should, by any possibility, 
 have " reduced circumstances" suggested to his 
 mind) it was not possible for me to keep two 
 fires through the evening. The child's mother 
 actually proposed that she should sit in this 
 room with me ! I don't know what we shall do 
 now for a girl." 
 
 " I do," said Susy, under her breath. " Where 
 do you keep your butter, mother ?" 
 
 " I am not sure where I put it. Look in the 
 wardrobe, my dear. You know, as I have often 
 told you, I am quite unaccustomed to these 
 things." 
 
 " How about the class in wax-flowers and the 
 ornamental branches ?" asked Susy, possibly 
 with a view to diverting the good lady's remin- 
 iscences. 
 
 "Ah, well, my dear there is so little taste for 
 12*
 
 274 J]/ISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 art in these days. I have handed about my 
 papers in our small circle of acquaintance, and 
 two young ladies, friends of Miss Hurlburt's, I 
 believe, came in one morning. One took a les- 
 son in writing, and the other began a rosebud, 
 but they were called out of town, I believe." 
 
 " Just as well, little mother just as well. You 
 know I did n't want you to do anything of the 
 kind. You have enough to do to take care of 
 yourself and keep well. I'm strong enough for 
 the rest." 
 
 " I have tried to make a few preparations for 
 to-morrow, my dear," said the little lady, quite 
 touched by Susy's tenderness. "And our good 
 friend, Miss Hurlburt, has assisted me. Miss 
 Hurlburt is an excellent creature. She lacks 
 refinement, but she has some excellent traits." 
 
 " The most magnificent woman I ever saw," 
 said Susy, tersely. 
 
 Before the tea-things were washed and put 
 away, the object of these diverse expressions of 
 approbation brought a pleasant face to the sit- 
 ting-room door. 
 
 " I thought so," she said brightly, following 
 the pleasant face with a tall, vigorous form and a 
 hearty voice, and kissing Susy.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 2/5 
 
 " You found you could come to-night." 
 
 " By a little pushing ; yes, and I wanted to 
 come. Mother likes to go to church Christmas 
 morning, and I thought I'd like to go with her," 
 and she glanced toward the adjoining room 
 where Mrs. Converse, with about the grace of a 
 wax-figure, sat motionless in the rocking-chair. 
 She did not consider it genteel to rock. Miss 
 Hurlburt, meanwhile took up a towel and wiped 
 dishes vigorously. 
 
 " Well, Susy ?" she said, at length, inquiringly. 
 
 "Well, Miss Hurlburt, I've done it. I told 
 Mr. Clark I could n't teach there another term. 
 I knew I ought to." 
 
 " I've been talking to the Board ever since you 
 were here last," said Miss Hurlburt, a little 
 anxiously. " I've been to Mr. Smith and to Mr. 
 Thomson all round the Board, in fact," and she 
 laughed ; " and I've cracked you up you ought 
 to have heard me. They say they have no 
 doubt you're a good teacher and all that, but 
 their list of applicants is full already, and being 
 from another State, you know " 
 
 " Oh, I've given up the Board long ago," said 
 Susy. " Thank you for trying, though. But 
 I'm going to do something else. I'm going to
 
 276 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 sew. It will shock mother, I know ; but I don't 
 see how I can help it. She needs me, and I can't 
 be with her any other way. What do you think ?" 
 
 " You're a good girl, Susy Converse, that's 
 what I think, and I'm proud of you," said this 
 blessed old maid, squeezing the girl's hand under 
 the table-cloth till it ached. 
 
 "As for the work itself, I like it well enough," 
 said Susy, greatly brightened up by the squeeze, 
 though it did hurt. " I like it quite as well, and 
 think it's quite as intellectual as drilling a regi- 
 ment of babies in ' so the farmer sows his seed,' 
 and ' so the baker bakes his bake ;' and that's all 
 I've got to get, all I could get to for a year or 
 two. The other part I dread it a little, and yet 
 
 we are nobodies already in X ; my doing 
 
 this can't make us more so. The only thing is, 
 I don't know where to begin. I don't know any- 
 body that wants a sewing girl." 
 
 " Don't be worried about that. Just you wait 
 a few days. I'll see what I can do. I guess you 
 had better put a line in the paper, and then you 
 keep still. The Lord will provide. You see if 
 He don't. " 
 
 " I wish He had- more people like you to help 
 Him," said Susy, heartily."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 277 
 
 A few days after this, when the new year had 
 fairly set in, Miss Hurlburt sat by her sunny win- 
 dow rocking, knitting a red and white baby's 
 stocking, and singing " Devizes." It was a little, 
 low-ceiled room, the third story back of a small 
 house on Shady street. The walls were papered 
 in a gloomy shade of ultramarine, sprinkled with 
 mammoth rosebuds in purplish pink, and over 
 the head of the little single bed, hung Miss 
 Hurlburt 's only and well-beloved picture a col- 
 ored lithograph of three white kittens playing 
 with a branch of lilac. This was framed gorge- 
 ously in gilt, and made a bright spot in that dark 
 corner. Miss Hurlburt looked up at it fondly as 
 she rocked, and stopped her knitting and her 
 singing twenty times a day, when she spent a 
 day at home, to laugh at the " pretty creatures" 
 tumbling over each other in their innocent but 
 stupid gambols. 
 
 But to-day her eye sought oftener the broad, 
 honest face of the old mahogany clock that squint- 
 ed at her in a friendly way from behind the stove- 
 pipe. " This was another favorite. Nobody 
 knows how much company a good clock is," she 
 used to say, as she came stumbling up her crazy 
 staircase of a dark, cold night, and heard its
 
 278 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 lusty voice ticking faithfully away. The clock 
 was pointing now towards one, and Miss Hurl- 
 burt thought it time to roll up her knitting and 
 prepare to be going. " It begins at two o'clock," 
 she said, " and I'll just step in to Mrs. Stevens 
 and see how that baby is on the way." 
 
 Miss Hurlburt's mirror of about a foot square, 
 hung over her wash-stand at the right hand of 
 the window that was not sunny. From the 
 drawer of this same wash-stand, Miss Hurlburt 
 carefully abstracted a large collar, heavily em- 
 broidered in grape-vines, and edged with three 
 rows of big, round holes. This she exchanged, 
 before the little mirror, for the linen band that 
 had finished the neck of her plain brown dress. 
 Miss Hurlburt's dress was dark brown, and 
 made in the most open defiance of the dress of 
 the period. This was because she was a sensible 
 woman, above the pomps and vanities of the 
 world. But where is the woman that has not a 
 weakness? Miss Hurlburt. had a weakness for 
 embroidered collars. Her heart was as soft be- 
 fore the rows of flapping white things in Jones' 
 window, marked in blue letters "25 c.," "40 c.," 
 "awful sacrifice," "going at $1.00," as yours was, 
 my dear, this morning, before that 'lovely Roman 
 sash and that little violet plush sacque that you
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2/9 
 
 saw on Silver street, and had the obliging clerk 
 
 i 
 
 send up " for mamma to look at." 
 
 Miss Hurlburt's pleasant face grew pleasanter 
 as she smoothed down the big collar, and labor- 
 iously pinned it with the little red ivory brooch, 
 set with steel diamonds, which Mrs. Stevens had 
 given her on Christmas day. Then she mounted 
 a trunk in her closet and took down carefully, 
 from the top shelf, a band-box of large dimen- 
 sions enclosed in a flowery chintz bag, fearfully 
 and wonderfully made, with complicated arrange- 
 ments of strings at top and bottom. In this 
 sacred edifice, was enshrined the brown bonnet 
 with purple flowers inside, which had been Miss 
 Hurlburt's best for three seasons. Next she put 
 on the large woolen shawl with pink streaks run- 
 " ning through the brown plaids on the border, 
 and then she made her way down the three dim 
 staircases, out into the cold air. She had been 
 some minutes in the street before she drew out 
 of her pocket a pair of cotton gloves, and rapid- 
 ly projected her fingers into them as she walked 
 along. " I'm glad I put my knitting work in my 
 pocket," she said, to herself. " Very likely there 
 won't be enough cut out at first, and I can knit 
 after supper and between times." 
 
 Miss Hurlburt stopped- at Mrs. Stevens' as
 
 280 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 she had proposed. Mr. Stevens was journeyman 
 tailor at the shop for which she works. Mr. 
 Stevens' house was a narrow, dingy, insignificant 
 dwelling, of that class less known by well-to-do 
 people than the homes of the very poor. A foot- 
 path across the snow of the narrow side yard led 
 to the back door. The front door looked as if 
 it had never been opened. Miss Hurlburt took 
 the foot-path and was soon in the " keeping-room" 
 with the sick and the young mother. The baby 
 was very white and pinched looking ; the mother 
 was very pale and anxious. 
 
 " Let me take him," said Miss Hurlburt, as the 
 poor wee thing set up a feeble wail. " He's in pain. 
 Poor little thing ! Come here to your old aunty. 
 Let me rub his little stomik" and she rubbed, 
 and trotted, and rocked, and crowed over the 
 little morsel of human misery, as if she had 
 never done anything but tend babies in her life. 
 "There. He's quiet now. I guess he'll go to 
 sleep. I'll come in again on my way home from 
 society." 
 
 " Society" was held to-day at Mrs. Smith's on 
 the avenue, next door to Miss Roberts', and Miss 
 Hurlburt soon arrived at the elegant mansion. 
 Only a few ladies had gathered as yet in the
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 281 
 
 spacious parlors. Miss Hurlburt very soon took 
 her place in a small back room, and fell to work 
 on a bed-quilt. When she came back, a little 
 before tea, the quilt being off and the knitting- 
 work fairly under weigh, the rooms were full and 
 she stood for a moment looking about for a seat 
 and dispensing bows and smiles on all sides. 
 Over in the corner by a window, sat Helen Rob- 
 erts, making button-holes. Mrs. Smith had so 
 urged her to come. " The work was very press- 
 ing. They wanted to get off a box this week. 
 Only a sewing - society, and at a neighbor's." 
 The minister, also, who had called last night, 
 strongly advised and urged her coming, and, on 
 the present occasion, followed up his advice, by 
 sharing her divan for at least half an hour, and 
 manifesting great interest in the button - holes. 
 She was looking a little lonely just at this mo- 
 ment, and very pretty in her heavy black silk 
 and the soft, white ruffles about her neck and 
 wrists. The fact was, that Miss Roberts was 
 apt to be not at all avoided but somewhat left 
 to herself in a company like this, composed with 
 a single exception, of women. The old reserve 
 had not quite worn off, and people saw it, and 
 called it by different names according to the
 
 282 MISS ROJBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 glasses they saw it through. Some thought her 
 haughty. Some thought her only quiet. Some 
 felt a tender kind of awe of her, because of her 
 loneliness and her affliction. Some were afraid 
 of her because she was rich. 
 
 Miss Hurlburt had none of these feelings. She 
 would not have understood them, if they had 
 come to her. It was the nature of her mind 
 (second nature, induced by long habit) to turn, 
 without a single consideration of any other kind, 
 just where it seemed at the moment that she 
 might be of a little use. " Silks and satins need 
 a little missionarying as well as rags," she often 
 said, and acted on the principle. She walked 
 straight over to Helen, almost as soon as she saw 
 her. "You look a little bit lonely not very, 
 though," as Helen looked up and smiled. 
 
 " I shall be very glad of company," said Helen, 
 and she moved to make a place on the little 
 divan. She knew Miss Hurlburt, of course. 
 Everybody did. The two women the one fair 
 and young, dressed in rich silk, and diamonds 
 sparkling on her hand ; the other, wrinkled and 
 old, in a brown merino dress, and one little 
 washed gold ring on her finger : these two wo- 
 men somehow came nearer together in a few
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 283 
 
 minutes than any other two women in the whole 
 large company probably were. It was the love 
 and interest on the one side, and the candor and 
 teachableness on the other. They had their tea 
 together, in the most sociable manner, on a little 
 marble chess-stand, and, by a coincidence a little 
 surprising to both, they started up to go at the 
 same moment, very shortly after tea. When 
 they reached the porch, it was found to be rain- 
 ing. Peter, with the carriage, was at hand. It 
 was the regular evening for Uncle Roger, and as 
 Lily had a 7 western friend visiting her, Helen had 
 promised particularly to come, without fail, to- 
 night. 
 
 " Miss Hurlburt, you had better ride. I am 
 going your way." 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Roberts ; but I am not go- 
 ing directly home. I have a call to make in D 
 street." 
 
 " Then let me take you there. It is raining too 
 hard for you to walk," and Miss Hurlburt, whose 
 cordial and ready acceptance of small favors from 
 the rich was one of her strong points, allowed 
 herself to be shut in among the soft satin cush- 
 ions. 
 
 " Miss Hurlburt, do you happen to know of a
 
 284 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 good seamstress ?" said Helen, conversation lag- 
 ging as they rolled down the avenue. 
 
 "There, thank the Lord! Of course, I do. 
 Didn't I say he would provide ?" Then, appar- 
 ently reining herself up suddenly and dropping 
 into a business tone, " Yes, I know of one." 
 
 "A good one, of course ?" 
 
 " Yes, I can recommend her. She has worked 
 for me." 
 
 " Where is she to be found ?" 
 
 "At No. 59 Shady street." 
 
 And though Helen's curiosity was, all agog, 
 that was all she coutd by any means get out of 
 her old friend, without resorting to direct ques- 
 tions. But that the subject had not dropped out 
 of Miss Hurlburt's mind, a very brief glance at 
 that lively oracle would have shown. 
 
 " Now, I declare, if that is n't just the best 
 thing for both of those girls, I never did see ! 
 How He does bring things out ! I declare it's 
 worth living for just to see how He manages 
 these little things." 
 
 And the plain woman's plain old face was all 
 aglow in the dark with her thoughts. 
 
 The carriage soon drew up before the journey- 
 man tailor's little house. " Won't you come in ?
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 285 
 
 * 
 
 There's a little sick baby here. They would be 
 glad to see you." 
 
 " No, I think not, Miss Hurlburt, I do not know 
 them," 
 
 " Just as you please," said Miss Hurlburt, pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 It was not the tone ; it was the words. If Miss 
 Hurlburt had said any thing else, Miss Roberts 
 would not have stirred. But those words -just 
 as you please had a hateful sound to her ears. 
 She had lived by them too long. Without a 
 word more, she followed the tall woman across 
 the foot-path to the back door. 
 
 " Oh," said Miss Hurlburt, " I thought you 
 were not coming!" But she held the door open 
 with a smile, and Helen passed into the house. 
 
 The little keeping-room was full of busy, kind, 
 officious women, talking in loud whispers and 
 passing in and out of a tiny bed-room. The baby 
 was dying. In a few minutes Miss Hurlburt 
 came out of the bed-room with her bonnet-strings 
 untied, and told Helen not to wait for her. She 
 was going to stay all night. But she brought a 
 lamp to the back door and held it over her head 
 to light the path, and called the little journeyman 
 tailor to help Miss Roberts to her carriage.
 
 286 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " I wonder," she said, as Helen put out her 
 hand for good-night, " would you like to bring 
 around a few white flowers in the morning. I 
 shall be here." 
 
 " I will, certainly," said Helen, and went back 
 to her carriage. 
 
 The call, of course, had done nobody any good, 
 except as a glimpse into any human life may do 
 good to a thoughtful mind. 
 
 The next morning Miss Roberts had been 
 practicing vigorously for an hour and a half, be- 
 fore the thought of the white flowers came to her 
 mind. After she thought of them, she finished 
 her long series of studies, took up another sheet 
 and played a page and threw it away, took up 
 another, played half a page, and then stopped 
 suddenly in the midst of a measure. " No, it 
 won't do after dinner the next time I see Den- 
 nis, and Bridget can't tell him just as well what 
 I want, and it is n't just as well to let Mitty take 
 them," she said, with a gleam like indignation in 
 her eye. She left the piano, took a white sacque 
 and a little fleecy white head-covering from the 
 closet in the hall, and went down the garden to 
 the green-house. It was a lovely, mild January 
 morning, after the rain, the snow almost entirely
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2 8/ 
 
 melted away. The young mistress, it must be 
 confessed, stood in some awe of her gardener; 
 but she feigned great boldness, and snapped her 
 scissors in a decided way. " Dennis, I've come 
 for some more of those rosebuds, the handsomest 
 you have, and some of those white carnations, 
 and lots of green smilax and geranium leaves, 
 and something light to fill up with." Then she 
 gathered her robes daintily about her and sat 
 down on the edge of a shelf, winking vigorously, 
 when Dennis, by a dexterous movement, made 
 the leaves conceal some special favorite, and 
 looking the other way as the shears passed by 
 something she had set her heart on. 
 
 This matter being settled, she turned her atten- 
 tion to Peter. But if Dennis was absolute in the 
 green-house, what was Peter in the carriage- 
 house ? That man had a special genius for wash- 
 ing the carriage, or combing the horses, or dis- 
 covering that a shoe was loose, just when his 
 services were most needed in another direction. 
 The carriage stood now in floods of water, and 
 Peter, with determination in every line of his 
 ebony visage, leaned against the barn-door, and 
 ruthlessly spurted on more. " Never 'sposed 
 you'd want it dis yer mornin', miss" (it was by
 
 288 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 far the most delightful day they had had that 
 winter), " and de snow's off so bad we can't use 
 the sleigh, no how. 'Pears like you'll have to 
 wait till afternoon, miss." 
 
 Miss Roberts went in with her flowers, and 
 looked out of the library window. As she stood 
 there, one hand and arm clasping the back of a 
 large crimson chair to help the support of the 
 slender form, the other hand slightly holding the 
 basket of white flowers, the white sacque loosely 
 drawn about her, the fleecy head-dress dropping 
 from her brown hair, a glow on her cheek, a 
 problem on her forehead, she made a very pretty 
 picture. Harry Moore would have been charmed. 
 It was a pity there was nobody to see. Girls are 
 so often most sweet and charming when there is 
 nobody to see. " It isn't far, and the pavements 
 are so nicely cleaned not slippery at all and 
 the doctor says I ought to walk a little every 
 day. It is only this wretched, horrid what is 
 the feeling, I wonder? down in my heart that 
 I am always thinking I have got over, and that 
 comes back when I least expect it. I think Lily 
 stirred it up the other day by those little words 
 about my feeling differently, if I could ' dance 
 and carry on.' " She sat down thereupon. It tired
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 289 
 
 her to stand long. She sat down, and the basket 
 of flowers lay carelessly on her lap, and the glow 
 faded on her cheek, and the problem deepened 
 on her forehead. 
 
 A little before one o'clock, when Miss Hurl- 
 burt had cleared away the simple dinner with 
 that stillness and decorum which one uses in a 
 house where Death is a guest, she heard a knock 
 at the back door, and, answering it, found Helen 
 Roberts. 
 
 " Oh/ is it you ? And you walked ? You must 
 be tired." 
 
 The young lady confessed to being a little 
 tired, but she was looking very bright. To hide 
 a kind of pleased confusion at Miss Hnrlburt's 
 warm welcome, which, somehow to her, standing 
 behind the scenes, seemed to mean more than 
 the mere words said, she bent her 'head and de- 
 voted herself to unpinning the paper over her 
 flowers. Miss Hurlburt admired, as much as 
 one could have wished, yet she evidently had 
 something on her mind. 
 
 " Now, if you are not in a hurry," she said, 
 presently, " while you are resting; if you could 
 just make them up into a pretty wreath. It 
 would please the mother so." 
 13
 
 290 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " I thought she would so much rather arrange 
 them herself. That is just why I brought them 
 so/' said Helen, astonished. 
 
 Miss Hurlburt smiled. 
 
 " So you would, my dear; so you would rather 
 arrange them yourself; but you've no idea how 
 much some people such people as these think 
 of having things done as they should be, in the 
 right style. It is a great thing to have a young 
 lady like you come in and make a wreath. Now, 
 they know, I'm willing enough ; but when it 
 comes to matters of taste, why, I'm nobody. 
 But you know just how it should be, and they 
 would be sure that it was right, if you did it." 
 
 Helen was going to be disgusted. Style at 
 funerals ! This was the effect, natural enough, 
 too, of the ghastly vanity that had so often 
 shocked her among the rich the lower classes 
 gaping after the shows and follies of the other. 
 
 She was going to be disgusted, I say, and reason 
 
 with herself on this wise, "but something in Miss 
 
 
 Hurlburt's tone, as she merely asked if she 
 
 should bring twine and wire and begin at once, 
 
 changed the current of the young girl's thoughts. 
 
 " Find out men's wants and will, and meet 
 
 them there," she said. "What a fool I am'
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 291 
 
 There's little enough of charity in doing a kind 
 ness in one's own way. The very essence of the 
 thing, the love is in the special suiting of the 
 gift the studying of the want as God does 
 when He gives gifts. For He knoweth our 
 frame. He remembereth !" 
 
