s on the topmost branch, and the tiniest fibre that
offshoots from the trunk, are part and parcel of the same life. And
no other tree is just like it. Now, Alida Van Hoosen was one of those
women who ripen well and improve by keeping--a much sweeter woman
at sixty than she had been at forty; for though age turns a
frivolous nature into a hard one, it makes a serious woman tender and
tolerant and humanly sympathetic. And Miss Alida, having wearied
her capacity for travel and change, was fortunately in need of a
living object on which to bestow her time and her affections. So
that the unlooked-for appearance of Antony, and the handsome
appearance of Adriana, allied with circumstances so singularly fitting
into her love of race and family, supplied her with an interest
promising to be both sufficiently active and sufficiently lasting.

"Here am I," she said to herself, "provided by my good fortune with
two sons and two daughters, just at their most interesting age; all
their childish tempers and troubles over, their education finished,
and their love affairs pleasantly tangled up. I am grateful to Peter
Van Hoosen and Henry Filmer for finding me a vocation so suitable for
my age and my position as the good genius of the Van Hoosens." And
with this pleasant idea underlying all her other ideas, she awaited
the arrival of Adriana.

Monday morning proved to be fine and frostily exhilarating; and Peter
took his daughter to the train in a cheerful mood. He knew better than
to offer her advice about a life of which he was entirely ignorant;
besides, he had faith in Adriana's religious nature and clear
judgment; and he felt it to be sufficient as he held her hand at
parting to say: "Be a good girl, Yanna, 'unspotted from the
world'--you know what that means, my dear. And try to do something for
Antony."

She smiled assent to both commissions, and with this comfort at heart,
Peter drove leisurely home, and began to settle his life to its new
order. He was resolved to work more in his barn and his greenhouse,
and to begin writing a little book, which he had long contemplated,
upon the culture of bulbs. On the whole, he was sure he could manage
to enjoy his solitary life very well; for love destroys all egotisms;
it can be happy in the happiness of others.

Antony was the first person Adriana saw when she reached New York. He
had come with the carriage to meet his sister, and he was smiling a
welcome to her, before he had any op