nd that it
lead to a well of pure water only a little way off. Below this was a
swamp surrounded by a luxuriant growth of asters of every hue, and white
and pink spirea and golden rod, and blue iris, and the delicate,
rose-colored arethusa, and the blue fringed gentian abounded on every
hand; also shrubs of the bayberry, wild rose and sweet brier, with many
beautiful ferns.

By Mrs. Carleton's refined taste the green parlor was soon transformed
into a fairy bower. The autumn sunshine sent a flood of golden light
over all, and the child, dressed in its fresh white attire, was
baptized, and Miss Vyvyan was its godmother. The ceremony was just over
and the latter lady was still standing with the child in her arms,
beside a large crystal bowl which was placed on the table and embedded
in green moss and wreathed round the top with white roses. It contained
the water from which the child had received the symbol of the Christian
church.

"Now," said Mrs. Carleton, "I wish to say to you, Miss Vyvyan, that from
this day Cora belongs to both of us, to you as well as to myself; she
will henceforth be _our_ child. I want you to have someone you can speak
of as 'mine.' I am thankful that I never knew what it was to be without
someone of my own to love, who was near to me, but I can picture to
myself what a death in life such an existence must be to those who have
to endure the separation, and I should feel very selfish if I did not
divide my happiness with you."

"I do not know how to answer you," said Miss Vyvyan. "I cannot say what
I wish to. Will you grant me one more kindness; that is, let Cora always
call me by my name, Anna, and you do the same. It is more than three
years since anyone called me Anna; there is no one left to do so."

"I will," said Mrs. Carleton, "and to you I must be Ada, for so I am
named. I am glad that you are pleased at having Cora for your godchild.
I thought you would be; that was a little plan of mine. I wanted to do
something to make you feel happier."

Gentle, loving Ada, always thinking of the good she could do to others,
always self-abnegating, always giving up her own happiness that others
might receive pleasure; even in the midst of grief, bereavement and
exile, devising means to cheer a life that she saw was more lonely than
her own--such was her character.

The position in which Miss Vyvyan now stood as Cora's godmother created
a sincere bond of friendship between the two ladies, which a