 Miss Hurlburt took her into the dim, little 
 parlor where the dead baby lay, still and white, 
 and the two women sprinkled flowers over his 
 pillow the softest and peacefulest his little life 
 had ever known, and twined the garland for his 
 tiny coffin, and spoke little and in quiet voices. 
 It was very strange to Helen. How fast things 
 were coming to her ! How old she was grow- 
 ing !
 
 Who would have thought a joy 
 
 So coy, 
 To be offended so 
 
 And go 
 
 So suddenly away ? 
 Hereafter I had need, 
 
 Take heed. 
 
 Joys, among other things, have wings, 
 Converting, in a moment, day to night:
 

 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MRS. CONVERSE was indulging- in an 
 early dinner. The morning had been a 
 trifle dull, and, as she remarked, on recounting 
 the circumstances to her lodger in the evening, 
 she had not been looking for callers. Moreover, 
 she had been intent on the construction of a 
 lemon-colored wax rose, which, when full blown, 
 was to adorn Miss Hurlburt's apartment. For 
 these reasons, Mrs. Converse had allowed herself 
 to remain in a state of unprecedented deshabille ; 
 her front hair in curling -papers, and a loose, 
 crimson morning wrapper enveloping her usually 
 trim and tidy figure. 
 
 A little exhausted by her labor, and weary of 
 her lonely condition (for Susy was at the journey- 
 man tailor's making her first essay at the dress- 
 making life), the worthy little lady had, by no 
 means, disdained the very imgenteel repast of 
 pork and cabbage which Miss Hurlburt had sent 
 
 (2.95)
 
 2 o6 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 in about twelve o'clock, and was partaking of 
 it, at this moment, by her parlor table, with evi- 
 dent relish. 
 
 Under these circumstances, a sudden ring of 
 the door-bell was a little disconcerting, and, when 
 Mrs. Converse, looking out of the window, be- 
 held an aristocratic establishment standing in all 
 the glory of liveried coachman and shining 
 horses before her humble door, she was thrown 
 into a flutter positively alarming. Visions of 
 rich old gentlemen, struck by Susy's beauty, 
 or who knows? Her head-dresses were uni- 
 versally acknowledged to be very becoming, 
 and her complexion (with the help of a little ala- 
 baster) was really remarkably fine by her own, 
 perhaps, and come to cast their fortunes at her 
 feet ; reminiscences of loving school-mates, whose 
 affection had, perhaps, survived the tempests of 
 fortune, and who had now sought her out in her 
 retirement and widowhood ; these and even 
 wilder fancies rushed across her fevered brain, 
 as she hastily removed the outward and visible 
 signs of her interrupted feast from the parlor 
 table. 
 
 It was none other than Helen Roberts at the 
 door, who, having rung the bell twice, with no
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 effect beyond a general sound of shutting of 
 doors and scuffing across passages, was about to 
 turn away ; but, at the third attempt, the amused- 
 looking young lodger, home for his morning, felt 
 called upon to make some effort to find the 
 family, and, not succeeding (for Mrs. Converse 
 had by this time intrenched herself in her bed- 
 room), opened the door with his finest bow. 
 
 Helen entered the little room where the 
 hastily-spread table-cover was dropping to the 
 floor, and the rocking-chair was in violent mo- 
 tion from the many shocks administered during 
 Mrs. Converse's flight. 
 
 " I am quite sure one of them must be in," 
 said the amused -looking young man. "I will 
 look again." 
 
 The visitor, thus oddly admitted, had ample 
 time to study the small apartment, and did it a 
 little curiously. She noted, with interest, the 
 monochromatic castles and moons and gondolas 
 that garnished the walls, and looked with amaze- 
 ment on the mammoth wax dahlias and lilies on 
 the mantel-piece. Only one corner of the room 
 looked natural and simple. This was the recess 
 back of the fire-place, where there was a low 
 cane rocking-chair, and a little stand with a red 
 13*
 
 298 J//SS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 cover, on which were a dainty work-basket lined 
 with blue silk, a newspaper, a fresh magazine, 
 and a volume of miscellaneous essays. 
 
 In process of time Mrs. Converse appeared, a 
 trifle more tightly laced than usual, her brocade 
 skirts a trifle more sweeping, her black hair on 
 her white cheek a trifle smoother, and the two 
 curls stiff from the curling stick. A bright color 
 induced by her recent unparalleled exercise broke 
 through the rouge and alabaster. 
 
 She exceedingly regretted having detained 
 her young friend so long. She was not in a 
 vigorous state of health, and was obliged to pass 
 the greater part of her time reclining on her 
 couch. 
 
 Mrs. Converse, it will be observed, was one of 
 those persons who always regret things, but 
 never feel sorry, who detain their friends but do 
 not keep them waiting, who recline but never lie 
 down. Under-educated people are conspicuous- 
 ly fond of talking Latin. At the time the bell 
 rang, Mrs. Converse continued, the maid had 
 stepped out, but a young gentleman visitor had 
 .been so kind, etc., etc. She trusted the delay 
 had not incommoded Miss Roberts. Helen made 
 the suitable disclaimers and stated her errand
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 2 gg 
 
 in few words. It was evidently a shock to 
 the waxy little lady. The color struck through 
 the rouge more visibly. But she mastered her- 
 self well. " Yes, Susy had recently returned 
 from school, really quite debilitated by severe 
 intellectual exertions. She was very fond of 
 needle-work. She believed she had consented 
 for the accommodation of a few friends really 
 she did not know how her daughter would feel 
 about it not at all a common seamstress but 
 to accommodate as a friend possibly." 
 
 " I hope she can come," said Helen, simply. 
 " If she can, will you be so kind as to ask her to 
 call and see me in a few days," and she was about 
 to leave. 
 
 " Perhaps you have noticed," said Mrs. Con- 
 verse, rising, and assuming the statuesque atti- 
 tude, " perhaps you have noticed, Miss Roberts, 
 the works of art which hang about the room." 
 
 Helen could not deny that she had noticed 
 them. 
 
 " You will pardon my calling your attention 
 to them, since they are my own productions, but 
 I have been studying your face I am very good 
 at studying faces and I fancied that you might 
 be interested in them. / am exceedingly fond
 
 300 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 of art myself, and I have sometimes consented, 
 at the request of some of my young friends, to 
 give a few instructions in some of those orna- 
 mental branches, which are so much neglected 
 by the young ladies of the present day wax 
 flowers, painting on velvet, embroider} 7 , and also 
 in penmanship, which I consider a very import- 
 ant branch. This gives me mental occupation, 
 and my nature craves that and society. I dearly 
 like to have the young about me. For though I 
 am growing old and faded, (here the little lady 
 coughed delicately and waited for the compli- 
 ment which Helen was not quick-witted enough 
 to offer), my feelings are still young and fresh. 
 Here, my dear, is a little statement, in my own 
 hand-writing, which I drew up for a former class 
 of pupils." 
 
 Mrs. Converse omitted to mention that this 
 was the same class whose history we have heard 
 her recount to her daughter on a former occa- 
 sion. 
 
 Helen took the sheet and read as follows, in 
 the most elaborate of copper-plate hands: 
 
 " Mrs. A. C. Converse, 
 
 (Widow of the late lamented A. C. Converse, Esq., for many 
 years the respected Principal of the Windham County Institute)
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 301 
 
 Has Consented 
 
 To impart Instruction 
 
 To a limited number of Young Ladies 
 
 in the following branches : 
 
 Wax Flowers I 
 
 (Mrs. C. thinks it proper to state in this connection, that a Basket 
 
 of Flowers from her hand, took the First Premium at the County 
 
 Fair of Windham County, in the year of our Lord, 1847, and 
 
 received the most flattering notices from the local press.) 
 
 Painting on Velvet ! 
 
 Painting on Satin ! 
 
 (Mrs. C. may mention, under this head, that a large-sized paint- 
 ing on Blue Satin, representing the Evils of Intemperance, was 
 purchased of her by the Cold Water Union of the town of Wind- 
 ham, and now hangs in their new and commodious Hall.} 
 
 Monochromatic Painting ! 
 (Easily learned in Six Lessons.) 
 
 Pastel Painting ! 
 Shell- Work, in all varieties ! 
 
 Embroidery ! 
 
 Ornamental Penmanship ! 
 
 The advancement of her pupils being more of an object than 
 pecuniary reward, Mrs. C. has fixed the price of her instructions 
 at the low sum of $20.00 per course, of twelve lessons." 
 
 Helen despised wax-flow'ers, and wrote a very 
 good hand indeed, but something in the faded 
 gentility of this little woman went to her heart. 
 Her smile was a mixture of amusement and 
 kindness. " Thank you, Mrs. Converse, I will 
 take the paper if you please, and perhaps I will 
 see." 
 
 She continued to think of the subject as she 
 drove away. " I don't know that I have any
 
 302 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 special objections to learning to paint on satin, 
 and I really suppose the twenty dollars would 
 be a good deal to her. But if I don't, perhaps, 
 as Mrs. Converse suggested, ' some of my young 
 friends' may." There were the Parvenu girls, 
 three of them. She was just passing their house. 
 She was not intimately acquainted with these 
 young ladies, but she had sat behind their bon- 
 nets in church for many years, and felt tolerably 
 certain that they would be interested in wax- 
 flowers and the ornamental branches. " Peter, 
 I wish you would stop here," she called out 
 suddenly. 
 
 The young ladies were not in, but Mrs. P 
 
 was. Miss Roberts would see Mrs. P- . She 
 
 waited for that lady in a parlor that smelled like 
 a furniture shop, and at length, covered with 
 smiles and graciousness, the lady came down. 
 Greatly tickled within herself by the brilliancy 
 of her sudden idea, and the fun that might come 
 out of it, Helen unfolded her plan and exhibited 
 Mrs. Converse's " statement." 
 
 " Why, how kind you was !" exclaimed Mrs. 
 
 P , increasing in smiles and graciousness, if 
 
 that were possible. " The girls will be delighted, 
 I know. They was a sayin' only a few days ago,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 303 
 
 they wished they knew how to make wax dahlias 
 like them they had at the Sanitary. Do you re- 
 member ?" 
 
 Helen did not remember. 
 
 " You are goin' to take yourself, I believe you 
 said ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Helen, deciding on the instant. 
 
 " When do you begin ?" asked Mrs. P , 
 
 studying the trimming on Helen's overskirt, and 
 settling in her mind that Laviny's cashmere, now 
 being made over, should be treated in the same 
 manner. 
 
 " Any time as soon as possible, I should think. 
 Perhaps one of the girls will come around and 
 tell me when they are ready, and then we will 
 arrange with Mrs. Converse. And I think we 
 had better pay in advance," added the young 
 lady, grown very business-like. 
 " Yes, certainly, (that's box-plaited and goes 
 'round three times, twice layin' down, and once 
 standin' up, I hope I shall remember), good-bye, 
 I'm very much obliged to you, won't you stay to 
 dinner? (It's looped up with a strap, that's a 
 real pretty way, and new, too), well, good-bye, if 
 you can't stay," and Miss Roberts went her way, 
 having made a most unexpected morning-call.
 
 304 
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 The history of the class in the ornamental 
 branches is brief, and may as well be given here. 
 
 The Misses Parvenu began a dahlia a-piece 
 red, white and blue this happy idea being Mrs. 
 Converse's own. Helen painted a daisy on a 
 piece of lavender ribbon, and two years after- 
 wards added another thereunto, and made a neck- 
 tie for Miss Prescott. But before half the course 
 of lessons was completed, it became clear that 
 Mrs. Converse's talents lay not so much in the 
 line of imparting instruction, as in entertaining 
 her young friends by the exhibition of her own 
 elegant accomplishments, and chiefly of her con- 
 versational powers. It was difficult, moreover, 
 she confessed, for her to confine her mind to the 
 details of a dahlia's petals. It was altogether 
 distasteful to her sensitive organism, to attend to 
 the preparation of the materials Susy always 
 did that for her work. In addition to these 
 things, the mental excitement induced by this 
 constant exercise of her artistic talents was too 
 much for her delicate physical nature. 
 
 " Why, dear, I fear I am not adapted to this 
 drudgery," she privately confided to Helen. 
 " The fact is, I was brought up in the lap of 
 luxury," and Luxury's handkerchief here came
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 305 
 
 out again. " It is almost impossible for me to 
 learn to exert myself. I have greatly enjoyed 
 your society and that of your young friends. I 
 thank you for it." 
 
 So after a painful and lingering existence, (for 
 Miss Laviny, of the blue dahlia, insisted on com- 
 ing once a week till all but one row of her pe- 
 tals was done), this school of the fine arts died a 
 natural death. 
 
 Susy, meanwhile, had begun to work at Miss 
 Roberts'. She had made her first call at the fine 
 house with many fears and shrinkings. She 
 knew enough about rich people to dread them. 
 She couldn't get used to thinking of herself as 
 that " very respectable young person" of whom 
 she had heard grand people speak. She had no 
 false ideas of her position ; she wished and in- 
 tended to be a sewing-girl and nothing more ; 
 nevertheless, flesh and blood shrank a little. 
 
 She wished that all her day's works might be 
 in houses as little as the journeyman tailor's. 
 However, on the occasion of this first call, no- 
 body more terrible than Mitty made her appear- 
 ance, who, in Miss Roberts's absence, was autho- 
 rized to engage Miss Converse for a week's 
 work, to begin next Monday.
 
 3o6 .1/755 ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Susy remembers with distinctness everything 
 that happened that first Monday at Miss Rob- 
 erts's. She came early, in the winter morning, 
 and was admitted at first into the library, where 
 the maid was brushing up the hearth, and a 
 bright fire was blazing. Then she was called 
 up - stairs to a charming little blue room, which 
 she afterwards learned opened from Miss Rob- 
 erts's bed-room. 
 
 The morning sun, as soon as he was up, peep- 
 ed in here with a cheery look, and brightened 
 her up immensely. 
 
 Here, too, Mitty soon looked in, and set her to 
 work on a gray poplin which Miss Roberts was 
 to have made over. 
 
 On the lounge lay half a dozen other dresses, 
 which were to have something done to them. 
 Susy studied them a little, and tried to draw 
 from them some idea of their wearer. " Light 
 .complexion, I guess." They were all soft colors 
 grays,- lilacs, lavenders, and one or two white 
 morning wrappers " good taste" they were so 
 daintily made ; not fussy in the least ; " and neat, 
 I know, she is." 
 
 It was not till the middle of the morning that 
 Miss Roberts came in. She left the door open,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 307 
 
 and one could look through into the larger room 
 upon a round table where she had evidently just 
 been writing, and a portrait of a beautiful lady 
 hanging over it. Miss Roberts herself sat down 
 on the lounge, and hung her arm over one of the 
 lavender dresses. 
 
 " Good morning," she said. " I am glad you 
 could come. You see these dresses are needing 
 you." 
 
 Susy Converse was a quick, little thing ; impul- 
 sive is the usual word for that sort of girl. She 
 had a mind of her own, and it moved rapidly. 
 She gave one broad glance at Helen, at her 
 graceful neck and shoulders ; at her delicate 
 mouth, with its smile which meant just enough, 
 and lingered just long enough at her clear, deep 
 eyes ; at her broad, pure forehead ; she noted 
 the pure, genuine tone of her voice as she spoke 
 these simplest and lightest of pleasant words, and 
 she said in her heart, " T love her." But she did 
 not show it in the least. She had learned her 
 trade too well for that. She only bowed the 
 most proper of sewing-girl's bows and smiled. 
 
 There were a few words more about the work 
 in hand, and then Miss Roberts went out in her 
 carriage. Susy did not see her again till even-
 
 3 o8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ing, when she came in to pay her and try on a 
 dress. 
 
 " I like this," she said, decidedly. Susy noted 
 the voice again, and took comfort in it, it was so 
 true. " I shall want you more than the one 
 week, I know. Can't you come next week, and 
 then a day or two here and there all winter ?" 
 
 Susy liked this ; being taken in on the merits 
 of her work. Thus far the two girls seemed to 
 understand one another. If Miss Hurlburt had 
 looked in she would have gone away nodding 
 her head with satisfaction. 
 
 Before the two weeks were up, there was a 
 succession of rainy days, and Miss Roberts was 
 more at home. The door stood open sometimes 
 now between the blue' room and the larger cham- 
 ber. To be sure Miss Roberts spent the larger 
 part of these rainy mornings in the library, giv- 
 ing a lesson to a little deaf and dumb boy of 
 whom Mitty had told Susy something. And, 
 besides, she practiced a great deal. But she had 
 a way, as all girls have, of fussing about her own 
 room more or less, looking over the ribbons and 
 trinkets in her upper drawer, or mending her 
 dainty gloves, and her favorite place for reading 
 was a large arm-chair by the window thaf looked
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 309 
 
 into the garden. Gradually the two girls talked 
 more and more together, and on subjects not 
 connected with dressmaking. 
 
 From her chair by the window Helen would 
 stop her reading to say a word to the sewing- 
 girl, or read a passage aloud which she thought 
 she might enjoy. 
 
 And so the winter was going. Spring was 
 coming, and changes were coming with it. The 
 visits to Mo wry 's building were more and more 
 frequent, but shorter. Mrs. Moore was failing fast. 
 
 One February evening, when Helen had gone 
 in for the briefest of calls with a little jelly and 
 some fresh Neapolitan violets, she sat down on 
 the edge of the bed in the twilight, and a ques- 
 tion that had been weighing on the hearts of 
 both these women for months was settled in a 
 few short words. Harry was to go to Helen. 
 She had longed to ask for this, but had not dared 
 till now. She would make of him all she Could. 
 She would love him faithfully like a sister, so 
 long as they both should live. She took the 
 trust humbly, with bowed head, and with his 
 dying mother's blessing. 
 
 Before long, the time came. It could be but 
 a sad time 'at best, but Helen had never so put
 
 3 1 o MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 her whole heart into the happiness of any human 
 being as sfre did now into Harry's. She delibe- 
 rately determined it. She worked for it. The 
 fitting up of a little studio in the tower, and of 
 the room in the third story at the foot of the 
 tower stairs had purposely been left till now that 
 there might be all possible means to divert the 
 boy's mind and interest him in his new life. 
 
 There were excursions to the city to choose 
 the wall-paper and carpets, and included in these 
 excursions were visits to whatever was most at- 
 tractive in the city. Helen got an introduction 
 from Professor Poussin to some one at the Ac- 
 ademy of Design, and, to Harry's great delight, 
 he was soon enrolled as a pupil of that institution, 
 and was to go down twice a week to his lessons. 
 
 On coming home from the city one evening, 
 Helen found a new card on the stand in the hall. 
 The name and the handwriting were familiar. 
 John Wright. 
 
 " Where did this come from ? Who knows 
 anything about it ?" asked the little mistress, a 
 pleased, bright flush coming to her cheek. 
 
 The waiting -maid, taking Miss Roberts's bag 
 and parcels, only knew that a tall gentleman had 
 called, and being informed that Miss Roberts was
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 311 
 
 not in, but Mis' Cook was, had asked to see Mis' 
 Cook. 
 
 Mitty, on being applied to, had almost as brief 
 a statement to make. " He had asked if Miss 
 Roberts were well, and said he was very sorry !" 
 
 That very evening after she went up to her 
 own room (she had played backgammon with 
 Harry till she nearly dropped asleep) she wrote 
 a long letter to Miss Maria, and, in a postscript, 
 begged her to say to Professor Wright how very 
 sorry she was not to have seen him, and that she 
 hoped he would be in X again. 
 
 One day, when spring had fairly come, when 
 Harry, with a party up from the academy, had 
 gone out sketching, and Helen, by the open win- 
 dow, was reading " Our Mutual Friend" to her 
 sewing-girl, she was called down stairs to see a 
 gentleman. " A gentleman ? What sort of a 
 gentleman, Bridget? Old or young?" said the 
 little lady, smoothing her hair before the mirror. 
 
 "Oldish, miss." 
 
 " Not very, is he ? Is it the same gentleman 
 who came a few weeks ago, Bridget?" and the 
 mirror showed a rosy cheek, which very much 
 surprised the little lady smoothing her hair. 
 
 " Which one, miss?'
 
 ?12 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 *J 
 
 '' Oh, never mind, if you don't remember. It's 
 of no consequence, Bridget." 
 
 ".Oh, miss, the one as left his card, and you 
 was so sorry." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Yes. 'Twas Sally as went to the door that 
 time, miss." 
 
 " Very well, that will do." 
 
 But it was not the same gentleman; it was 
 only Mr. Cropper, of the gold-headed cane, and 
 the red face and bald head, returned from Eu- 
 rope. Miss Roberts did not seem particularly 
 glad to see the old gentleman. 
 
