OUR Prince indeed. Ask to have a
contrite and grateful heart, and thank the Lord in particular for having
sent you such a friend as Kate Van Corlear." Yet, after an imposing
dramatic exit, she re-appeared the next moment as a straight white
flash, kissed Carry between the brows, and was gone.

The next day was a weary one to Jack Prince. He was convinced in his
mind that Carry would not come; yet to keep this consciousness from
Mrs. Starbottle, to meet her simple hopefulness with an equal degree of
apparent faith, was a hard and difficult task. He would have tried to
divert her mind by taking her on a long drive; but she was fearful that
Carry might come during her absence; and her strength, he was obliged to
admit, had failed greatly. As he looked into her large and awe-inspiring
clear eyes, a something he tried to keep from his mind--to put off day
by day from contemplation--kept asserting itself directly to his inner
consciousness. He began to doubt the expediency and wisdom of his
management. He recalled every incident of his interview with Carry, and
half believed that its failure was due to himself. Yet Mrs. Starbottle
was very patient and confident: her very confidence shook his faith in
his own judgment. When her strength was equal to the exertion, she was
propped up in her chair by the window, where she could see the school
and the entrance to the hotel. In the intervals she would elaborate
pleasant plans for the future, and would sketch a country home. She had
taken a strange fancy, as it seemed to Prince, to the present location;
but it was notable that the future, always thus outlined, was one of
quiet and repose. She believed she would get well soon: in fact, she
thought she was now much better than she had been; but it might be long
before she should be quite strong again. She would whisper on in this
way until Jack would dash madly down into the bar-room, order liquors
that he did not drink, light cigars that he did not smoke, talk with men
that he did not listen to, and behave generally as our stronger sex is
apt to do in periods of delicate trials and perplexity.

The day closed with a clouded sky and a bitter, searching wind. With
the night fell a few wandering flakes of snow. She was still content
and hopeful; and, as Jack wheeled her from the window to the fire, she
explained to him, how, that, as the school-term was drawing near its
close, Carry was probably kept closely at her lessons during the da