ure to you, speak
on."

"What was it that Janet said that made you sigh so drearily just now?"
asked Will.

Graeme would have liked the conversation to take any other turn rather
than that, but she said, gently,--

"I think my smile must have been for what Janet said. I am sure I
laughed heartily enough when she said it to me so long ago. I suppose I
sighed to think that what she said has come true."

"What was it, Graeme?"

"Oh! I can hardly tell you--something about the changes that come to us
as we grow older, and how vain it is to think we can avoid our fate."

"Our fate?" repeated Will.

"Oh, yes! I mean there are troubles--and pleasures, too, that we can't
foresee--that take us at unawares, and we have just to make the best of
them when they come."

"I don't think I quite understand you, Graeme."

"No, I daresay not; and it is not absolutely necessary that you
should,--in the connection. But I am sure a great many pleasant things
that we did not expect, have happened to us since we came here."

"And was it thinking of these pleasant things that made you sigh?" asked
Will.

"No. I am afraid I was thinking of the other kind of surprises; and I
daresay I had quite as much reason to smile as to sigh. We can't tell
our trials at first sight, Will, nor our blessings either. Time changes
their faces wonderfully to us as the years go on. At any rate, Janet's
advice is always appropriate; we must make the best of them when they
come."

"Yes;" said Will, doubtfully; he did not quite understand yet.

"For instance, Will, you were disconsolate enough when the doctor told
you you must give up your books for an indefinite time, and now you are
professing yourself quite content with headache and water-gruel--glad
even at the illness that at first was so hard to bear."

Will made a face at the gruel she presented.

"I dare say it is good for me, though I can't say I like it, or the
headache. But, Graeme, I did not get this check before I needed it. It
is pleasant to be first, and I was beginning to like it. Now this
precious month taken from me, at the time I needed it most, will put me
back. To be sure," added he, with a deprecating glance, "it is not much
to be first among so few. But as Janet used to say, Pride is an ill
weed and grows easily--flourishes even on a barren soil; and in the
pleasure and excitement of study, it is not difficult to forget that it
is only a means to an end."

"Yes