 " I thought it right to call, Miss Roberts, 
 though you are no longer under the special care 
 of our firm. As Mr. Saxton's former ward, we 
 feel I may say I feel personally an interest in 
 your fortunes." 
 
 Miss Roberts could but thank him. 
 
 " That was part of my errand," said the lawyer, 
 taking out his note-book and seeming to look at 
 something which he had jotted down. " You 
 will pardon me if, prompted by the interest I 
 have referred to, I mention another thing. I 
 have been somewhat surprised at the disposition 
 you have made of some of your money."
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 3 1 3 
 
 "You mean the Bee -Line, sir," said Helen, 
 quickly. 
 
 " Yes ; I have been more surprised at the 
 largeness of the amount invested in that com- 
 pany." 
 
 " I thought three hundred shares a moderate 
 amount to take in such a large concern." 
 
 " But you have taken more than twice that 
 amount." 
 
 " Oh, no, sir ; you must be thinking of some 
 one else. That is all I subscribed for. I have 
 my papers here." 
 
 " Let me see your papers, if you please." 
 
 The old lawyer put on his glasses and read the 
 papers carefully. " This is all you have ? I have 
 been looking at the books this morning, and 
 your name is certainly down for eight hundred 
 shares." 
 
 " Then there must be some mistake. I never 
 heard of it before." 
 
 The lawyer took out his note-book again, jot- 
 ted down a word, and put it in his pocket. The 
 word was a short one trickery. " You will allow 
 me to ask, and you will consider this as strictly 
 between ourselves, if you please, whether you 
 made this disposition of your funds simply by
 
 314 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 your own desire, or acting on the advice of 
 others ?" 
 
 " By my uncle's urgent desire, and by the ad- 
 vice of one of your partners." 
 
 " Which advice (am I right ?) was not at first 
 given on this side of the question." 
 
 "You are right; yes, sir." 
 
 The lawyer took out his note-book once more 
 and jotted down a word. The word this time 
 was bribery. 
 
 " One thing more. I have reason to believe 
 that the Bee-Line railroad is not a safe invest- 
 ment. It is possible that I may be able to re- 
 move your funds in some way to save you from 
 probable loss. Do you authorize me to do so ?" 
 
 Helen considered a moment. What would 
 her uncle say ? But this was her guardian's mo- 
 ney, and this was his friend advising her. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I would like to have you do it, if 
 you can." 
 
 After this interview, the Boffins and the Wil- 
 fers were not quite so entertaining, and Susy 
 wanted some trimmings. " I'll go down town 
 myself," said Helen. " The air is lovely ; and, 
 then, Mitty can get off her box for Sairy Jane. 
 I know she doesn't want to go this morning."
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 3 j 5 
 
 The air was lovely. " March was a dying 
 through soft days and sweet." There was a 
 smell of coming pinks and roses in the wind. 
 Down town the streets had blossomed out in 
 spring bonnets. The shop-windows were gay 
 with light dress-goods, and ribbons, and flowers. 
 Helen took a feminine pleasure in shoppings ; 
 that is, in her own little dainty shoppings. Mitty 
 always bought the uninteresting things sheets 
 and pillow-cases, and substantiate generally. But 
 to-day, for the first time in her life, perhaps, she 
 hesitated between the higher and lower priced 
 articles, and decided on the latter. This fringe 
 was just as pretty as thread lace, and in thirty 
 yards it did make some difference whether one 
 paid a dollar and a half or half a dollar a yard. 
 She wouldn't be extravagant. She wondered if 
 Mr. Cropper was right about that company. 
 
 As she came out past the dress-goods counter, 
 a comical sight met her eyes. Attracted by the 
 mildness of the day, Mrs. Converse had put on 
 her finest attire, and sailed out of the quiet pre- 
 cincts of Shady street. She wore her purple 
 and black brocade silk, which, being originally 
 made with a train, she had gathered up, by a 
 method of her own invention, over a black satin
 
 316 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 quilted petticoat of ancient date. Over her 
 shoulders" was a black velvet mantilla, trimmed 
 with fringe half a yard deep. Her bonnet was a 
 composite of several styles and colors, pink satin 
 being the prevailing element, and a long white 
 lace veil, embroidered by her own fair fingers, 
 floated airily behind her. On her hands she 
 wore black silk mits, and from one arm hung a 
 large bag done in bead-work. She looked as if 
 she had stepped out of a fashion-plate of thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 As Helen passed, this lady was bending with 
 the air of a connoisseur over an elegant piece of 
 lavender poplin, and was deeply engaged in con- 
 versation with the amused-looking head clerk, to 
 whom she had sent her card on entering the 
 store. Mrs. Converse enjoyed these shopping 
 expeditions immensely. This was by no means 
 the first since Susy had gone into the dress- 
 making business. For Susy, in the largeness of 
 her heart, had never thought of any thing but a 
 common purse, and if there was one thing which 
 Mrs. Converse could do with energy and success, 
 it was spending money. But hitherto the lady's 
 purchases had been chiefly for herself, and some- 
 what more modest than those which she contem-
 
 MISS ROBER TS" FOR TUXE. 3 T 7 
 
 plated this morning. To be sure, Susy had 
 stood aghast more than once at the large sup- 
 plies of pink ribbons and showy delaines for 
 morning-dresses, and at a corresponding lowness 
 of the funds, but mother must have her pleasures : 
 what was a little money ? This morning Susy's 
 virtues were to be rewarded. " She is a good 
 child, though she has I must confess it, with re- 
 gret many of her father's peculiarities. But she 
 does not do herself justice It is highly import- 
 ant that she should make the most of what 
 attractions she does possess. I intend that 
 henceforth she shall dress in a manner becom- 
 ing her position I may say, in a manner, be- 
 coming her mother." With this in view, Mrs. 
 Converse had sought the elegant establishment 
 of Haberdasher & Co., and sent her card to 
 Mr. Williams, the head-clerk, and with this in 
 view she now bent over the lavende* poplin and 
 conferred with the same head-clerk. " What do 
 you think, Mr. Williams ? I should place great 
 confidence in your opinion. It is not too delicate 
 for her complexion, you think? Oh, Susy has 
 not her mother's complexion. It has been a trial 
 to me that Susy is so unlike me in that particu- 
 lar."
 
 3 1 8 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 Mr. Williams, who was of an observing turn 
 of mind, and knew very well who it was that got 
 up at five o'clock every morning and brushed 
 out the front hall and the pavement, and trotted 
 out to the wood-shed (or had done so, till a cer- 
 tain young gentleman lodger in the house had 
 discovered that his constitution required the 
 exercise of splitting a little wood every night, 
 and piling it up at the kitchen door), and made a 
 fire, and got breakfast, and went to market before 
 she set out for her day's work. Mr. Williams, 
 meditating within himself on these things, con- 
 sidered that there were some other particulars, 
 besides complexion, in which Miss Converse was 
 unlike her mother. 
 
 " Do you think, Mr. Williams, that it would 
 become her? Would you like to see her in it?" 
 
 Mr. Williams thought he could say with truth 
 that he woi*ld like to see her in it. 
 
 " I am inclined to agree with you, Mr. Will- 
 iams. I think I will have it. Yes, fourteen yards, 
 if you please." 
 
 Mr. Williams handed the goods to an under- 
 clerk to cut off, first pinning to it a bit of paper 
 on which was written " 20 yds." He was a sen- 
 sible young man, and knew very well that four-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 319 
 
 teen yards of poplin would never make a lady's 
 dress in these days. 
 
 " And now, Mr. Williams, green silk, if you 
 please. I would like to look at green silks." 
 
 The head-clerk tossed down a heavy pile of 
 white-covered parcels, and the counter was soon 
 robed in vivid green. Mrs. Converse selected 
 the most delicate shade, and (by the way) the 
 most expensive piece. But, feeling a vague pre- 
 monition that the money in her pocket might 
 not hold out to the extent of a lavender poplin 
 and a green silk, at the same time, she suggested 
 that the latter should be sent up, if Mr. Williams 
 were perfectly willing, for her daughter to look 
 at at home. It might be that she would have 
 some choice in shades. And this matter being 
 satisfactorily arranged, Mrs. Converse paid her 
 bill, had money enough left to buy herself a showy 
 cotton lace collar, and returned in a state of 
 great mental elevation to the retirement of Shady 
 
 street. 
 
 The poor little lady spent hours in considering 
 
 how she could most elegantly make the present- 
 ation to Susy. She contemplated with anima- 
 tion Susy's delight in the reception of the gift, 
 and had a thought of inviting Miss Hurlburt and
 
 320 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Mr. Williams to be present at the ceremony. 
 But she was doomed to cruel disappointment. 
 
 Susy viewed the elegant goods in blank dis- 
 may. " Mother !" she exclaimed, when at last she 
 found her voice, " how could you ? where did 
 you get the money ?" 
 
 " Money, child," cried Mrs. Converse, " you 
 know I am always ready to spend to the last far- 
 thing for my children. You know I can sacri- 
 fice any thing for you, and I must say, Susan, I 
 must say, this is not the return I expected." 
 And the poor little lady assumed a melo-dramatic 
 air that was truly dreadful. " When I was young 
 ah ! when I was young" and the large hand- 
 kerchief with the deep lace border was not large 
 enough now for the tears that rained upon it, 
 " when I lived in luxury and affluence, my mother 
 used sometimes to contrive some little surprise 
 like. this for her daughters. It was one of my 
 greatest pleasures to receive a gift thus chosen 
 for me by my mother." 
 
 " But, mother," cried out Susy, filled with bit- 
 ter compunctions, and yet feeling it an absolute 
 necessity to establish her point, " mother, don't 
 you see the case is different. I do thank you for 
 thinking of me, and choosing these dresses so
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 32 1 
 
 carefully for me. But we are poor ; we can't 
 afford to dress in this way." 
 
 " Susan I am astonished at you ; you speak 
 so coarsely. Ah, there is certainly very little of 
 your mother in you, as Mr. Williams intimated 
 to me this morning. But even he, I think, 
 though he is a very observing young man, a very 
 observing young man, even he would hardly have 
 expected this. Ah, well ah, well I never re- 
 alized before how " sharper than a serpent's tooth 
 it is to have a thankless child." 
 
 Susy kept silence. She was a soft-hearted 
 girl and a good daughter, but she could not take 
 injustice meekly, without a good deal of a strug- 
 gle. She folded up the elegant silk and poplin 
 with a heavy heart, while her mother dropped 
 off into a series of gentle sobs. Then she quietly 
 made the tea and set the table. Her mother's 
 face was still buried in the large handkerchief 
 when she was done. Susy sat down on a low 
 cricket and looked at her. 
 
 " It was her love that made her do it," she 
 thought. " I ought not to be ungrateful. I am 
 not. I love her for it. But I was harsh. I was 
 sudden. I always am. I never shall be done 
 shocking her, I'm afraid. But I can try." 
 14*
 
 322 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 She jumped up and ran to her mother's side. 
 " Mother, tea's ready. And please don't think 
 me ungrateful," and she dropped on her knee 
 before the little lady. 
 
 Mrs. Converse kissed her, injured innocence 
 sitting complacent on her countenance, and par- 
 took of her tea in perfect silence. In the course 
 of the evening, Susy managed to introduce the 
 subject again, and, at length, learned the real 
 state of things in regard to the green silk. This 
 was a relief; but when she looked into the purse 
 after her mother had gone to bed, and took out 
 the shining poplin and thoughtfully hung its rich 
 folds over the little red-covered table, her heart 
 sank down again. 
 
 " I never can wear that. I should be perfectly 
 ashamed of myself, and it would ruin me as a 
 sewing-girl. Besides, it isn't suitable for a walk- 
 ing-dress. It would fade in a week. And I did 
 so need a neat spring walking-dress. I don't see 
 how I can get along without one." 
 
 The next morning, with the green silk under 
 her arm, Susy stepped into Haberdasher's on her 
 way to the avenue, hoping she didn't know 
 why; she was sure it was nothing to her that 
 their lodger, Mr. Williams, had not yet arrived.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 323 
 
 But the head-clerk was in his place, and by a 
 dexterous flank movement put himself ahead of 
 the other young man, who was advancing toward 
 Susy, and met her with a smile. He was not 
 precisely amused-looking this morning, the smile 
 notwithstanding. With many blushes it was 
 an awkward business, to be sure she explained 
 that she did not wish to keep the silk. 
 
 " Oh, yes, certainly. Only I am sorry you 
 should have brought it back yourself. I under- 
 stood from your mother that it was quite doubt- 
 ful about your taking it, but she admired the 
 shade, and wished you to see it. Perhaps some 
 other time there will be something." 
 
 " Now, wasn't that kindly done ?" said the 
 bright-eyed young woman to herself as she hur- 
 ried away. But the poplin weighed on her 
 mind all day and the next day. What should 
 she do for a spring suit? If she could only get 
 rid of the elegant dress. An idea came to her, 
 but she disliked to entertain it even for a mo- 
 ment. Miss Roberts had spoken of getting an- 
 other lavender dress, and she always bought 
 heavy dresses she was especially fond of pop- 
 lin. If sJie would take it off her hands ! 
 
 Helen did not notice the care on Susy's face
 
 3 24 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 the first day. " The Decline and Fall off the 
 Rooshan Empire " was occupying her mind too 
 much ; but the next day after dinner, coming- up 
 from three very merry games of backgammon 
 with Harry, and opening the door into the blue- 
 room, she caught all in one glance. 
 
 " What are you thinking of Susy ? I'm afraid 
 those ruffles are lying heavy on your conscience. 
 I call Mitty to witness that it was all your own 
 doings. But I shan't allow myself to be so be- 
 flounced and befurbelowed again, if this is the 
 effect it has on you." 
 
 Susy smiled, and shook her head. And when 
 Mitty had gone out the girls' eyes met again. 
 Helen did not renew her question, but it was in 
 her face still. 
 
 " I wasn't thinking about the ruffles," said Susy, 
 uneasily. " I believe I was thinking whether you 
 had decided to get that lavender dress you were 
 speaking of. Of course, it is nothing to me 
 I mean, it is none of my business, only I happen 
 to have one on hand there ! don't suppose I'm 
 a Jew, and keep a second-hand shop " and Susy 
 stopped, more confused than she had been in the 
 morning about the green silk, and devoutly wish- 
 ing she had not said a word.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 325 
 
 Helen was bewildered but kind, and respect- 
 fully awaited the continuation of the tale ; and, 
 suddenly growing as cool as possible, Susy lifted 
 up her head and told the whole story. Helen 
 saw through it at once. She was growing quick 
 at seeing through other people's troubles, and 
 she felt pretty well acquainted with Mrs. Con- 
 verse. 
 
 "Thank you, Susy. I'm glad you told me. 
 But would your mother like to have you sell 
 that dress ? I hadn't quite decided about the 
 lavender. I will think it over, and you think it 
 over, too, please, and we will talk about it again." 
 
 The next day Susy was at home, making one 
 of the delaine morning-dresses for her mother. 
 Mrs. Converse sat in state by the window, with 
 a piece of gay crotchet-work in her lap. The 
 morning was going a little dismally, and both 
 mother and daughter felt something like a flash 
 of sunshine when Miss Roberts' carriage came 
 up to the door, and Helen, in a gray, silvery silk 
 and a jaunty black hat with a white gull's breast, 
 came towards the house. The clear, true voice 
 and smile that she brought in with her, were 
 still more like sunshine. 
 
 " How many yards of that muslin did you tell
 
 326 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 me to get, Susy ? I wasn't quite sure, and thought 
 I had better come around and ask you." 
 
 Susy told her, but she seemed in no hurry to 
 go. She sat and chatted about the fine weather, 
 
 the rapid growth of X , a little about the 
 
 spring styles. 
 
 " I am going to appeal to Miss Roberts, daugh- 
 ter, on the subject just now under discussion be- 
 tween us. I am sure Miss Roberts will agree 
 with me," and Mrs. Converse, always gracious 
 to Helen, and delighted to show her recent ele- 
 gant purchase, brought out the lavender poplin. 
 Then followed another version of Susy's story. 
 This was just what Helen wanted. 
 
 " I see perfectly well now. It would break her 
 heart to have Susy sell it. Peter, stop at Haber- 
 dasher's !" 
 
 When Susy came to sew one day early in the 
 next week, there was a pretty light-brown dress 
 to be made. " To be made in a suit ?" asked the 
 dressmaker, in business fashion. 
 
 " Yes ; and make it as pretty as you please. 
 You know some pretty, simple style. I shall 
 leave it a good deal to you, for Rufus, and 
 Harry, and I, are going to ride this morning. 
 You cut the gray one by your own pattern, I
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 327 
 
 believe you said. That fits well. Do this in the 
 same way. I'll be home before it is time to hang 
 the skirt." 
 
 Susy went to work in her usual brisk way. 
 She liked the dress so much. She was not sur- 
 prised at the color, for Helen had never worn 
 regular mourning. Black and gray in the winter 
 light shades of gray and lavender this spring, 
 with a blue ribbon whenever she felt like it. 
 Aunt Matilda had considered it scandalous, but 
 Helen knew her guardian's dislike of mourning 
 apparel, and would not disrespect his opinions 
 in doinghonor to his memory. 
 
 In the afternoon Helen lay on her bed with a 
 volume of poems in her hand, and her eyes out 
 in the tops of the larch trees, when Susy tapped 
 at the door. 
 
 " I'm ready to hang the skirt now. Have I 
 disturbed you ?" 
 
 " No, I guess not." 
 
 She sat up on the bed, drew her little white 
 wrapper around her, and her eyes seemed to 
 shine more than ever, Susy thought. 
 
 " Isn't it pretty ?" said the dressmaker, holding 
 the dress at arm's length. " Do you like it ?" 
 
 " Yes ; it makes-up beautifully. And it's such
 
 328 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 a brown brown. Some browns are yellow, and 
 some are red. It isn't often you find one so light 
 as this, certainly, that is so pure." 
 
 " Well, Susy, I don't feel like getting up to have 
 it measured. You'll have to measure yourself, 
 I guess. The fact is Susy Converse, come here, 
 and sit down on this bed a minute. Now, please 
 don't be a naughty girl, and be proud about this 
 I have hesitated a good deal. I was almost 
 afraid of you. I know you are a proud girl, and 
 so should I be in your place. But I wanted to, 
 and I thought you would let me. Why, you see 
 it's all perfectly simple and natural. Here we 
 are, two girls, about the same age, equally well- 
 educated (for, though }^ou have been the quiet- 
 est mouse in the world since you first came into 
 this house, I haven't failed to see that you have 
 had quite as solid an education as I have, and arc 
 as well read, except, perhaps, in French and Ger- 
 man) ; our tastes are much the same, and I think 
 we like one another. There are only a few little 
 differences. You have some good things that 
 I have not, and I happen to have no, it isn't 
 happening I have given to me to keep a lit- 
 tle more of one very convenient thing than you 
 have. Now, are you going to be naughty, and
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 329 
 
 not let me make over to you a little of my extra 
 share that rightfully belongs to you ?" 
 
 Miss Roberts' cheeks were very rosy, and her 
 eyes were very bright. This was a very long 
 speech for her reserved and quiet self. She had 
 been dreading that tap at her door all the after- 
 noon. She had thought strongly of shirking. 
 She had gone to her desk once to write a note. 
 Notes were a great deal more graceful and easy 
 than speeches. Whatever she thought of her 
 effort now, it certainly went to the point. 
 
 Susy looked up, and her face told plainly now 
 'the story she had not dared to let it tell that 
 morning when she first saw Helen. Neither of 
 the girls knew exactly what was said next, but 
 in two minutes they were laughing heartily to- 
 gether. 
 
 " But I don't know what to do next," Susy said, 
 at last, starting up. " Do give me something to 
 do. You've taken my occupation away." 
 
 " Go and finish the dress, and take it home all 
 done. And you must keep the lavender, Susy, 
 and make it up and wear it sometimes for your 
 mother's sake." It seemed a great thing to 
 Helen to have a mother to do anything for. 
 
 It was only a few weeks after this that Mr.
 
 330 JI775.S ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Cropper called again. He need not have come 
 to tell the news, for Helen had just that moment 
 (sitting by the broad, open window of her ele- 
 gant breakfast-room, while Harry played croquet 
 solitaire on the lawn) read it in the morning 
 paper. The Bee-Line bubble had burst. " Our 
 respected fellow-citizen, Roger Wood and many 
 others were deeply involved in the ruin." 
 
 Helen took the paper to the library, and point- 
 ed to the paragraph as she shook the lawyer's 
 hand. She was a little pale and frightened, it 
 must be confessed. 
 
