the cold."

None of the earlier years of Salome's life seemed to her half so
drearily long as the four monotonous months that followed Dr. Grey's
departure; and, during the intervals between his brief letters to his
sister, the orphan learned a deceptive quietude of manner, at variance
with the tumultuous feelings that agitated her heart; for painful
suspense which is borne with clenched hands and firmly-set teeth is
not the more patient because sternly mute.

Which suffered least, Philoctetes howling on the shores of Lemnos, or
the silent Trojan priest, writhing in a death-struggle with the
serpent folds that crushed him before the altar of Neptune?

If any messages intended for Salome found their way across the ocean,
they finally missed their destination, and reached the dead-letter
office of Miss Jane's vast and inviolate pocket; and, while this
apparent neglect piqued the girl's vanity, the blessed assurance that
the absent master was alive and well proved a sovereign balm for all
the bleeding wounds of _amour propre_.

In order to defray the expense of her musical tuition, which was
carried on in profound secrecy, it was necessary to redouble her
exertions; and all the latent energy of her character developed itself
in unflagging work, which she persistently prosecuted early and late,
and in quiet defiance of Miss Jane's expostulations and predictions
that she would permanently impair her sight.

Paramount to the desire of amassing wealth that would enable her to
provide for Jessie and Stanley rose the hope that the cultivation of
her voice would invest her with talismanic influence over the man who
was singularly susceptible of the magic of music; and, jealously
guarding the new-found gift, she spared no toil to render it perfect.

Fearful that her suddenly acquired fondness for singing might arouse
suspicion and inquiry, she rarely practised at home unless Miss Jane
were absent; and, having procured a tuning-fork, she retreated to the
most secluded portion of the adjoining forest and rehearsed her
lessons to a mute audience of grazing cattle, sombre pines, nodding
plumes of golden-rod, and shivering white asters, belated and
overtaken by wintry blasts. Alone with nature, she warbled as
unrestrainedly as the birds who listened to her quavering crescendos;
and more than once she had become so absorbed in this forest
practising, that twinkling stars peeped down at her through the fringy
canopy of murmuring