to venture there is thirty dollars there, Sir. The neighbors in these parts are very kind to a poor man; one will draw the timber, and another will saw the boards, and they will all come to raising, and bring their own spirits into the bargain. Oh, Sir, it must be a poor shack that can't make a turn to get a house over his head."

Mr. Lloyd took ten dollars from his pocket-book, and slipping it into the gap, said, "There is a small sum, my friend, and I wish it may be so expended as to give to thy new dwelling such conveniences as will enable thy wife to keep it neat. It will help on the trade, too; for depend upon it, there is nothing makes a house look so inviting to a traveller as cleanliness and order."

Our mountaineer's indifference was vanquished by so valuable a donation. "You are the most gin'rous man, Sir," said he, "that ever journeyed this way; and if I don't remember your advice, you may say there is no such thing as gratitude upon earth."

By this time the rain had subsided, the clouds were rolling over, the merry notes of the birds sallying from their shelters, welcomed the returning rays of the sun, and the deep, unclouded azure in the west promised a delightful afternoon.

The travellers took a kind leave of the grateful cottagers, and as they drove away-" Tempy," said the husband, "if the days of miracles weren't quite entirely gone by, I should think we had 'entertained angels unawares.'"

"I think you might better say," replied the good woman, "that the angels have entertained us; any how, that sick lady will be an angel before long; she looks as good and as beautiful as one now."

It was on the evening of this day, that Mr. and Mrs.

Lloyd arrived at the inn in the village of

which, as we have before stated, was the scene where her excellent and innocent life closed. She expressed a desire that she might not be removed; she wished not to have the peace of her mind interrupted by any unnecessary agitation. Whenever she felt herself a little better, she would pass a part of the day in riding. Never did any one in the full flush of health enjoy more than she, from communion with her Heavenly Father, through the visible creation. She read with understanding the revelations of his goodness, in the varied expressions of nature's beautiful face.

"Do you know," said she to her husband, "that I prefer the narrow vales of the Housatonic to the broader lands of the Connecticut? It certainly matters little where our dust is laid, if it be consecrated by Him who is the 'resurrection and the life;' but I derive a pleasure which I could not have conceived of, from the expectation of having my body repose in this still valley, under the shadow of that beautiful hill."

"I, too, prefer this scenery," said Mr. Lloyd, seeking to turn the conversation, for he could not yet but contemplate with dread, what his courageous wife spoke of with a tone of cheerfulness. "I prefer it, because it has a more domestic aspect. There is, too, a more perfect and intimate union of the sublime and beautiful. These mountains that surround us, and are so near to us on every side, seem to me like natural barriers, by which the Father has secured for His children the gardens He has planted for them by the river's side."

"Yes," said Rebecca, "and methinks they inclose a sanctuary, a temple, from which the brightness of His presence is never withdrawn. Look," said she, as the carriage passed over a hill that rose above the valley, and was a crown of

beauty to it; "look, how gracefully and modestly that beautiful stream winds along under the broad shadows of those trees and clustering vines, as if it sought to hide the beauty that sparkles so brightly whenever a beam of light touches it. Oh! my Rebecca," said she, turning fondly to her child, "I could wish thy path led along these still waters, far from the stormy waves of the rude world-far from its 'vanities and vexation of spirit.""

"If that is thy wish, my love," said her husband, looking earnestly at her, "it shall be a law to me."

Mrs. Lloyd's tranquillity had been swept away for a moment, by the rush of thought that was produced by casting her mind forward to the destiny of her child; but it was only for a moment. Hers was the trust of a mind long and thoroughly disciplined by Christian principles. Her face resumed its wonted repose, as she said, "Dear Robert, I * have no wish but to leave all to thy discretion, under the guidance of the Lord."

It cannot be deemed strange that Mr. Lloyd should have · felt a particular interest in scenes for which his wife had expressed such a partiality. He looked upon them with much the same feeling that the sight of a person awakens who has been loved by a departed friend. They seemed to have a sympathy for him; and he lingered at - without

forming any plan for the future, till he was roused from his inactivity by hearing the sale of Mr. Elton's property spoken of. He had passed the place with Rebecca, and they had together admired its secluded and picturesque situation. The house stood at a little distance from the road, more than half hid by two patriarchal elms. Behind the house, the grounds descended gradually to the Housatonic, whose nourishing dews kept them arrayed in beautiful verdure.

On the opposite side of the river, and from its very margin, rose a precipitous mountain, with its rich garniture of beach, maple, and linden; tree surmounting tree, and the images of all sent back by the clear mirror below.

Mr. Lloyd had no family ties to Philadelphia. He preferred a country life; not supinely to dream away existence, but he hoped there to cultivate and employ a "talent for doing good;" that talent which a noble adventurer declared he most valued, and which, though there is a field for its exercise wherever any members of the human family are, he compassed sea and land to find new worlds in which to expend it.

Mr. Lloyd purchased the place and furniture, precisely as it had been left on the morning of the sale by Jane and her friend Mary.

CHAPTER IV.

She, half an angel in her own account,
Doubts not hereafter with the saints to mount,
Though not a grace appears on strictest search,
But that she fasts, and item, goes to church.

COWPER.

THE excellent character of Mary Hull had been spoken of to Mr. Lloyd by his landlady, and he was convinced that she was precisely the person to whom he should be satisfied to commit the superintendence of his family. Accordingly, on the evening of the sale, he sent a messenger to Mrs. Wilson's with the following note:

"Robert Lloyd, having purchased the place of the late Mr. Elton, would be glad to engage Mary Hull to take charge of his family. Wages, and all other matters, shall be arranged to her satisfaction. He takes the liberty to send by the bearer, for Jane Elton, a work-box, dressing-glass, and a few other small articles, for which he has no use, and which must have to her a value from association with her late residence."

Mrs. Wilson had no notion that any right could be prior to hers in her house. She took the note from the servant,