 The lawyer kindly allowed no long suspense. ' 
 " Your uncle has declared himself a bankrupt, 
 and you have lost very heavily. It is impossible 
 to say just how much to-day. I had papers 
 drawn up for a suit against Wood & Co. (the 
 -firm of Cropper & Co. had been changed during 
 the last few weeks, by the way, and was now 
 minus the junior partner's name), but, of course, 
 it is too late now. We could get nothing out of 
 them." 
 
 Failed / Helen had visions of a log-cabin on 
 a boundless prairie, and wondered if there would 
 be anybody to rescue her grand piano and a 
 favorite cup and saucer from the hands of the
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 33* 
 
 cruel auctioneer. Yet, as she considered pres- 
 ently, and as the kind-hearted, red-faced lawyer 
 assured her, there were still the H. F. and E. 
 bonds, as good as gold, and there was her own 
 original property, and there was her valuable 
 house. 
 
 " Quite enough to meet the reasonable ex- 
 penses of a moderate family, to say nothing of 
 one young lady," said the bachelor, with rather 
 a sharp look. 
 
 Enough for Harry enough to fulfill the sacred 
 promise made that February evening, thought 
 the young lady, with thankfulness. The next 
 thought was of Uncle Roger's family. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Cropper had gone and Harry 
 was at work in his studio, she put on her hat and 
 started for their house. She did not care to have 
 the carriage this morning, and it was not far. 
 She was a little surprised to find the house 
 looking so much as usual as she came up the 
 serpentine walk, but, within, things were more 
 suitable to her ideas of a bankrupt family. The 
 maid at the door had evidently been crying, and 
 there was the sound of men's voices from the 
 little front reception-room, which, for the first 
 time in her remembrance, had the door shut.
 
 332 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Helen was going directly up-stairs to Aunt Ma- 
 tilda, but her uncle came out of this room and 
 met her. He looked haggard and old, and Helen 
 felt her heart grow soft toward him. 
 
 " Good morning, my dear. I am sorry I made 
 that mistake for you." 
 
 " Oh, Uncle Roger, never mind me" and she 
 spoke in the honesty of her heart " I am very 
 sorry for you." 
 
 She laid her little hand in his, and was glad 
 that the question of that suit had come no 
 nearer. He was her mother's brother. The 
 strong man seemed touched, and bent and kissed 
 the little hand. 
 
 " Have you any plans, Uncle Roger ?" 
 
 " Yes ; my brother - in - law in Chicago has a 
 place for me. I shall go out immediately, and 
 begin again, at the foot of the ladder." 
 
 Up-stairs, Aunt Matilda, bewildered and dis- 
 trait, sat before her empty fire-place (it was. the 
 first of June) with her feet on the fender. She 
 had forgotten to put on her back hair, and held 
 tightly in her hand an old broken cologne- 
 bottle without contents or cork. She seemed to 
 be affected much as people sometimes are at a 
 fire. Lily, pale and utterly listless, lay on the
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR T UNE. 333 
 
 lounge in her own room. Dora, brought home 
 by telegram last night, rushed in from the un- 
 packing of her trunk, " hugely" delighted to see 
 her cousin, embracing her heartily, and plung- 
 ing at once into a flood of Oxford talk. 
 
 " You are the most unfeeling creature, Dora," 
 groaned Lily, from the lounge. 
 
 " No, I'm not unfeeling either. I'm awfully 
 sorry for father, and I know we shall all miss the 
 money ; but I declare it will give us all a jolly 
 shaking up, and that's what we need, and get 
 
 us out of this stupid X . And I can teach 
 
 school. I'm going to. They give famous sal- 
 aries out West, and you and mother shall live 
 like queens." 
 
 Helen felt a wish to have Dora at Miss Pres- 
 cott's longer. She pondered her own exchequer 
 and wondered if she couldn't manage it, and 
 wondered what Miss Maria would say, and wish- 
 ed she could see her. How would it do to run 
 up to Oxford for a day ? But this was unneces- 
 sary ; for the next day (being Saturday) who 
 should drop down, by the early train, but Miss 
 Maria's very self! Was ever little lady so Avel- 
 come ? Was ever little lady so glad to come ? 
 so cordial? so ' interested in everything? in
 
 334 
 
 JffSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Harry, with whom she played five games of 
 croquet, in her " dear children," Helen and Dora. 
 
 Helen had Dora to dinner, having previously 
 had a private talk with Miss Maria about her. 
 
 " That's just what I came for, my dear, to see 
 if it seemed best, and tell her to come back if it 
 did seem best. But, after seeing them all, I 
 rather think she had better go. It will be worth 
 more to her. They need her." 
 
 In two weeks they were all off, and a brand- 
 new family from Water street, never heard of 
 on the avenue, sending their brand-new furniture 
 past Helen's windows into the house. There 
 was time now for Helen to look into her own 
 affairs, and with the help of the kindly, red- 
 faced lawyer, she soon knew just how she stood 
 with the world. There was a difference, to be 
 sure, between the thousands which used to come 
 in and the hundreds which came in now. There 
 was need of economy. There must be retrench- 
 ment somewhere. But where to begin ? Helen 
 thought of everything. Dress ? She had all her 
 dresses for the season already. Table ? Ser- 
 vants ? While Mitty reigned, there could be 
 few changes here. She tried it, though. 
 
 " Mitty, how do you think we could get along
 
 JIIJSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 335 
 
 without Sally ? She does n't do much. It seems 
 to me she is n't an absolute necessity." 
 
 " Who would do up the breakfast things ?" 
 
 " 7 would ; I'd like to." 
 
 Mitty smiled an unbelieving smile. 
 
 " Might like it a day or two, perhaps. And 
 who would go to the door?" 
 
 " Bridget. She could do it perfectly well." 
 
 "And do the clear-starching and the fine-iron- 
 ing?" 
 
 " The laundress who does the other washing." 
 
 At length Mitty consented, and Sally went 
 with a capital " character," and the breakfast 
 things were washed every morning by fair, little 
 hands that were none the worse for the exercise. 
 
 But this was only a trifle. What else ? Susy ? 
 She might have her less frequently. But the 
 money was of so much use to Susy. But other 
 people's money was just as good. There was 
 Mrs. Solomon Jones. She was groaning the last 
 time she called over the general inability and 
 want of moral character of the X dress- 
 makers, and wishing they could import a few 
 who would keep their engagements. 
 
 Mrs. Solomon Jones had a note shortly from 
 Miss Roberts on the subject of dressmakers, and
 
 336 MJSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 was soon rejoicing in Susy Converse's deft and 
 tidy workmanship. 
 
 But still this was not enough. Was there any- 
 thing else? Helen had promised Harry a trip 
 to the White Mountains this summer. It would 
 be a grievous trial to her to break that promise. 
 She sat down, guide-book, pencil, and paper in 
 hand and figured the whole thing up. The first 
 result was to give up going herself. There were 
 the Mitchell's the nicest of people and one of 
 the young ladies was Harry's class-mate at the 
 academy. They were going ; he could go with 
 them, and would enjoy it. The second result 
 was another period of deep thinking. Was there 
 another retrenchable place? The question was 
 not settled when the dinner-bell rang. It renew- 
 ed itself as Harry talked with animation of his 
 coming pleasure. He should not be disappointed 
 in a single particular. He should have all the 
 pleasure he could out of it. In the evening, after 
 tea, Miss Roberts was called into the kitchen. 
 Dennis stood, hat in hand, awkwardly viewing 
 the ceiling. He had a brother going to Califor- 
 nia. He was thinking of going, too. He had 
 no objections to the place. He was sorry to leave. 
 He had always been treated handsomely by Mr.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 337 
 
 Saxton and by the young mistress, but they said 
 " he could do better." 
 
 " I am sorry to lose you, Dennis. You have 
 been very faithful," said the young lady, feeling 
 very old and matronly, indeed. " But if you 
 can better yourself, you must go, I suppose." 
 
 But what was to become of the flowers? A 
 household of women could never see to them, 
 Peter never would. She could n't give up her 
 flowers. So the problem went on increasing, 
 and the answers did not always come at once. 
 If it were not for Mitty but Mr. Saxton had ex- 
 pressly desired that she should remain, so long as 
 she pleased at the housekeeper's post. 
 
 One day (it was while Harry was gone to the 
 mountains), Mitty, in pursuance of her house- 
 keeping duties, was superintending the washing 
 of the library windows. She stood by one of 
 them just as the post-man came up the steps with 
 a letter in his hand, and she went to the door to 
 take it. At the same instant a boy came up the 
 steps with a telegram. The telegram was for 
 Mitty herself, and ran as follows : " Sairy Jane 
 has had a fall. Laid up. Come. J. Sampson." 
 
 Poor Mitty had never received a telegram be- 
 fore. That of itself was enough to frighten her. 
 IS
 
 338 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Then the news. She sat down on the stairs, as 
 white as her folded lace, and the girls at last 
 got her to her room. She still held the two let- 
 ters, her own ill-boding yellow one, and the 
 other which was directed to Miss Roberts, and 
 when she reached her room, she laid them both 
 carefully away in the " Scott's Commentary" on 
 the table. Miss Roberts came home in a few min- 
 utes, and up to the house-keeper's room. Mitty 
 sat on the bed weeping all her personal property, 
 bonnets, dresses, caps, under- clothing spread 
 about her. " I don't know what to do no more 
 than the man in the moon," she groaned. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do. Where's a morning paper? 
 Your train goes at 12.50. Bridget, you ask Ann 
 to have a good lunch and a cup of tea ready at 
 twelve, and order the carriage. Mitty, you just 
 lie down and rest. I'll pack the trunk." 
 
 Mitty allowed herself to be treated like a child, 
 and by twelve o'clock the work was done. When 
 lunch was ready, she was surprised to see Helen 
 come down with hat and gloves on. 
 
 " You ain't a goin' too ?" 
 
 " Yes, I am, Mitty. There's a junction that 
 might trouble you, as you've never gone this 
 way alone. I shall be home to tea, Bridget."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 330 
 
 " Well, I never thought ! What a woman she 
 has grown." 
 
 That same week of summer one sunny after- 
 noon Professor Wright, sitting by his study 
 window, had been turning over the leaves of his 
 Greek Testament, and now looked off over the 
 peaceful fields to the Rockshire hills. At length, 
 pushing aside the book, he drew paper and pen 
 toward him and wrote a short letter as follows : 
 
 "My DEAR Miss ROBERTS, It was a disap- 
 pointment to me not to see you when I called at 
 your house a few weeks since, and lest I may 
 suffer the same ill-fortune another time, I think it 
 well to inform you that I am going to try again. 
 If I hear from you that you are to be at home 
 next Thursday or Friday, I shall probably call 
 on one of those days. If you are not to be at 
 home, or, if for any reason, it will not be conve- 
 nient or agreeable to you to see me, do not 
 trouble yourself to write. 
 
 " The summer is in Oxford again, making it 
 the prettiest place in the world. The hills, as I 
 write, are looking precisely as they did that 
 afternoon, now more than a year ago, when you 
 and Miss Haas honored my study with a visit. 
 " Yours, sincerely, JOHN WRIGHT."
 
 340 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 This was the letter that came at the same time 
 with Mitty's telegram. Two years afterwards 
 Helen found it in the house-keeper's room, care- 
 fully laid away in " Scott's Commentary."
 
 " For as his hand the weather steers, 
 So thrive I best 'twixt joys and tears, 
 And all the year have some green ears."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MORE than a year of the new order of 
 things had passed away. There had 
 been some difficulties, many perplexities, many 
 givings up. But, after all, things had settled 
 down and smoothed out into a very peaceful, 
 pleasant life. There had been no going down to 
 Siloam that first summer not even for a day. 
 But Harry had had his mountains, and Miss 
 Roberts had done more sewing than she had 
 ever done in her life before. With Susy now 
 and then to " start" a piece of work and bright- 
 en up the day, Helen thought she was getting 
 on famously, and would be a capital seamstress 
 one of these days. 
 
 After Mitty had been gone for a few weeks 
 there came a letter in an orange-colored envel- 
 ope to this effect : 
 
 " Miss ROBERTS RESPECTED Miss, Mrs. 
 Cook desires me to state that she would of 
 
 (343)
 
 344 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 wrote before this, had it not ben for a bad finger 
 (Mitty had never, to Helen's knowledge, written 
 a letter in her life). She is in good health at 
 present, and had a safe journey from the junc- 
 tion. My wife is still lade up. 
 
 " Yours, with respect, J. SAMPSON. 
 " P. S. Mrs. Cook desires me to state that she 
 likes very well, and as my wife is feable, she 
 would like to remain for the present if you can 
 get along without her." 
 
 This was satisfactory. Mitty received instruc- 
 tions to stay as long as she pleased, and changes 
 that could not have taken place under her ad- 
 ministration, were now speedily made. The 
 house service was reduced to cook and waitress. 
 The little mistress taught her white fingers 
 many new lessons. Not only were the breakfast 
 things washed up on the table, but a capacity 
 for occasional pies and puddings was developed. 
 Miss Roberts adopted the house-keeper's keys, 
 and inspected the kitchen and pantries with a 
 very wise face. All this took time. Between the 
 daily lessons to Harry, and the practice, and the 
 unwonted amount of sewing, and the French 
 and German readings which she tried to keep
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 345 
 
 up, every moment was busy. But the little lady 
 thrived, nevertheless, and rather liked it. Pretty, 
 domestic, womanly ways came upon her. She 
 sang about the house more than she had ever 
 been known to do before. Still, as we have 
 said, there were some hard times. There were 
 puzzling questions. It was the harder, because 
 nobody knew of her losses. 
 
 The subscription papers came around as they 
 had done in the days of her wealth and great- 
 ness. The young minister still brought his chari- 
 ties and laid them at her feet. Mr. Saxton's old 
 ladies, whom she had tried not to lose sight of, 
 still lived, and seemed to multiply. She had 
 often to choose between two courses which seem- 
 ed equally her duty. She had to let some calls 
 go by unheeded. She had to ponder long some- 
 times before devising any method of doing what 
 she felt she must do. By a singular coincidence 
 sometimes, a pair of bracelets or a breast-pin 
 would disappear from her bureau-drawer, and 
 the same day Bridget go off heavily laden with 
 a basket for old Mrs. Brown. Harry's expenses 
 increased. Books, artist's materials, clothing, in- 
 struction, were costly things. The flowers ? they 
 had been taken care of in a wonderful way. Den-
 
 346 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 nis' place had remained unfilled for weeks. Things 
 took care of themselves as well as they could. 
 
 One day old Mr. Smith, the Scotch florist, 
 came over to see some plant he had given Den- 
 nis. It seemed a pity to have that green-house 
 left without a keeper. Could she na find a mon 
 for Dennis' place. He humbly begged her par- 
 don, but what would she think of this ? He 
 needed more room. If she would na be offended, 
 might his boy Jeems have the care of her garden 
 and green-house, and find a place on the shelves 
 for some of his plants ? There was room enough. 
 He did not care for the flowers, he only wanted 
 a growing-place. She was welcome to the bloom. 
 
 Miss Roberts opened her padlocked book the 
 night after this had happened. I do not know 
 exactly what she wrote in it, but she felt very 
 much like the old German minister who prayed, 
 " Oh, Lord, when I try to do a little thing for 
 Thee, and give up something near to my heart, 
 Thou comest and givest me back a thousand 
 times as much and I feel so humble and asham- 
 ed before Thee." 
 
 So the green-house went on flourishing, and 
 bloom was not wanting in the two hundred and 
 fifty rose plants that were shortly packed away
 
 * MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE: 347 
 
 on the shelves. As for Peter, he seemed a neces- 
 sity, but the horses were reduced to Rufus and 
 the two blacks, and the carriages to a phaeton and 
 the closed winter coach. 
 
 News from Chicago was encouraging. Dora 
 was at the head of a flourishing school in a town 
 not far from home. Uncle Roger was secretary 
 of some insurance company at a good salary. 
 They had hired a furnished house, and were liv- 
 ing comfortably. Lily had become engaged to 
 a well-to-do business man, and was to be married 
 soon. Helen thought her grown prettier than 
 ever, when, according to an urgent invitation, 
 she shut up her house, took Harry, and went out 
 for a two months' visit, which was to include the 
 wedding. A busy and a merry visit it was. 
 There were so many things to be done. All the 
 new arts Helen's fingers had learned came into 
 requisition here. 
 
 Aunt Matilda did not take to domestic life on 
 a small scale. Lily had been house-keeper and 
 manager-general, and, besides growing pretty, 
 had grown womanly and thoughtful. The girls 
 spent many a sunny winter morning together 
 cutting, planning, sewing, and wisely conferring 
 on housekeeping present and future.
 
 348 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 One morning, Helen was busy on an infinite 
 series of little satin loops for the wedding-dress, 
 left by the dress-maker to be finished, when Lily 
 came up behind her, and lovingly pinched her 
 cheek. 
 
 " You're a jewel, dear. And who would have 
 thought of your doing these things ! You used 
 to hate so to do 'fussy ' things." 
 
 " I told you I had been taking lessons in the 
 ornamental branches." 
 
 " Wasn't that funny ? But, do you know, Helen 
 Roberts, you're a great deal nicer girl than you 
 used to be more like other people. Mother 
 and I were talking about it last night." 
 
 Helen laughed a quick, little laugh, and threw 
 the wedding-veil over Lily's head, but the pleased 
 color that came to her cheek was almost as deep 
 as Lily's under the white veil. 
 
 And during this visit she had an opportunity 
 to say a word to Lily, that she had long had on 
 her heart. Lily had come up late from a visit 
 with her Henry, and, after a succession of very 
 creaky tiptoeings about the room while divesting 
 herself of her clothes, crept as noiselessly as pos- 
 sible into bed, to find Helen wide-awake in the 
 starlight. At this the two girls, as is the manner
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 349 
 
 of girls, fell into a hearty laugh, and afterwards 
 into deep discourse. They grew confidential as 
 the stars looked in upon them. Lily spoke of 
 her Henry in glowing words, and Helen did her 
 best to be sympathetic. 
 
 " And he's so good, too," said Lily, with a lit- 
 tle sigh. " A great deal better than I am. He 
 was saying to-night how we ought to be better 
 now, we love each other so, and how we must help 
 each other. I'm afraid I sha'n't help him much." 
 
 " Not help him, Lily ? Why, you must. Why, 
 if I loved a good man and he loved me, and 
 was going to marry me, why, Lily, I should want 
 to be so pure I should want every word and 
 thought to be so good and true I should fear 
 so to be a hindrance to his goodness," and Helen 
 stopped, looking out with solemn eyes upon the 
 stars. She had spoken very solemnly. It seemed 
 a very great thing to her. 
 
 " Helen !" said Lily, quickly, and she bent over 
 and tried to look down into her eyes. But she 
 only kissed her and drew her closer. And then 
 their voices dropped lower, and Helen said, a 
 little tremulously at first, the words she knew she 
 ought to say ; perhaps they might be used and 
 blessed.
 
 350 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 While Helen was in Chicago, she received a 
 long letter from Miss Hurlburt with some ill- 
 spelling and grammar in it, but with a certain 
 charming ring of her active, cheery life, and tell- 
 ing all the news in her friendly, gossippy way, 
 and chiefly about Susy. Susy had waked one 
 morning and found herself very lonely in her 
 little house. Poor Mrs. Converse's wants and 
 troubles were over. Mr. Williams came to the 
 door with a basket of white cut flowers, and a 
 very kind face. Miss Hurlburt took the lonely 
 child right to her heart, and in a few days to her 
 home. Susy now had the third story front of the 
 little house where Miss Hurlburt with her clock 
 and her kittens had lived so long. She still 
 sewed for Mrs. Solomon Jones and a few others, 
 and was looking out, though not anxiously, for 
 whatever more congenial work might come to 
 her. 
 
 On her way home,, at Niagara Falls, after she 
 had left the bridal party, whom should Helen 
 meet but Professor Wright, and ride with him 
 nearly all day ! He was as good as ever, and 
 very kind to Harry, but in some strange way, it 
 was impossible for Helen to tell how or where, 
 very much changed. Was he graver ? He was
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 35! 
 
 always grave. Was he less kind ? He had never 
 before given her so distinct an impression of his 
 kindness. She could not tell what it was. She 
 wondered a little about his engagement. Was it 
 not time for those people to be married ? But 
 she had heard Miss Haas remark that she be- 
 lieved in long engagements. 
 
 During this summer there was a visit from 
 Miss Maria, refreshing and brightening beyond 
 expression. Harry had never laughed so much 
 before. Helen had never sung so much over her 
 household cares. The long days together were 
 delicious. They talked over everything, almost. 
 Helen had a thought of asking about that long 
 engagement, but somehow she did not. The 
 evening before Miss Maria went, however, it did 
 occur to her to ask another question. 
 
 " Miss Maria, did you ever tell Professor 
 Wright how sorry I was to lose that call ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, dear, and he said he must try again." 
 
 All these things having happened, it is now 
 nearing Christmas of the second winter since 
 Mitty's departure. Miss Roberts sits in her 
 library. She wears a morning dress of some 
 soft, light-grayish tint, and has a spray of ivy 
 twined in her hair ; for, notwithstanding all the
 
 352 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 economies, she has not lost a certain trick of 
 dainty dressing. 
 
 It is snowing without, but there is a bright fire 
 here, and Harry, with fun in his eye, is reading 
 " Martin Chuzzlewit." Miss Roberts has just had 
 an idea, and her face is bright with it. She goes 
 to her secretary, takes out paper and pencil, and 
 does a deal of arithmetic. She substracts a silk 
 dress from a winter outfit. She adds up a col- 
 umn something like this : Fare to city, hotel, 
 tickets, sundries, and multiplies by six. She then 
 subtracts an Astrachan cloak from the winter 
 outfit. " I'll do it. I'll give myself a treat. I 
 don't need that cloak and dress. The old ones 
 are pretty enough," she says, and, catching Har- 
 ry's attention she asks, " Shall we go to the city 
 and spend the holidays with Miss Maria and 
 some other nice people ?" 
 
 Harry is delighted as, to say the truth, he gen- 
 erally is with Miss Roberts' suggestions. " He 
 can't enjoy the Oratorios, but there are lots of 
 other things. He has never had enough of the 
 city," the lady considers, and proceeds to write 
 a letter. 
 
 "DEAR Miss PRESCOTT, I am getting very
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 353 
 
 home-sick for Oxford, and I am writing to beg you 
 to give me a little piece of it for a few days. I want 
 you all to come down and spend the holidays 
 with me you and Miss Maria, Mrs. and Miss 
 Haas, and Professor Wright, if he will come. 
 There is to be a week of Oratorios in the city 
 you know, and my programme includes that, or 
 as much of it as any of you care for. I am sure 
 you cannot deny me, one of you. Will you be 
 so kind as to ask the professor for me, and urge 
 it more, perhaps, than I should dare. 
 
 " Your always grateful 
 
 "HELEN ROBERTS." 
 
 They did not deny her one of them. Pro- 
 fessor Wright did not give his answer at once, 
 but, thinking it over in his room, the gracious- 
 hearted man smiled gravely to himself. " She 
 does not forget her old teacher. She would like 
 to see him with the rest. It is a kindly thought. 
 And it will be a pleasure to me. I don't know 
 that I should deny it to myself." And the young 
 lady, when she received the answer, thought, 
 " How glad I am ! I thought he would come 
 with Mrs. and Miss Haas. We shall have one of 
 the nice old times."
 
 354 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 The house was beautiful that Christmas-eve. 
 Harry and the faithful Jeems had hung the ever- 
 green wreaths with great taste, and set the orange 
 trees and the large flowering azalias in the bay- 
 windows. The folding doors were open and the 
 spacious rooms thrown together. The grates 
 gave forth a soft, ruddy glow, and the twilight 
 was just falling, when they all came. It was the 
 pleasantest of evenings. They say the professor 
 had not forgotten to put the " Four-part Songs" 
 into his little black bag. Miss Haas played on 
 the grand piano, Mrs. Haas chattered and was 
 charmed with every thing, and Miss Prescott, 
 with the little slate, made Harry's acquaintance 
 in a corner. Miss Hurlburt, trotting up the 
 avenue on some mysterious Christmas-eve er- 
 rand, and having it in her heart to step in and 
 speak to Helen, looked in through the broad 
 windows on the cheerful scene, and trotted off 
 again with a pleased face. The Rev. Mr. Parley, 
 on the contrary, walking out under the frosty 
 heavens and coming opposite the brightly-lighted 
 house, was not thus affected. He crossed the 
 street immediately, rang the bell, and soon made 
 one of the party. 
 
 Helen was proud to introduce the professor,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. . 355 
 
 and watched the interview with interest, but, 
 strangely enough, the two men did not get on 
 at all. They sat and glowered at one another in 
 a remarkable way, and heavy silences fell be- 
 tween them, which the ladies had to relieve as 
 best they could. The professor would not show 
 off in the least. He never had been so "poky." 
 The minister, to do him justice, certainly did his 
 best to be polite. He was profoundly respectful, 
 and urged the professor to preach for him next 
 Sabbath, and Helen adding a hearty intercession, 
 the point was carried. The next morning there 
 was a little basket of choice flowers at every 
 body's plate, and after breakfast, in an informal 
 way, a great exchanging of small paper parcels. 
 In the course of the day Helen found on her sec- 
 retary a volume of George Herbert, in black 
 
 
 velvet and gold. On the fly-leaf were written 
 
 her name and the date, in a hand which she recog- 
 nized as one she had seen on her German exer- 
 cises long ago. 
 
 X. 
 
 This discovery had the effect of deciding her 
 on a point till now unsettled, and in the evening 
 there appeared in the professor's room a large 
 volume of photographic views of Jerusalem, 
 which had been tempting the eyes of all lovers
 
 356 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 of choice things for some weeks on a bookseller's 
 counter. Perhaps it was nobody's business, if a 
 coral pin and ear-rings, brought by Uncle Roger 
 from Naples, was missing from Miss Roberts' 
 drawer about this time. Perhaps, on the other 
 hand, this same pin and ear-rings " might have 
 been sold for three hundred pence and given to 
 the poor." Who shall undertake to prove the 
 wisdom of a woman's gifts of gratitude. 
 
 This Christmas morning,, after the paper par- 
 cels had been disposed of, was given to church, 
 the afternoon to social pleasures. The professor 
 stole about the soft-carpeted halls and parlors, 
 and gazed at the pictures or dived into book- 
 cases. Helen was afraid he was restless, but his 
 old, kind, interested look and tone came back, if 
 she crossed the room to speak to him. He was 
 marvelously struck by the portraits, and took 
 more interest in the histories belonging to them 
 than Helen had ever done. The young hostess 
 did not forget the engagement, and managed 
 (with the active co-operation of Mrs. Haas) all 
 sorts of little retreats and privacies for the lovers 
 so that, owing, to her thoughtmlness, there was 
 a deal of mental and moral philosophizing done 
 that week.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 357 
 
 " Do you notice, Deborah," said Miss Maria, 
 after the sisters had gone up to their room that 
 night, " do you see how the child cleaves to that 
 old, exploded theory ? Would you tell her?" 
 
 " No, dear, I think I would not tell her now." 
 
 " What a dear child she has grown," continued 
 the younger sister, unfastening her neck-ribbon, 
 " How clear and happy her eyes look. She 
 seems to have forgotten all about herself. It 
 seems to me it's a wonderful growth : don't you 
 think so ?" 
 
 " I should think so, if I did n't believe this/' 
 said Miss Prescott, reading from her little hymn- 
 book 
 
 " But He by ways they have not known, 
 Will lead his own." 
 
 The next day was Sunday. Helen felt a won- 
 derful sense of awe in riding to church in the 
 same carriage with the sermon. Indeed, the 
 calm of the Oxford Sundays seemed to have 
 fallen on the whole party, and pervade the whole 
 city. Helen fancied that the church seemed 
 quieter, and that the spry young minister came 
 in with a gentler tread than usual. The sermon 
 was like the Oxford sermons of old, and the same 
 solemn peace filled her heart when it was done.
 
 358 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Helen waited for her guest at the door of her 
 pew. Both the gentlemen coming down the 
 aisle, met her with a smile. One of them, at 
 least, had admiration in his eye, and thought how 
 pleasant a thing it would be to have a sweet and 
 reverent face like that waiting for one every 
 Sunday. 
 
 Monday was Mondayish. They were to go to 
 the city in the afternoon, and they scattered 
 rather aimlessly in the morning. 
 
 Helen was surprised, and not a little pleased, 
 on coming in from a drive with the ladies, to find 
 Miss Hurlburt and Professor Wright talking 
 together in the friendliest way before her library 
 fire. The professor had been spending his morn- 
 ing strolling about the city, and poking into the 
 public library and museum, and Miss Hurlburt 
 out on one of her collecting expeditions, and, 
 thinking she would just drop in and ask Helen 
 who that good man was that preached yesterday, 
 found the good man himself on Miss Roberts' 
 door -steps. This was too much for her. She 
 could n't resist introducing herself and asking 
 if he wouldn't stay and make a few remarks at 
 the maternal meeting Thursday afternoon. Miss 
 Hurlburt made a point of attending the maternal
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 359 
 
 meetings herself. She saw no reason why it was 
 not perfectly proper for Professor Wright to do 
 so likewise. But being obliged to give up this 
 desire of her heart, she fell back on " that pass- 
 age in Romans" which had long exercised her 
 mind, and begged that he would give her his 
 views on the point. She sat now with her bon- 
 net-strings untied, and the sun shining straight 
 into her eyes. Her bright, old face was full of 
 theology. Helen came in smiling, and drew 
 down the shade before she took the chair the 
 professor handed. 
 
 " How did you two people get together, I 
 wonder." 
 
 " Your minister here is telling me what he 
 thinks about that passage I was speaking to you 
 of. I've been wanting to ask somebody for ever 
 so long," said Miss Hurlburt, too much engrossed 
 for particular explanation. " I like Mr. Parley's 
 views, in general ; but a body never can get hold 
 of him he's always in a hurry. And then about 
 that other verse, sir the thirteenth." 
 
 The professor, good-naturedly, expounded his 
 opinion. 
 
 Miss Roberts, well pleased, stroked the feather 
 on her hat, and waited for a chance to say a word.
 
 360 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Now, Miss Hurlburt," she urged, when, at 
 last, an opportunity offered, " you see your bon- 
 net is inclined to stay (it was hanging by one 
 string now), just take off your shawl, please, and 
 stay to dinner with us and see all my friends." 
 
 " Oh, no, my dear, I must go this very minute. 
 Here 't is dinner-time and I've only got fifteen 
 dollars ;" and with a hearty shake of the good 
 professor's hand, and a very fervent " God bless 
 you, child," in Helen's ear, she was off. 
 
 " That is a rare woman, I opine," said the 
 professor, stepping towards Helen, and looking 
 down upon the feather. 
 
 " Isn 't she ? I am so glad you found each 
 other out. She is one of my great admirations." 
 
 Then there was a pause, and the tall man still 
 
 
 looked down upon the feather. Perhaps he was 
 
 thinking what a very foolish thing that stroking 
 of it was. 
 
 " I was wondering if you have many of those? 
 those great admirations ?" he said, when the 
 silence had brought a pair of brown eyes up to 
 his. 
 
 " No, sir, not many, I guess not as many as 
 I wish I had sometimes ; but they're great, you 
 know." She blushed a little. It seemed to her
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 361 
 
 like rather a personal subject. But, to the 
 simple-minded man the pyramids of Egypt 
 would have been as much so. And just then 
 the others came in and dinner was ready. 
 
 The afternoon took them to the city. There 
 they found plenty to see and to hear. They 
 went in full force to the first oratorios, even 
 Harry begging that he might see the Hallelujah 
 Chorus. By the third evening, most of the 
 ladies were quite worn out. Even Miss Haas, 
 who was wont to boast her Amazonian strength 
 and superiority to fatigue, was quite under the 
 weather with severe headache ; and, talking the 
 matter over at tea, it appeared that only Helen 
 and Professor Wright were in condition and 
 spirits to go. It was to be only a concert, to be 
 sure, as Mrs. Hass urged in favor of a social 
 evening at home, but then " there be concerts 
 and concerts," as the professor urged, on the 
 other side of the question. Helen felt a little 
 sorry about it. She was afraid it would be dull. 
 If Miss Maria only felt like going. But Miss 
 Maria was bent on finishing her new book before 
 she went to sleep. The professor certainly made 
 the best of it. He went out before it was time 
 to go, and brought soft, fragrant, blush-roses for 
 16
 
 362 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 his lady to wear. She put them in her hair and 
 among the ribbons at her white throat. Some- 
 how the evening was wonderfully pleasant. He 
 did not seem to miss the others much. 
 
 The next day Miss Haas continued poorly. 
 Helen sat by her all the morning, like a dutiful 
 little hostess, till her invalid's dinner of broiled 
 chicken and plum -pudding came up, and Mrs. 
 Haas, just home from a matinde, took the nurse's 
 place. After lunch, the party separated. Harry 
 went with Miss Prescott and Miss Maria to see 
 a friend in the suburbs. 
 
 " The professor is going up-town to call on an 
 old acquaintance," said Mrs. Haas. " I shall stay 
 with Theo. You had better lie down and rest, 
 dear." 
 
 Not inclined for that particular method of 
 resting, the young lady took her worsted -work 
 and went into their little private parlor. To her 
 surprise, Professor Wright soon came in. He 
 appeared to be in no haste about going up-town, 
 for he sat down by the fire and looked as if he 
 were in for an afternoon of newspapers. Pres- 
 ently, glancing over at his vis-d-vis, he asked if 
 he should read aloud. 
 
 There is nothing a man likes better than to
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 363 
 
 read aloud to an intelligent woman whose fingers 
 are busy with useful work of some kind. It is (" I 
 speak as a man," and beg pardon of the strong- 
 minded), the normal state of things. It is a work 
 of supererogation to read to a man. Besides, a 
 man has " views," and is n't apt to be a reverent 
 hearer. A woman, however appreciative, is, by 
 the law of her nature (I again beg pardon of the 
 strong-minded, and make an exception in their 
 favor), more likely to keep silence. If the reader 
 feels that she takes it in, if she has a bright or a 
 thoughtful thing to say when he is done, it is all 
 he wants. Then the domestic side of her nature 
 (that which is sweetest and best in man or 
 woman), is in play, and gives an inexpressible 
 sense of coziness something perfectly unattain- 
 able between two men. 
 
 Helen was in a bright mood that afternoon, 
 and had pleasant little things to say. Then she 
 was young, and ignorant about some things, and 
 asked questions. A man dearly likes to answer 
 questions. The professor looked in his sweetest 
 mood. When they were tired of the newspapers 
 he looked out of the window and said something 
 about the oratorio in the evening. Helen was 
 unaffectedly sorry that Miss Haas should be
 
 3 64 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 again unable to go. " I'm afraid it is very stupid 
 for him," she thought, and she added aloud, " I 
 beg you won't feel obliged to go with me, Pro- 
 fessor Wright, unless you really wish to go. I 
 am very sorry our party has been so broken up. 
 It would be too bad if we could help it." 
 
 " I do not consider myself an object of pity," 
 said the professor, with a curious look in his 
 eyes. Then throwing down his paper, he cross- 
 ed the room, and sat down on the end of the 
 sofa very near Helen's chair. Helen was sitting 
 by the window that looked out on the street, 
 working a bunch of pansies. The soft-colored 
 silks and wools lay in her lap, and the flowers 
 were growing fast under her white fingers. The 
 professor watched her for a few minutes, and 
 seemed interested in the work. 
 
 " I have a great mind to tell you a story," he 
 said, at last. 
 
 The brown eyes looked up, all ready for the 
 story, and presently he began. 
 
 " I knew a boy once a poor boy. He lived 
 with a poor man and woman up in a little back- 
 wood town in Maine. They were not his father 
 and mother. He never knew his father and 
 mother. They were poor people, too, and had
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 365 
 
 died when he was a mere baby. But this rough 
 man and woman, rather than see the child die, 
 took him home and gave him of their rough fare. 
 He learned nothing but the lumbering trade, 
 and, till he was ten or twelve years old, thought 
 of nothing else. Then, by some means, he got 
 hold of a few books. His father, as he called the 
 man he lived with, taught him a little of reading, 
 and ignorantly enough he read. Then he heard 
 of a night-school in a neighboring village. He 
 went to it, and finally became its teacher. Well, 
 it's a stupid story, I'm afraid you think " 
 
 Helen looked up quickly, but did not speak, 
 and the professor went on. 
 
 " He got an education, or what people call an 
 education, somehow, but he has since learned 
 that the best part of that education was the strug- 
 gle to get it. Now, he is trying to make some 
 use of what he has gained. He is not a rich 
 man, and never will be. He has no portraits of 
 his ancestors to hang in his hall. He has noth- 
 ing to be proud of." 
 
 Helen was looking up again, her whole face 
 shining with something that looked like pride 
 and triumph. Just then the door opened. 
 
 "Ah, here you are, professor," said Mrs. Haas.
 
 366 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Do you know I'm in such trouble about that 
 poor child. Her head aches constantly, and her 
 dinner does not seem to agree with her." 
 
 As the professor received this announcement 
 in absolute silence, and an awkward pause en- 
 sued, Helen felt it incumbent on her to say some- 
 thing. 
 
 " I'm very sorry, Mrs. Haas. What can we 
 do ? Had she better see a physician ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, dear. I hardly think so. I don't 
 think it anything serious. But we are so unused 
 to illness. Theo has always been so well, you 
 know, professor. I think, my dear, if you would 
 sit with her a little while, it would cheer her." 
 
 Helen's face flushed quickly. Impoliteness to 
 her guests, or anything that looked like it, was 
 very far from her heart. She began to gather 
 up her wools, but before she went, she turned to 
 Professor Wright. " I thank you for telling me 
 that story," she said, in a low voice, and slowly. 
 " I shall never forget it." 
 
 An hour or so after, she had braided her beau- 
 tiful hair, and stood before the mirror fastening 
 her collar. She was dressed simply, in a soft, 
 black silk, and her velvet jacket, and white furs, 
 and the hat with the long ostrich plume lay on
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 367 
 
 the bed all ready for the evening. The plush 
 rose-bud she had worn all day was too withered 
 for further service, and an unaccountable feeling 
 came over her which prevented her taking one 
 of those she had kept fresh in a tumbler on the 
 wash-stand. So it was her favorite Dresden pin, 
 with her own particular little cherub on it, that 
 nestled among the soft blue ribbons to-night. 
 The face that met hers in the mirror was rather 
 a serious one. Watching with dyspeptics is rather 
 a serious business, to be sure, and Helen had felt 
 tired and, somehow, wonderfully cheerless since 
 entering her little room. Her bright mood had 
 changed so quickly. As she turned away, she 
 caught a glimpse of her figure in the glass, and 
 all her nameless discomfort culminated in a 
 sharp, sudden pain. She put her hands before 
 her face and stood still, leaning on the bed before 
 her. She wished she was n't lame. It was a 
 hard, cruel, bitter agony. She had not felt it so 
 since she was a little girl. It was so bad, that at 
 last, she locked her door and fell down on her 
 knees before the bed. She was still kneeling, 
 though with a quieter face, when the dinner 
 gong sounded through the house. Nobody no- 
 ticed it if she was a little pale at dinner, and if
 
 368 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 she talked a little less than usual, it was fully 
 made up by the lively Mr. Parley, who had hap- 
 pened down to the city on business, and when 
 he saw the X party, rushed across the din- 
 ing-hall and took Miss Haas' vacant seat by 
 Helen's side. But the pain lingered dull in her 
 heart, and did not go away till she was sitting, 
 three hours afterwards, by the professor's side, 
 listening to the blessed music. " For He is meek 
 and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto 
 your souls," warbled the sweet singer. And rest, 
 and peace, and comfort did come like a flood. 
 Her companion was watching her face, and would 
 not have spoken for the world. But when the 
 strain had ceased, she turned to him, her face 
 full of it and sighing, as we sometimes do, for 
 very comfort. 
 
 " What is it ?" he whispered, as he would have 
 done to a child, bending over her to catch her 
 answer. And like a child she answered. 
 
 " Oh, it is such a wonder that we don't always 
 stay there down there where it is so sweet and 
 cool that we always have to keep coming to 
 get the rest and peace." 
 
 The professor did not speak, but he answered 
 her look by one of his rarest and kindliest smiles,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 369 
 
 and drew his big, friendly arm a trifle closer. 
 And the orchestra went on into the drums and 
 thunder of the overture to the next part. 
 
 It was the last of their pleasures in the city. 
 The next day Miss Haas was still ailing, the best 
 of the music was over, the sights could easily be 
 seen in the morning, and the idea of going home 
 by the afternoon train commended itself to every 
 body. 
 
 The doctor came to see Miss Haas, and re- 
 ported nothing more serious than an aggravated 
 case of Christmas dinner. She took to her bed, 
 however, and kept it for two days. Helen no- 
 ticed that a large stock of paper and the fountain 
 pen were deposited under the sheets, and when 
 her mother was out of the room the invalid scrib- 
 bled vigorously. 
 
 Sitting by her side the day after they had come 
 home, Helen had watched the signing, folding 
 and enveloping process, and was astonished be- 
 yond measure when, that being finished, the pa- 
 tient leaped past her out of bed, rushed to the 
 door, locked it, took the key, and holding the 
 precious document aloft, addressed her in a tragic 
 manner. 
 
 " You will never let the mother know ? Prom- 
 16*
 
 370 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ise me, Lenchen. I must ask you to do a favor 
 for me, and you cannot do it till you have prom- 
 ised. Keep it from the little mother, I pray you." 
 
 Very much bewildered and somewhat alarmed, 
 Helen first made earnest endeavors to get her 
 patient back to bed, and failing in these, demand- 
 ed a further explanation of the mystery. 
 
 "It is a letter to my Emil my friend be- 
 trothed ! The professor must have it before to- 
 morrow, or it cannot go by this week's mail. 
 The mother is our deadly enemy. To her he is 
 but a poor musician, but to me he is my be- 
 trothed, my prince ' mdunlich, edel, fur stitch f I 
 have told you all now. I am in your power. 
 You will not betray me ?" 
 
 Feeling a good deal as if an earthquake had 
 taken place, Helen made the required promise, 
 put the thick letter in her pocket, and drew the 
 coverings over this most remarkable young wo- 
 man, who now clambered into bed with as much 
 agility as she had just exercised in leaving it. 
 
 " Then you are not I was taken by surprise 
 I had always supposed " said Helen. 
 
 " The dear professor to be my betrothed," sup- 
 plied Miss Haas. " Ah ! that would be a great 
 joy to the mother. But, no. He is my best of
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. ^i 
 
 friends, and Emil's. If it had not been for him, 
 I know not how I should have endured these 
 weary years. I wished to remain in the father- 
 land with my Emil, but the good professor made 
 it seem right to me to come with the mother. 
 Emil works night and day for the home which 
 he has promised me ; and when a few more years 
 have gone, or when the rich uncle dies to leave 
 him an inheritance, he will come for me." 
 
 Somehow this spectacle of devoted love seemed 
 remarkably beautiful to Helen. 
 
 " I wish him all success, and both of you all 
 happiness," she said warmly. 
 
 " And if you will see that the professor has the 
 letter in time ?" 
 
 " Yes, I will go right away." 
 
 " And I will go to sleep," said the invalid. 
 
 Helen went through the long hall to the top 
 of the stairs. The professor, it appeared, was 
 traversing the lower hall, about to come up. By 
 what principle it was that instead of going down 
 stairs, she turned down the passage that led to 
 the housekeeper's room, and there sat regarding 
 the Scott's Commentaries, and rocking violently 
 for about five minutes, the young lady did not 
 attempt to explain.
 
 372 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 " There is no hurry," she reflected. " The 
 professor will pass the office when he goes out 
 with Mr. Parley to the evening meeting, and we 
 are safe enough from Mrs. Haas till she's home 
 from that sleigh-ride an hour hence." 
 
 Nevertheless, after having smoothed her hair, 
 and changed her neck-ribbon, and stepped into 
 the kitchen to say a word about the muffins, she 
 proceeded to the library. There was a pleasant 
 scene. The professor and Harry, in a glow of 
 fire-light and under the porcelain shade, were 
 turning over school-books and talking briskly. 
 The professor, whom, by the way, Harry regard- 
 ed as a great usurper of his special rights and 
 privileges, brought up a low chair for Helen, and 
 made her one of the group. She handed him 
 the letter at once. He took it with a queer smile, 
 a little like that with which he began his story 
 the other day, and with a questioning look down 
 into her eyes, that made her turn them uneasily 
 away. She looked toward Harry, wishing for a 
 change of subject. 
 
 " Your pupil does you credit," said the pro- 
 fessor, pleasantly, perhaps taking the hint. The 
 eyes came back again, very pleased and child-like. 
 
 " I am glad you have been examining him a
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 373 
 
 little. I have been wanting to ask some one 
 about him. How is he on the Latin ?" 
 
 " I think his knowledge of the language and 
 his interest in it quite remarkable. You are go- 
 ing to give him Greek, he tells me." 
 
 " Yes, sir ; his mother wished it. How soon 
 ought he to begin with it ?" 
 
 " In another year, I should think ; after he has 
 finished Horace." 
 
 " I am dreading it a little " the familiar, child- 
 look remained through all this comfortable little 
 talk. " I don't like to give him up, but I know 
 nothing of Greek, and if I take lessons myself, 
 as I have thought of doing, I'm afraid the second- 
 hand instructions will not be as good as he ought 
 to have." 
 
 " I should have no fear of that. Have you 
 thought of a teacher for yourself?" he added 
 after a little. 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " May I come down and give you weekly les- 
 sons?" with an eagerness that was new to her 
 in the quiet, grave man. 
 
 " Why, Professor Wright, how delightful !" 
 
 " They have been asking me to give a short 
 course of lectures here next winter," he explained.
 
 374 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 "If I might have my former German pupil in 
 Greek, I think I would come." 
 
 The child -like eyes grew fuller of pleasure 
 and pride. " For the lectures' sake, and for the 
 Greek's sake, I hope you will come." 
 
 "You will consider it settled, then ?" he asked, 
 quickly, for the young minister, invited to tea, 
 was now taking off his coat in the hall. 
 
 " It is a long time to keep a promise, perhaps, 
 but will you promise not to take another teacher?" 
 
 " I will, indeed, sir, and I thank you very 
 much," and she turned to meet her guest. 
 
 The continuation of Miss Haas' romance, be- 
 gan that afternoon in Helen's room, came soon- 
 er than anybody expected. In April of that new 
 year, Miss Maria wrote as follows : 
 
 " You should have been here, dear child, through 
 our recent excitements. You would have been 
 as amused as we all have been. I will begin at 
 the beginning. I was dusting the parlors one 
 day, flying about near the windows, when a long- 
 haired, light-haired, fair-faced little man coming 
 up the walk, attracted my attention. He bore a 
 violin-case under his arm, and, when I went to 
 the door, inquired, in very broken English, for 
 Miss Theodosia Haas.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 375 
 
 " Miss Haas was passing through the hall at that 
 moment, her mother, I regret to say, behind her. 
 I spoke to the former, and the little man with the 
 violin fell into her arms. This, then, was her 
 German lover. Mrs. Haas followed, and when 
 she saw the sight, shrieked aloud. We had scenes 
 enough for half an hour. The young people fell 
 at her feet and entreated her blessing, but she 
 only shrieked the louder, and called wildly on 
 ' the dear professor,' who, sad to say, was then at 
 his lecture. I put her to bed and gave her pare- 
 goric. After dinner I sent up a note to the pro- 
 fessor, who came down at once, looking quite 
 equal to the occasion, and very pleased to see his 
 old friend of the violin. Mrs. Haas sat up in 
 state in her rocking-chair to receive him, and I 
 let them have a long session together. What 
 passed in the little back sitting-room nobody 
 knows. I think the fact that the rich uncle had 
 died and Emil had come into his property, which 
 I administered with the paregoric, had some 
 effect. But whatever it was, in about an hour 
 ' the mother ' walked out, leaning on the pro- 
 fessor's arm, addressed the penitent lover in a 
 dramatic manner, and embraced the little man 
 violin and all.
 
 376 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 "After this, all went merrily. You should 
 have seen the lover. His face is music and 
 poetry. He plays magnificently, and clasps his 
 precious violin and looks down upon it with un- 
 speakable things in his eyes. I would be jealous, 
 if I were Miss Haas. Yet he adores his Theo. 
 He sings sonnets to her, and gazes up to her 
 with infinite devotion. 
 
 " But this, my dear, is only the beginning. 
 We had a wedding ; and in three days. There 
 was no time to tell anybody, though I should 
 have sent for you had not your letter told me 
 that you were in the city with Harry. 
 
 " Miss Haas was stupendous in a white dress 
 (which she bought ready-made). The girls got 
 flowers and cake. The little man would have 
 hugged his violin through the entire ceremony 
 if we had n't torn it from him. They went off 
 on the " Germania" the next day, the mother as 
 happy as anybody. 
 
 " Miss Haas left her blessing and two of her 
 busts for you. She parted from her beetles and 
 the galvanic battery without a murmur. It was 
 the funniest thing to see .her. She was as ab- 
 sorbed in the little musician as she had ever been 
 in Plato.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 377 
 
 " There is ever so much more to tell you 
 about it. You must come and hear it. The 
 spring is lovely, and we have a pony. Rufus is 
 not his name, but he is a nice, little black fellow, 
 and you will like him. We want Harry, too. 
 Tell him there are acres of sketching for him. 
 
 " We are missing the good professor. The 
 day after the wedding, he left us suddenly. His 
 old friend, Charley Erskine, of whom you may 
 have heard him speak, is dying of consumption. 
 He has no friend nearer than the professor, who 
 was good to him in some way long ago, and he 
 wrote begging that he might die with him. The 
 professor left everything and went. They are at 
 Fayal or thereabouts now, and Mr. Erskine fail- 
 ing at last accounts. 
 
 " Here is the end of my paper, and so good- 
 bye. Deborah says let us hear soon that you 
 and Harry are coming. 
 
 "Yours, MARIA PRESCOTT."
 
 1 If on our daily course, our mind 
 Be set to hallow all we find, 
 New treasures still, of countless price, 
 God will provide for sacrifice."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HARRY remained at Oxford through the 
 summer, but the young housekeeper, on 
 pickles and preserves intent, went back to 
 
 X in July. At least, pickles and preserves 
 
 were the reasons which she rendered for this 
 movement, and it would have been hard for her 
 to give another. Yet, pleasant as the visit had 
 been, she was conscious of a certain weariness 
 even of dear old Oxford. A restlessness, such as 
 she had never felt, had come upon her this sum- 
 mer. She wished she could go away far away 
 to see new sights and live a new life. She wished 
 she could do something something new, hard, 
 great. 
 
 The fact is, the young woman had reached 
 that age at which young women in general 
 either marry, or teach school, or begin to write 
 for the newspapers. Neither of these resources 
 
 (380.
 
 382 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 seemed open to her. In fact, neither of them 
 definitely presented itself to her mind. Going 
 to Europe is a safe and agreeable opiate often 
 used in such cases. But, to tell the truth, and 
 contradictory as it may appear, Miss Roberts 
 did not care about going to Europe this year. 
 She thought it would be better for her to wait 
 awhile, and read a little more, and brush up her 
 French and German. Besides, in the present 
 state of the H. F. and E.'s (which had previously 
 taken a downward tendency, but would come up 
 again, Mr. Cropper said), it was clearly impos- 
 sible to go as she wished to go, and taking 
 Harry. 
 
 But and just here was the rub it was high 
 time that Harry should go. Professor Poussin 
 had said so more than once. The gentlemen at 
 the Academy had confirmed him. One of these 
 professors was to spend next winter in Rome, 
 and had come up to X , before he sailed, ex- 
 pressly to say that he hoped to see Harry there, 
 and that Miss Roberts would be made most wel- 
 come in the little circle of artists' families. The 
 boy's progress really demanded this step. His 
 pictures had become quite well known, and some 
 of them had sold for good prices. Moreover,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 383 
 
 this was what she had always promised him. 
 His mind was evidently much on the subject 
 now. 
 
 His bright eyes grew brighter when Rome 
 was mentioned, and he pored over the " Stones 
 of Venice" and " Italian Painters." 
 
 But it would be an expensive thing the out- 
 fit, the long stay in large cities, the lessons under 
 foreign masters, the whole tour of the continent, 
 which must come in somewherq^iuring the two 
 year's absence. Whether it would be right to 
 let Harry go without her into the midst of a 
 circle of people she knew little about, whether 
 his other studies could be faithfully attended to 
 where all was art; whether, even if the way 
 were clear in other respects, she could meet the 
 requisite expense; whether, by any stretch of 
 economy, she could go herself; and whether, if 
 she could, she must, these were serious and 
 puzzling questions. 
 
 She had never denied her boy anything. In- 
 deed, he had never been obliged to ask for any- 
 thing yet. But his eyes had been pleading for 
 this all summer. It was hard to say him nay. 
 It was the harder because he would be so good 
 about it.
 
 384 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Though entirely ignorant of the change in her 
 circumstances, and of the sacrifices she had made 
 for him, the boy's heart was full of grateful loy- 
 alty toward the sister he had found in Helen 
 He believed her right in every thing. He ad- 
 mired her beyond measure. He felt that he 
 could never do quite enough for her. He was a 
 proud boy and a happy one when he brought 
 her the hundred dollars for the first picture he 
 sold, and begged that she would give herself 
 some little things to keep near her and remind 
 her how he loved her. He never knew, and 
 perhaps the young lady herself never fully knew, 
 what he had been to her during all this time. 
 When Mrs. Moore gave him to her that Febru- 
 ary evening, she had given more than the occu- 
 pation and company that Helen thought of. She 
 had given that something to live for which every 
 human creature needs, that something to love 
 and care for without which a woman cannot 
 live. 
 
 Burdened, then, with these cares about Harry, 
 and weighed upon by her own nameless malady, 
 the long summer days passed over Helen's head. 
 She pickled and preserved, she read her daily 
 " Tribune," she looked over her autumn dresses.
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 385 
 
 " I am growing into a horrid, common-place old 
 maid," she exclaimed one day in a fright, and 
 after that she practiced lustily, and lay on her 
 lounge with a book in her hand, by the hour, 
 and set up late at night bending over her old 
 German grammar, or the padlocked-book. But 
 still the days went stupidly. Every body was 
 out of X . There was nobody to call. Noth- 
 ing happened. September brought Harry home. 
 Helen thought she read disappointment in his 
 face. He began his lessons at the academy 
 again. The days were still stupid. Nothing 
 happened yet. But all of a sudden, one day, 
 three things happened. They were small things, 
 to be sure. 
 
 In the first place, a lady called. It was an 
 old friend of Mr. Saxton's, a lady from out of 
 town. She had pretty gray hair and merry black 
 eyes. She was a capital talker, and spent a long 
 morning with Helen on the library sofa. " We 
 had such a charming winter all over the South, 
 you know, and into the queerest little nooks and 
 corners. And oh, by the way -do you happen 
 to know of any two girls who want to do good 
 and have a very nice time? We found the Pe- 
 tersons two Philadelphia girls very refined 
 17
 
 386 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 and cultivated. They were living in the drollest, 
 prettiest little place, right on the water, in an 
 old hospital barrack fitted up, teaching the freed 
 people. They were under the care of a charm- 
 ing Dr. , - I forget his name who lived two 
 
 miles away. They had a large school, and en- 
 joyed it hugely. They have been there two 
 years, but the elder is to be married this autumn, 
 and Mary won't go without her. They want to 
 find somebody nice to take their place. I didn't 
 know but you might know of somebody in 
 X ." 
 
 " I don't, I am sure," said Helen, considering a 
 moment, and the lady passed on to something 
 else. 
 
 In the afternoon Helen went out for a drive. 
 It was rather dull and lonely, and she thought 
 of getting Miss Hurlburt or Susy to go with her, 
 but, unfortunately, not till she was in quite another 
 quarter of the city, and knew she could not reach 
 them before tea-time. As she drove up to her 
 own house, Mr. Cropper, with his gold-headed 
 cane, came along the avenue. He stopped to 
 say a word about the H. F. & E.'s, and that be- 
 ing finished, looked up to the handsome house 
 standing full in the sunshine, and cast a contem-
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 387 
 
 plative eye along its broad front. " A valuable 
 piece of property," he remarked. "A place that 
 will sell well at any time or rent to great advan- 
 tage. I had an interview this morning with a 
 gentleman who wishes to rent a furnished house 
 on the avenue a wealthy man, able to pay any 
 price. If you had been going abroad, as you 
 once proposed, such a chance would have been 
 worth looking at." 
 
 In the evening Mrs. Mitchell came in. She 
 was just from the sea-side and full of business, for 
 they had decided to go to Europe, and were to 
 engage passage in a day or two. " I came to 
 talk to you about it, dear," she said. " We want 
 you to go with us you and Harry. You know 
 we enjoyed Harry so much that summer in the 
 mountains. Katy has become quite attached to 
 him at the academy, and it would be so pleasant 
 for them to keep along together in their lessons. 
 Then, my son, the young minister, you know, is 
 going with us, and he would attend to Harry's 
 studies, if you chose. He is going to give the 
 girls regular lessons. Do go, my dear. We 
 shall all enjoy you so much, and the change will 
 do you good." 
 
 Miss Roberts answered only in rather discour-
 
 388 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 aging generalities, and promises to " think about 
 it." 
 
 The fact is, she was thinking so very hard 
 about it that she was unable to say any thing. 
 
 " I shall not let you off so. We shall see you 
 again, Katy or I," said the friendly lady, leaving. 
 She saw that, for some reason or other, to-night 
 was a poor time to press her suit. 
 
 Helen went up stairs as soon as her visitor 
 left, glad that Harry's slight head-ache had sent 
 him early to his room. There was no study- 
 ing of the German grammar, or writing in the 
 padlock-book to-night. She went to bed, slept a 
 little, and waked to hear the city clocks striking 
 eleven. Then the katydids piped away undis- 
 turbed for awhile. The young lady under the 
 down coverlet was not very sleepy. 
 
 Suddenly, like one flash of light, the three 
 events of the day crossed her mind. She sat up 
 in the bed with a sort of gasp at the new idea. 
 How wonderfully they fitted in ! What a per- 
 fectly simple plan grew out of them ! What did 
 it mean ? Was there any thing but that that it 
 could mean ? Of course, the Mitchells were just 
 the people. Of course, the rent of this house 
 and furniture, added to what came from other
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 389 
 
 sources, would be more than enough to give 
 Harry a magnificent time. Of course, what was 
 left over would be enough for her there in that 
 charming place by the sea " quite out of the 
 world, my dear ; no expenses at all, so to speak ; 
 why, the Petersons had actually lived under the 
 delusion that over-skirts were going out of fash- 
 ion till I came," Mrs. Ames has said. The quick 
 thoughts flew about and had the whole year 
 planned out in five minutes. But suddenly there 
 was another flash and sharper than the first. 
 This winter oh ! she had forgotten she didn t 
 see how she could very well, just now. Away 
 down there by the sea, too ! It must be forlorn. 
 It might be very bad for her health. She cer- 
 tainly ought not to decide such a thing rashly. 
 The clocks went on striking all that night, and 
 the katydids piping between. When the day- 
 light had put the katydids asleep, and the clocks 
 were striking seven, they might have seen, if 
 they had eyes as good as their voices, a 
 young lady at the secretary busily writing notes. 
 Harry comes in, and she lifts her face to give 
 him his morning kiss. It is a bright face. She 
 is feeling bright this morning. There may be a 
 sore feeling down in her heart, as of something
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 wrenched suddenly away, and the pain not quite 
 forgotten yet. Still, it is wonderful how the 
 restlessness has gone ; it is wonderful how un- 
 clouded the eyes have grown. She finishes the 
 notes, reads them over, and seals them. One of 
 them runs thus : 
 
 " MR. CROPPER : Dear Sir, If the gentleman 
 whom you mentioned to me yesterday has not 
 found a house, I think it likely I can accommo- 
 date him. Can he wait till to-morrow evening 
 for a definite offer ?" 
 
 The other is almost as brief. 
 
 " DEAR MRS. AMES, I think I may know of 
 somebody for your southern school. When must 
 the work begin, about what are the ordinary every- 
 day expenses for the year, and how long can you 
 give me to find out whether the young ladies I 
 
 am thinking of will go ?" 
 i 
 
 The unconscious Harry, on his way to the 
 morning train, left the notes at Mr. Cropper's 
 office and at the hotel. 
 
 Miss Roberts meanwhile washed the breakfast
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 39! 
 
 things more speedily than usual. There was a 
 deal to be done before matters could be decided. 
 She had Rufus and the phaeton at the door by 
 nine o'clock, and drove first to the doctor's. The 
 kind old gentleman was just starting out on his 
 daily rounds, but turned back to his office wil- 
 lingly. 
 
 " It is n't often I get a visit from a nice young 
 lady. Come in, my dear." And he rolled up 
 the big chair, seated himself in it, and drew her 
 on to his knee, 
 
 " I wanted to ask you a question, doctor," 
 began the young lady, a little bashfully. " I am 
 
 thinking of leaving X -, of going to the 
 
 south." 
 
 " Going to get married ? well, that's the way 
 with all of them," and the old gentleman pinched 
 her cheek. 
 
 " No, sir," said Helen, quickly. 
 
 " No ? Well, let's hear about it, my dear," 
 said the doctor, changing his tone in an instant, 
 and listening to her story with a kind and se- 
 rious face. 
 
 " I was n't sure whether you would think me 
 strong enough," she said in conclusion, and a 
 little faintly.
 
 392 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 The doctor had quite a time wiping his spec- 
 tacles before he answered. Then he trotted her 
 on his knee as he had done a thousand times be- 
 fore. 
 
 " The conies are a feeble folk, yet they build 
 their houses in the rocks," he said at last, with his 
 pleasant smile. " You're not a Goliath, to be 
 sure, and I declare, when I think of some of the 
 times I've pulled you through when you were a 
 baby. But you bore the yoke in your youth, 
 my dear. You are well now you're sound- 
 sound as a nut. I've been watching you now for 
 three years, and I'm proud of you. You are 
 just as well as anybody, and likely to be. As to 
 climate," he continued, after another series of 
 trottings, " I know that region. It's a pretty 
 good one. There's no malaria abbut there. I 
 don't like a southern climate for northern consti- 
 tutions, but for a year or so, and with proper 
 precaution there's no danger. I don't know that 
 I can, in conscience, say anything against it. I 
 know Dr. Curtis, too. A fine fellow, and well 
 up in his profession. He'll take good care of 
 you. As for the work, it won't hurt you if you 
 don't overdo. It does girls good to work at 
 least, girls like you. Take a little quinine occa-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 393 
 
 sionally, and don't let things worry you that 
 kills more people than anything else, and you're 
 a good girl, God bless you." 
 
 The trotting stopped suddenly, and the doctor 
 got up, which movement naturally resulted in 
 Miss Roberts getting down. He made a rush 
 for his hat and opened the door for Helen to 
 pass out. There was no time to thank him. 
 Indeed, Helen was not altogether sure that that 
 very peculiar sinking sensation within her was 
 indicative of gratitude. But by the time she 
 had reached Shady street she had lost a good 
 deal of it. 
 
 Susy Converse was at her window and saw 
 Helen coming, her blue veil flying merrily be- 
 hind her. She folded her work, came down 
 stairs and stood OR the pavement, as the little 
 basket-carriage drew up. But she was not at all 
 prepared for the announcement that came from 
 under the blue veil. 
 
 " Susy Converse, I'm going on a pilgrimage, 
 and I want you to go with me. Will you ? I'm 
 in earnest. Just get your hat, please, and come 
 with me and I will tell you all about it." 
 
 Susy brought her hat and heard the tale. 
 
 This was very much the sort of thing she had 
 17*
 
 394 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 been looking- for. Indeed, she had sometimes 
 thought of going south alone. She did not care 
 for money now. And with Helen of course it 
 would be delightful. These were the words she 
 said, and they sounded quite encouraging. Her 
 tone, however, was not so much so. It had a 
 certain reservation in it. Susy herself was con- 
 scious of it, and like a spirited girl as she was, 
 a good deal vexed by it. What if that light- 
 haired young man did think it strange? She 
 was sure he would. He certainly acted very pe- 
 culiarly. But if he would persist in calling on 
 Miss Hurlburt every evening, and sitting in the 
 stiff little boarding-house parlor, till that worthy 
 lady almost fell asleep, she did n't know that that 
 was any reason why she should stay at home. 
 She presumed Miss Hurlburt would be just as 
 happy to see him after she was gone. Besides, 
 of course, what were the movements of a poor 
 sewing-girl to him ? He was the head-clerk of 
 a large establishment, an intelligent, fine young 
 man, and received in good society. 
 
 " Yes, I believe I will go," she said, at last, and 
 in a much more satisfactory tone. " You intend 
 to engage for only one year?" 
 
 " That is all."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORT U XI'.. 395 
 
 " Then I will go if you do. You may depend 
 on me." 
 
 " Thank you, Susy. I'm sure I could nef er 
 go without you," and it was Miss Roberts' tone 
 now that was not encouraging. 
 
 " Please tell nobody but Miss Hurlburt, at least, 
 nobody but particular friends," she added, be- 
 thinking herself, for she had happened to meet 
 the light -haired young man calling on Miss 
 Hurlburt more than once. 
 
 The head - clerk was electrified into a much 
 longer call than usual that evening, and the next 
 evening did not inquire for Miss Hurlburt at all. 
 The amount of it all was, that Susy, coming up 
 the crazy old stairs very late, and creeping care- 
 fully past Miss Hurlburt's door, was very much 
 astonished when that good woman opened the 
 door full upon her, and greeted her with a hearty 
 kiss and a heartier laugh. 
 
 "And isn't it funny," she said, five minutes 
 afterwards, lifting her head from the friendly 
 shoulder where she had been having a good 
 cry, " is n't it funny that he should have been 
 waiting all this time, thinking that I wouldn't 
 care anything about him because he was nothing 
 but a clerk ? He feels so sorry about my going
 
 39 6 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 away. Still we both think it may be all for the 
 best. He will be one of the firm by the time 
 I come back." 
 
 " Yes, and the years go quickly to happy 
 hearts," said the dear old maid, making a happy 
 heart all the happier for the simple words. 
 
 But we are not to neglect Helen, who went 
 home after that drive with Susy and found an 
 answer to one of her notes in the shape of Mr. 
 Cropper himself and the gentleman who was 
 looking for a house. This seemed amazingly 
 like business, and the young mistress opened the 
 doors and showed her handsome apartments 
 with a strangely uncomfortable feeling, some- 
 thing like what she had always supposed home- 
 sickness to be. It grew worse when the gentle- 
 man expressed his perfect satisfaction with every- 
 thing, and offered a liberal price should she de- 
 cide to let him have the house. 
 
 But there was no time to nurse sentiment. 
 Mrs. Ames' answer had come and brought the 
 requisite information. Miss Mitchell had called, 
 Bridget said, and left word that she was coming 
 again. 
 
 "I'm glad I wasn't here. I'm not ready to 
 see her yet," said the young lady to herself.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 397 
 
 " There is only one more day to work in. I be- 
 lieve I had better go to Mitty this very after- 
 noon." 
 
 She had a short conference with the girls in 
 the kitchen, wrote a note to Harry, changed her 
 dress, packed a little bag, and stopped for a mo- 
 ment at the Mitchells' door on her way to the 
 four o'clock train. About eight, she took her 
 tea with Mitty, having very much astonished 
 that worthy matron by her sudden appearance. 
 Mitty readily agreed to another year away from 
 
 X . She did not appear to be pining for the 
 
 housekeeper's life and state. Sairy Jane was 
 still feeble, and the grandmother's annuity evi- 
 dently went a good way in the little house. 
 Helen slept in a strange room, with a wonderful 
 flowery fire-board, and a solemn sense of perfect 
 newness over everything. She had an early 
 breakfast, and started soon after it for Oxford. 
 She would not do what she was thinking of do- 
 ing without consulting her best friends. Her 
 stay with them must be very brief. She drove 
 up under the elm -trees about eleven o'clock. 
 She must leave immediately after dinner. 
 
 Miss Maria, who always busy, was yet always 
 at leisure, sat down at once by her side on the
 
 398 
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 sofa, took the tired child right into her arms, 
 and heard the unfolding of the new plans with 
 many a tender caress. Miss Prescott shortened 
 her last morning recitation to join the council, 
 and said wise and comforting, things in her own 
 precious, quiet way. 
 
 " It is all settled now. There is only the get- 
 ting ready," thought Helen, as they left her 
 alone for a moment before dinner, and she look- 
 ed up into the arches as she had looked into 
 them from the same window four years ago 
 when she first came to school. Ah, well, things 
 were new then. Things are new now. I shall 
 go through these as I went through those. And 
 be happy, too ? Yes, and be happy, too. 
 
 She asked about Professor Wright. He had 
 not come home yet, but was expected soon 
 next week, probably. 
 
 " Please give my good-bye to him," she said, 
 and privately resolved that she would write a 
 little letter and tell him how sorry she was about 
 the Greek lessons. 
 
 The news of Miss Roberts's contemplated de- 
 parture spread rapidly, as news would spread 
 even in well-bred X . Happily, almost every- 
 body thought she was going abroad, and con-
 
 MISS ItOBKRTX 1< OR TUNE. 
 
 399 
 
 gratulated, while they politely deplored, accord- 
 ingly. She was wicked enough not always to 
 set people right on this point. Some, however, 
 learned the true state of the case, and more a 
 part of it. 
 
 " Katy Mitchell tells me you are not going 
 with them," said Mrs. Solomon Jones, meeting 
 Helen at Haberdasher's. Where are you going, 
 dear?" 
 
 " Oh, to ' the land east of the sun and west of 
 the moon,' " said Helen, laughing. " I don't 
 know yet all I shall do before Harry comes 
 home. I'm going to look about a little and see 
 what there is out of X ." 
 
 " Yes, that's just it," said the ready lady, sym- 
 pathetically, " in search of a new sensation. 
 One does get so bored going over the same old 
 track ; and you've been abroad once or twice, I 
 believe (which was a mistake, by the way). * I 
 was telling Mr. Jones the other day that I should 
 certainly die of ennui if that Pacific Railway 
 were not finished this summer." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Parley heard the news, of course. 
 By diligent and persistent efforts he had got the 
 whole story, or as much as she knew of it, out of 
 Miss Hurlburt. He came around at once. Morn-
 
 4QO MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 ing calls were quite the thing at X , and, if 
 
 they had not been, the minister would have call- 
 ed all the same. " Moral heroism," " nobility of 
 character," "loftiness of spirit" these were 
 poor and tame words to express this gentleman's 
 conception of the step Miss Roberts was about 
 to take. But he was afraid it was a mistaken 
 zeal. Would she not consider? A young lady 
 so delicately brought up an influence so much 
 needed in higher circles. 
 
 " We cannot spare you, Miss Roberts. The 
 church needs you. I need you." The brisk, 
 little man had grown very red and excited, and 
 now clasped his hands and dropped pathetically 
 on his knees before her. 
 
 " Oh, please don't, Mr. Parley. Indeed I am 
 very busy this morning. I believe you must 
 excuse me. I will see you again," cried Helen, 
 rising, arid almost as red as the minister. 
 
 But Mr. Parley did, and five minutes after- 
 wards walked down the avenue a sadder and a 
 wiser man. 
 
 Miss Roberts was busy to be sure. Her school 
 was to begin the very first of October. Harry 
 was to sail with the Mitchells some days be- 
 fore that. With a hundred housewifely cares
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 401 
 
 on her face, and arrayed, in what Mitty used to 
 call " riggimentals," the young lady explored 
 the house from garret to cellar, putting closets 
 in order, packing away choice things, and taking 
 an inventory of all her possessions. 
 
 One morning she was sitting on the parlor 
 floor in the midst of various piles of music, when 
 that thing happened which often happens in 
 story-books and occasionally in real life. The 
 door suddenly opened and a tall gentleman walk- 
 ed in. Bridget, brushing the door -blinds, had 
 admitted him without a word of warning. To 
 tell the truth, Miss Roberts was too pleased to 
 think much about the " riggimentals." The 
 " little letter," though it was a very little and 
 simple one, had.brought the good professor down 
 to say good-bye. He could stay but a few hours. 
 Perhaps that was too long, for she must be very 
 busy. 
 
 " I am not busy at all, so long as you can stay," 
 she said, honestly, and was very much ashamed 
 of herself the next instant for being so ridicul- 
 ously honest. " There is a piano in the school- 
 room, and I am looking out some music to take 
 with me," she added, nonchalantly. 
 
 The tall professor bent over the piano with her
 
 4O2 
 
 MISS ROBERTS FORTUNE. 
 
 and helped in the looking out. Then he sat 
 down near her to talk. He was, as usual, kind 
 and grave, kinder than usual, indeed : and 
 though he seemed sorry, too, about the Greek 
 lessons, less grave than she had sometimes seen 
 him. 
 
 He asked such friendly and interested ques- 
 tions about her plans and Harry's, and, before 
 long, she found herself talking very freely to 
 him, more freely almost than she had talked with 
 Miss Prescott and Miss Maria. 
 
 He listened with a face growing kinder and 
 kinder. Somehow it seemed the most natural 
 thing in the world for her to be telling him 
 about her affairs, and he gave her very strongly 
 this morning that feeling of being taken care of 
 that he had given her sometimes before. The 
 brown eyes looked into his, child-like and con- 
 fident. At the same time, there was never so 
 much womanliness and strength in them. 
 
 " It seemed the right thing to do, and I am 
 sure I shall enjoy it," she said, at the end of the 
 long, familiar talk. 
 
 The professor rose and paced slowly up and 
 down the long room for answer. When he 
 came back, he asked particularly about the com-
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 403 
 
 forts she had provided for her winter. Had she 
 reading enough, and of the right kind ? No ; 
 she must not take her German books. Such 
 times were no times for hard study. She must 
 have books of poetry and fiction, and plenty of 
 current literature. Was there a boat on the 
 place ? Was Rufus going ? 
 
 She answered doubtfully about Rufus, but 
 Mrs. Ames had said there was a boat. 
 
 " And now I am going to ask you to sing for 
 me, if you are not too tired. Some of the old 
 Oxford pieces." 
 
 He looked over the music himself and found 
 them. " Only one more," he said at last, and he 
 placed it before her. It was that simple, sweet 
 aria from " Elijah," " Oh, trust in the Lord, wait 
 patiently for Him, and He shall give thee thy 
 heart's desire." Helen was always very fond of 
 it, yet somehow she would rather not have tried 
 it to-day. The words would catch in her throat 
 a little towards the last. Her voice would not 
 keep quite steady, and when she was done, it was 
 hard to look up at once. Professor Wright had 
 sat near her, with his head bowed and resting 
 on his hands. There was something very quiet 
 and beautiful in his plain face as he rose, when
 
 404 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 she had done, and stepped towards the singer. 
 He laid his broad hand on her forehead, and 
 then stooped and kissed her there. 
 
 " The Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord 
 make his face to shine upon thee ; the Lord lift 
 up the light of his countenance upon thee, and 
 give thee peace,'' he said, in his solemn voice. 
 
 It was a face very full of peace that lifted it- 
 self after a little hushed pause. It was a voice 
 that had a wonderful quality of brightness in it 
 that said : 
 
 " And now, Professor Wright, if you must go 
 by that train, it is time to be moving. Harry 
 and I are going out directly after dinner, and we 
 will take you down." 
 
 She left him, and Harry soon came in. There 
 was a quiet cheeriness at that little dinner-table, 
 that was noticeable even to the waiting Bridget. 
 Nobody talked a great deal, but Harry's face was 
 bright with his new prospects, and the two oth- 
 ers had a kind of calm sunshine on them, like 
 that which the September fields showed without. 
 
 The carriage was at the door when they were 
 done, and they went to the train at once. They 
 said good-bye with clear and quiet voices. The 
 professor dropped into the first seat in the car he
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 405 
 
 entered, and looked out to see the waving of a 
 small, brown-gloved hand, and Harry's merry 
 bow as he moved away. 
 
 All through the day and all through the week, 
 that peace remained on Helen Roberts' face. Her 
 eyes kept that clear, deep look. Her voice kept 
 that wonderful quality of brightness. Harry had 
 never seen so much in her face to love as when 
 he looked at her last from the deck of the Ocean- 
 tea, and wiped the not unmanly tears from his 
 handsome eyes. 
 
 The Mitchells said, " How bright she looks ! 
 I hope she will enjoy it as much as she expects 
 to." 
 
 " You needn't tell me," said Miss Hurlbnrt to 
 her clock and her kittens, the night after the girls 
 had started, " you needn't tell me. If ever any- 
 body was being set apart, and made meet, and 
 led right straight along, it's that dear child. 
 Such a light as there was in her face to-day, and 
 such a voice ! I know very well that such clear 
 skies don't come without some thunder-storms. 
 And yet I don't understand it. His ways are 
 past finding out sometimes. And there's that 
 good man. Why, I saw how it was just as plain 
 as daylight. I saw it in his face the minute I
 
 406 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 spoke her name. And when she came in, how 
 he watched her, and how hungry his eyes looked ! 
 I've seen such things before. And she, little un- 
 conscious lamb, never thought of such a thing ! 
 But I know how 'tis well enough, for when I told 
 her how I liked his sermons, her face grew just 
 as bright and rosy and her eyes shone, and she 
 didn't say a single word. Such a blessed good 
 man as he is, too ! I declare it's a mystery to 
 me. But I guess the Lord knows his own busi- 
 ness. He's taken care of you for pretty nigh 
 fifty years, Jerushy Hurlburt, and it's a pretty 
 time of day for you to begin to distrust him 
 now." 
 
 Helen's own thoughts the next day on the 
 windy deck of the southward bound steamer, 
 were not unlike Miss Hurlburt's of the night be- 
 fore. Only she did not express them in just the 
 same way. She was not altogether conscious of 
 them as her own thoughts at all, but singing 
 through her head, all the morning long, went 
 the words of one of her favorite poems : 
 
 " The wind ahead, the billows high, 
 A whited wave but sable sky, 
 And many a league of tossing sea 
 Jktwccn the hearts I love and me.
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " The wind ahead : day after day 
 These weary words the sailors say ; 
 To weeks the days are lengthened now 
 Still mounts the surge to meet our prow. 
 
 " Through longing day and lingering night 
 I still accuse Time's lagging flight, 
 Or gaze out o'er the envious sea, 
 That keeps the hearts I love from me. 
 
 ' Yet, ah, how shallow is all grief ! 
 How instant is the deep relief ! 
 And what a hypocrite am I, 
 To feign forlorn, to 'plain and sigh ! 
 
 ' The wind ahead ? The wind is free ! 
 Forever more it favoreth me 
 To shores of God still blowing fair, 
 O'er seas of God my bark doth bear. 
 
 'This surging brine /do not sail, 
 This blast adverse is not my gale ; 
 'Tis here I only seem to be, 
 But really sail another sea ; 
 
 ' Another sea, pure sky its waves, 
 Whose beauty hides no heaving graves 
 A sea all haven, whereupon 
 No hapless bark to wreck hath gone. 
 
 ' The winds that o'er my ocean run 
 Reach through all heavens beyond the sun ; 
 Through life and death, through fate, through time, 
 Grand breaths of God they sweep sublime 
 
 ' Eternal trades, they cannot veer 
 And blowing, teach us how to stoer. 
 Ah ! well for him whose jov, whose care, 
 Is but to keep before them fair. 
 
 407
 
 4 o8 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 " Oh, thou, God's mariner, heart of mine, 
 Spread canvas to the airs divine ! 
 Spread sail ! and let thy Fortune be 
 Forgotten in thy Destiny !" 
 
 " So life must live, and soul must sail, 
 And Unseen over Seen prevail, 
 And all God's argosies come to shore, 
 Let ocean smile, or rage and roar. 
 
 " And so, 'mid storm or calm, my bark 
 With snowy wake still nears her mark ; 
 Cheerly the trades of being flow, 
 And sweeping down the wind I go ?" 
 
 Over and over, over and over, to the music of 
 the engine as it pulled steadily on through the 
 resisting water, she said the words to herself: 
 
 " Ah ! well for him whose joy, whose care, 
 Is but to keep before them fair. 
 
 " Cheerly the trades of being blow, 
 And sweeping down the wind I go ?" 
 
 She was alone, except for a few gentlemen, 
 with her hat tied tightly down by her blue veil, 
 and her water-proof wrapped about her. Susy 
 was not much of a sailor, and if a brand new 
 photograph of a pleasant-faced young man (which 
 she was observed to cover up whenever anybody 
 approached) be supposed to be good company,
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 409 
 
 was not much in need of Helen's society in her 
 state-room. 
 
 After dinner people began to creep out. More 
 gentlemen came with bad cigars and worse poli- 
 tics. Handsomely dressed ladies came, shivered 
 a few minutes, and went away. Strong-minded 
 looking women came, planted themselves firmly 
 on the little slippery stools, and remained. One 
 of them who sat near Helen and had very dingy 
 fingers, made a desk of her traveling-bag and 
 began to write. Others opened wise-looking 
 books and read. Two plain women, who did 
 none of these things, but sat wrapped in their 
 long water-proofs, and occasionally exchanged a 
 quiet word together, attracted Helen's attention 
 singularly. She found her eyes drawn toward 
 them often. There was something familiar in 
 their plain, good faces. Presently she became 
 conscious that they were speaking of her. Their 
 eyes met again, and one of them rose and came 
 toward her. Of course, she knew them then. 
 They were Miss Smith and Miss Peck, of Plato- 
 ville memory. How oddly familiar their little 
 ways and sayings seemed ! How old it made 
 her feel ! They were on their way South, too. 
 They had been three years now in " the work." 
 18
 
 410 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 Two simple, hard-working, useful women. Miss 
 Smith, behind her spectacles, wore a happy face. 
 Miss Peck's wistful eyes looked satisfied. 
 
 " Do tell me about Platoville," said Helen. 
 
 They told about the new church and the iron 
 fence around the common. 
 
 " How is Mr. Green ?" 
 
 Miss Smith and Miss Peck looked at one an- 
 other in a kind of horror. 
 
 " Haven't you heard ?" at length said Miss 
 Smith, under her breath. 
 
 " I have heard nothing since I left there." 
 
 " Why, Mr. Green he's been two years in the 
 penitentiary. It's a dreadful thing." 
 
 " What did he do?" asked Helen. 
 
 " He was accused of forgery. I believe they 
 didn't prove that against him, but he was com- 
 mitted on a charge of selling prize boxes contain- 
 ing counterfeit ten-cent pieces and poisonous 
 candy. He will be out next year." 
 
 " It was a great shock to the entire commu- 
 nity," said Miss Peck. 
 
 " What has become of Mrs. Green ?" asked 
 Helen. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Green died a year before this hap- 
 pened."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 411 
 
 " And Mary ?" 
 
 " Mary ran away from home with a young fel- 
 low who came up from the city one summer. 
 He turned out to be a scoundrel, and she lives a 
 miserable life." 
 
 "And Bobby?" 
 
 " Bobby is the worst boy in the village. Every- 
 body is afraid of him. He is as wild and bad as 
 a boy can be." , 
 
 " ' The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they 
 grind exceeding small/ " thought Helen. " I'm 
 glad that poor woman is at rest any way." 
 
 That night they steamed into a region of storms. 
 The wretchedness of the next twenty-four hours ! 
 The weariness of that gray, rough water that 
 looked in through their little window. The 
 pitchings and the tossings. The despair with 
 which the girls sat and looked at each other, as 
 their hair-brushes and boots and all the smaller 
 articles of the toilet, chased each other across the 
 state-room floor, and their traveling-bags resisted 
 all attempts at packing. 
 
 Susy, who had a way of coming out strong 
 under difficulties, was the first to rally, and was 
 as helpful as possible to Helen. They were to 
 reach their destination at three o'clock in the
 
 412 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 morning. The stewards fairly carried them 
 down the pitching stair -case, and deposited 
 them tenderly among sacks of meal and mo- 
 lasses casks. 
 
 Out on the pier in the cold, gray morning 
 the waves plashing loudly all around, the wind 
 blowing, the lighted steamer making off in its 
 heavy way as fast as possible ; not another 
 creature that suggested life to be seen or heard. 
 The girls sat down on their trunks and looked at 
 each other. 
 
 " We are on a raft, floating off to the end of 
 the world," said Susy. 
 
 But, presently, there was a tramp of horses at 
 the end of the long pier. A black spot appeared 
 in the gray, and out of the dimness came a high 
 wagon with two figures on the front seat, and 
 shawls and wraps hanging from it in grotesque 
 confusion. 
 
 " So sorry to be a moment late," said the doc- 
 tor, coming out with a bound. " Miss Roberts, 
 I presume, and Miss Converse ? Bundle your- 
 selves right in, ladies. Here, you, two trunks. 
 Chilly mornings, very, and a dreadful place to 
 get to, this, I don't doubt yon are thinking. 
 Now, will you come to breakfast in a bachelor's
 
 MISS ROBER 7\S" FOR TUNE. 4 j 3 
 
 quarters, or will you go to Aunt Hepsy, in your 
 own barracks?" 
 
 The girls preferred to go to any place that 
 they could call their own. Aunt Hepsy had a 
 bright little fire, a cup of tea, and plenty of fresh 
 water. " Now, honeys, better not look 'round 
 till you've been to sleep. Time enough for that 
 when you get rested." 
 
 So, when the gray streak in the east was be- 
 ginning to be touched with pink, and the birds 
 were just waking up, the tired girls crept into 
 their little white beds. 
 
 It was a late breakfast-hour when Helen came 
 out. Susy, thrifty little soul, was up before her, 
 and doing what she could to give a home-like 
 look to things. The round breakfast-table, with 
 a white cloth, stood before an open window. 
 There was nothing like a vase to be found, but 
 Susy had filled a cup and saucer with morning- 
 glories, and aunty's toast and tea gave out invit- 
 ing odors. It was droll, as Mrs. Ames had said. 
 The rough pine boards of the old barracks had 
 been smoothed and oiled, and were adorned here 
 and there with small pictures and mottoes that 
 the Petersons had left. There were some rough 
 book-shelves waiting to be filled. There was a
 
 414 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 matting on the floor, and a lounge with a calico 
 cover, across the corner by the fireplace. The 
 woodbine made the prettiest of curtains at the 
 windows. Out of these windows, on the one side, 
 Helen saw the long, low, unpainted school-house ; 
 on the other, the blue waters of the bay. Before 
 the door, which opened directly out of the room, 
 stood a high pole with a heavy bell attached at 
 the top, to be rung by an arrangement somewhat 
 like an old-fashioned well-sweep. 
 
 "And where is our parish?" said Helen. 
 
 " Right out here," and they went to the door. 
 
 Susy pulled a spray of honeysuckle from above 
 their heads and twined it lovingly in her friend's 
 hair. Helen, resting both hands lightly on Su- 
 sy's arm, stood with the pretty, clinging grace 
 that was all her own, looking out on the strange, 
 new scene across the sparkling water, along 
 the line of dark pine woods, over settlements of 
 little brown houses, back to Susy's friendly eyes. 
 " My dear, I think we shall be very happy here. 
 Now let us have some breakfast." 
 
 The girls were very happy. In the first place, 
 there was the novelty, and the picturesqueness, 
 and the richness every way. When the old well- 
 sweep first performed its solemn duties under
 
 MISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 4x5 
 
 Susy's inexperienced hand, and the children came 
 flocking as thick as huckleberries in answer to the 
 bell, the animation of the young teachers knew 
 no bounds. The old barracks filled up, almost 
 instantly with eager, curious faces. It was so 
 altogether entertaining to get the little scraps of 
 personal history out of them as their names went 
 down in the big record-book. It was so alto- 
 gether impossible to remember their names. To 
 call upon Violetta Victoria Penelope Jackson, 
 looking hard at a certain individual in a certain 
 corner, and have the individual looked at meekly 
 rise and declare herself to be Britannia Aurelia 
 Maria Johnson, while the silent apparition of 
 Violetta Victoria loomed up in a distant part of 
 the room : this was simply an event of hourly 
 occurrence for the first few days. 
 
 Susy was invaluable in the school-room. She 
 had a thorough understanding of school machine- 
 ry, and was mistress of a thousand arts and de- 
 vices by which to make things run pleasantly 
 and smoothly. She marched the pupils out and 
 in in a wonderful way, while Helen played " Hail 
 Columbia" with all her might on the asthmatic 
 old piano. She got up the most delightful gen- 
 eral exercises, and gave object-lessons for which
 
 4 i 6 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 the pupils brought daily a diverting variety of 
 "objects." Helen, for her part, devoted herself 
 to the three R's and to the general business, and 
 for the first few weeks, at least, inclined to the 
 opinion that teaching was the most delightful em- 
 ployment in the world. 
 
 Altogether, a volume might be filled with the 
 rare, and curious, and funny, and pathetic things 
 the girls saw and heard that winter in their little 
 parish. But I have no idea of inflicting such a 
 volume on my gentle reader. 
 
 There were things outside of the people and 
 the work to be enjoyed. The country was 
 charming, notwithstanding the lack of hills. The 
 girls brought home armfuls -of yellow jessamine 
 and trumpet-creeper, when the snow lay over the 
 northern fields, and their room was fragrant with 
 roses at Christmas. Helen had no time to miss 
 Rufus, for about a week after she arrived the 
 doctor rode over one day with a white pony be- 
 hind him. The pony had been sent for Miss 
 Roberts, and Uncle Tom was to keep him close 
 by. A letter the next morning told more about 
 him. 
 
 "When a man six feet tall and a grave old
 
 M2SS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 theologue at that, comes into possession of a little 
 white pony, pray what is he to do but to get some 
 of his friends to take it off his hands? I hope 
 you and Silver will like each other well, and 
 have some pleasant times together, and I think 
 you will pardon me if, in my desire that this 
 should be so, I have taken a liberty." 
 
 Then the water, right out of their windows 
 always there, never the same. Sometimes it 
 was a sheet of blue and silver sometimes a liv- 
 ing sapphire sometimes flashing steel. Some- 
 times it was black and angry, with the white- 
 capped waves tumbling over each other in a 
 tumult. Sometimes it was a dull gray, silent as 
 death, and the mist lying like a thin veil over its 
 cheek. Sometimes, at sunset, it was clear, pure 
 gold ; again it was mother-of-pearl. Sometimes 
 the little oyster-boats went out of the bay, their 
 sails all tipped with rose-color. Sometimes they 
 were white -winged birds, flying home on the 
 evening breeze. There was inexpressible com- 
 fort and company in it, and the girls learned to 
 watch it and know its moods as one does those 
 of a favorite child. 
 
 Everybody was so good about letters, too. 
 1 8*
 
 4 1 8 AfISS ROBER TS' FOR TUNE. 
 
 Quite out of the world, though they were, their 
 friends in the world did not forget them. Dear 
 Miss Prescott had never written such long and 
 delightful letters. Miss Maria had the most 
 amusing things to tell. Miss Hurlburt really 
 neglected her kittens, and devoted all her spare 
 moments to getting down the news for the 
 girls. 
 
 A few words in a letter from Lily, one day, 
 made Helen very thankful and happy. " And, 
 Helen, dear, I want to tell you what first made 
 me think so much more about these things. Do 
 you remember the words you said to me one 
 night in my room, before I was married? I 
 never forgot them. I kept thinking of them, 
 and could not banish them from my mind. At 
 last I told Henry all about it, and we resolved 
 that we would begin together, and try to lead 
 better lives. He has helped me so much, Helen, 
 and I try to help him, too ; and this precious 
 little baby, that God has sent us, will help both 
 of us." 
 
 Dora also wrote, and more than once. She 
 was still at the head of her flourishing school. 
 " But next year," she said, " I want to go there 
 with you. Father is doing so well that there is
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 no need of my making money, and I'm going in 
 now for variety and fun. You've no idea what 
 a capital school ma 'am I am, so don't refuse my 
 services till you've tried me. You wonder why 
 you don't get any of those tracts now-a-days. 
 You need n't be saucy, Miss. The fact is, two 
 or three years of good hard work is the best 
 cure I know for some kinds of fevers. I still go 
 in for equal pay and property privileges, and all 
 that ; but when it comes to talking about wom- 
 an's mission and woman's work, there's enough 
 of that, in all conscience, and I'm not anxious to 
 add to it." 
 
 Besides the letters there were papers and pe- 
 riodicals and books of all kinds. How they did 
 come in ! All the new books that were worth 
 reading, all the best magazines, all the illustrated 
 papers. Helen's table had never been so full of 
 them. The greater number of these things bore 
 the Oxford postmark, and were directed in a 
 large, familiar hand. One or two letters in the 
 same hand, also came during the winter, and 
 such good letters. Not long, but with a great 
 deal in them ; not learned, but full of the choicest 
 wisdom ; not funny, but brightening one up in- 
 describably touching everything, books, poli-
 
 420 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 tics, local gossip, even, with a bold, strong hon- 
 est pen, and, above all, with a delightful sense of 
 friendliness all through them. 
 
 It would seem that it might have been a happy 
 winter, and, indeed, it was. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, there would be weary days. Sometimes 
 there would come a sinking, hungry, utterly des- 
 olate feeling. Peace is sweet, yet human hearts 
 can know more joyous things and sometimes 
 cry out for them. 
 
 At these times the best cure was to go off 
 over the water in the little boat, alone, except 
 for the quiet oarsman, and under the pitying, 
 bending heavens. For hours they would sail on 
 and on. 
 
 "Not quite yet, Uncle Tom, don't take me 
 back quite yet, it is so beautiful out here." 
 
 Sometimes they would go quite across the bay 
 to the old cemetery among the pines. This was 
 a favorite place with both the girls. The paths 
 were tangles of rich, trailing vines. The trees 
 were hung with long, heavy moss. The desert- 
 ed graves lay desolate, and the eternal sea sang 
 at their feet. 
 
 Here, sometimes, Helen would sit for hours, 
 the sea and the pitying heavens speaking softly
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 421 
 
 to her soul. And peace would come back, 
 that peace which was to be her portion now, 
 that peace which ought to make her life so rich 
 and sweet. 
 
 Susy, in these hard times, as at all times, was 
 the best and kindest of friends. Her own heart 
 had its joys and sorrows, too. The letters, which 
 came almost every day (and had Haberdasher 
 and Williams on their envelopes now), were un- 
 doubtedly very welcome ; but she would sit 
 sometimes, long after reading them, and look 
 out with a grave face over the sea. It was al- 
 most too bad to come away just then. It was 
 pretty hard, and Charley had certainly been very 
 good about it. 
 
 One morning, after the brief southern winter 
 was fairly over, when they had had the summer 
 birds with them a month, and roses and honey- 
 suckle's were on their breakfast-table, Susy's let- 
 ter wa r s longer than usual, and left a strange, 
 flushed, half- pleased, half - troubled look on her 
 face after the reading. 
 
 Helen, who had nothing but a newspaper this 
 morning, and was lazily sipping her coffee, could 
 not help noticing the look, and all the more 
 when Susy tried very hard to be unconscious,
 
 4 22 M fss ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 and said something carelessly about being glad 
 that it was Saturday. The flush deepened and 
 the trouble increased at Helen's glance, and, at 
 length, Susy rose hastily and went to the door. 
 Once the reserved Miss Roberts would have 
 thought it intrusion to inquire into the matter. 
 As it was, she hesitated a little, but presently 
 followed her friend to the door. 
 
 " What is it, Susy ? Is it any thing you can 
 tell me?" 
 
 Susy turned around, kissed her, cried a little, 
 laughed a little, and finally opened the letter 
 and showed her a page. 
 
 " There, you may see what he says. Of course, 
 I sha'n't do it, though." 
 
 Helen read, her face growing bright and 
 pleased : 
 
 " Now, Susy, I afn going to ask a very great 
 thing of you. I hope you will be willing to 
 grant it. I am to go South on business for the 
 firm next month, I shall stop and see you, of 
 course, and I want I want very much, dear 
 Susy to take you home with me. Now don't 
 be shocked and say it is impossible, the first 
 thing. Just think of it, please. I know you are 
 a sensible girl, and have no foolish ideas about
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 423 
 
 millinery and that sort of thing. Never mind 
 
 about that. There's plenty of that in X , you 
 
 know. And I can have our little house all ready 
 for you. I have seen one to-day that is just the r 
 thing. If it were not so near the end of the 
 term, I would not ask so great a favor of Miss 
 Roberts, but it seems to me she can get along, 
 somehow, through the remaining six weeks. 
 Don't you think she can ? Please ask her for 
 me." 
 
 " Of course, I sha'n't do any such thing," reite- 
 rated Susy, when Helen looked up. " In the 
 first place, I would n't leave you for anything." 
 
 " Of course, you sha'n't. Of course, you shall, 
 my dear. I can get along beautifully. I'll give 
 the little classes to Violetta, and attend to the 
 rest myself. Why, you have no idea how smart 
 I am. You've done so much that you've given 
 me no chance. And it will be the nicest thing. 
 I shall have a chance to wear my finery, and 
 what a day it will be for the little brown houses. 
 I shall write to Mr. Williams myself this very 
 day. And, Susy, do you see now what that 
 lavender poplin was for ?" 
 
 So Susy did it. The minister from across the 
 bay sailed over in a little white boat to perform
 
 424 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 the ceremony. The doctor came, of course. 
 The school children crowded around the little 
 room, and looked in at the low windows. The 
 bride and bridegroom stood before one of the 
 woodbine curtains, and the blue water made a 
 pretty back-ground. Out of the door, under 
 the trees, the long tables held generous supplies 
 of cake and candy for the whole little community, 
 and if ever anybody has a prettier wedding, may 
 I be there to see. 
 
 After Susy had gone, Helen was wonderfully 
 brave and light-hearted. School went on well, 
 and everything prospered. Hard work suited 
 her she believed. She was as happy as a child. 
 
 But towards the close of the term troubles 
 came ; real and serious troubles. The summer 
 grew hot and oppressive. The rains delayed to 
 come. The south wind blew fiery and pestilent. 
 Sickness crept into the little community, fever 
 of a malignant kind. There was death in some 
 of the little brown houses almost every day. 
 The school grew very thin, but Helen had the 
 bell rung every day, and the few children that 
 collected were left under the care of Violetta, 
 while she and Silver were on their sad and 
 weary rounds through the hot and crowded
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 425 
 
 alleys of the wretched little settlement. Tales 
 of misery and horror grew familiar to her eyes 
 and ears, new and hard lessons were to be learn- 
 ed in these dreadful days. The doctor came 
 over and took up quarters in an unappropriated 
 apartment of the school-house. He worked hard 
 and faithfully for the suffering people. He look- 
 ed carefully in Helen's face every morning, felt 
 her pulse, and gave her occasionally some little 
 preventive. But through all this fearful time she 
 was perfectly well, and very brave and happy. 
 For three weeks the sickness continued. Then 
 the blessed north wind came and brought a heal- 
 ing breath. The long, sad lines of mourners 
 walking across the burning fields to the little 
 cemetery grew less frequent. The sick ones 
 crept out into the air and light. The school filled 
 up. The doctor told Helen good-bye, and rode 
 off home again. There were only one or two 
 lingering cases now, and Helen knew perfectly 
 well what to do for them. The trouble was over, 
 and Helen, with a heart all the braver for its 
 thankfulness, took up the remaining work of the 
 term. 
 
 The doctor had been gone but a day or two, 
 when Helen lay on her lounge one evening with
 
 426 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 a fresh "Atlantic" in her hand. She had been 
 trying to read, but the sweet odors and the 
 softened sounds of the summer evening had 
 something in them to keep her mind awake, and 
 she found the next day that only a leaf or two 
 had been cut. Aunt Hepsy was sitting on her 
 kitchen door-step singing, the sea flashed with a 
 low, pleasant sound against the shore, and she 
 heard the distant whistle of the evening steamer 
 coming down the bay. She thought of the mail 
 it was bringing. It was time to hear from Ox- 
 ford again. What had become of Miss Pres- 
 cott? 
 
 It was nearly nine o'clock when there came 
 a knock at her door. " Uncle Tom to tell me 
 that that poor baby is dead," thought Helen ; 
 "Come in." And the door opened. But it was 
 not Uncle Tom. 
 
 " Oh, Professor Wright !" The professor did 
 not say a word, but put down his little black 
 bag, crossed the floor at a stride, and took both 
 her hands as she rose to meet him. " Why, how 
 astonished I am, and how glad I am," said Helen, 
 with a face like sunshine. " Did you come on 
 that boat? And I was wondering if it had any 
 letters for me."
 
 MISS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 427 
 
 There are times when it is n't easy for a man 
 to speak, and then the professor was naturally 
 awkward, as we know very well. All that he 
 seemed capable of was to utter one or two inar- 
 ticulate words at first, and then to ask questions. 
 
 "Are you well?" he said, looking deep down 
 into Helen's brown eyes. 
 
 '* Yes, sir, perfectly well," said Helen, growing 
 suddenly a little nervous, and very much at a 
 loss for anything to say by way of filling up the 
 pause that ensued. 
 
 " Are you very glad to see me ?" looking still 
 deeper. 
 
 " Yes, and I'm going to prove it by getting 
 you a cup of tea," said the young lady, starting 
 off. The professor protested. 
 
 " Oh, I know all about those steamboat sup- 
 pers. Do you suppose I am going to have my 
 friends come to see me and not offer them the 
 hospitalities of my humble cabin. Aunty " 
 and she vanished. 
 
 Helen was very busy and very lively when 
 she came back, and aunty dropped her deepest 
 curtsey at the stranger when she came in with 
 the toast and tea. It was a cosy little repast at 
 the round table in the corner. The professor re-
 
 428 MfSS ROBERTS' FORTUNE. 
 
 covered from his dazed condition and ate and 
 drank like a hungry man that he was, and told 
 the latest news from Oxford, and stated, a little 
 to" Helen's surprise, that he had not delivered 
 
 those lectures in X last winter. 
 
 After tea they had a long talk. When at last 
 he rose to go (aunty had made a place for him in 
 the doctor's deserted quarters), the good man 
 once more laid his hand on Helen's brown hair, 
 and kissed and blessed her on the forehead. 
 Then, throwing a strong arm around the slender 
 figure, " I would not tell you these things a year 
 ago," he said, " because I so honored and rever- 
 enced in my heart the loving spirit that had 
 taken this service upon itself, I would not dis- 
 turb it by a perhaps unwelcome thought of me. 
 I thought that God would have me share the 
 sacrifice by giving up this great desire and hope 
 one year longer ; and I prayed Him that if He 
 willed to give me this blessing, He would keep 
 my treasure for me." 
 
 THE END.

 
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