heaven, as she rose into unaccustomed heights of feeling,
like Elijah in his chariot of fire. She very happy! She with power,
power to make things straight and sunny and wholesome! She able to
breathe strength into helplessness, even a consecrated, Godsmitten
helplessness like his! She not only to be thanked, but envied!

Her house seemed strange to her that night. She went to bed in the dark,
dreading even the light of a candle; and before she turned down her
counterpane she flung herself on her knees, and poured out her soul in
a prayer that had been growing, waiting, and waited for, perhaps, for
years:--

"O Lord, I thank Thee for health and strength and life. I never could do
it before, but I thank Thee to-night for life on any terms. I thank
Thee for this home; for the chance of helping another human creature,
stricken like myself; for the privilege of ministering to a motherless
child. Make me to long only for the beauty of holiness, and to be
satisfied if I attain to it. Wash my soul pure and clean, and let that
be the only mirror in which I see my face. I have tried to be useful.
Forgive me if it always seemed so hard and dreary a life. Forgive me
if I am too happy because for one short day I have really helped in a
beautiful way, and found a friend who saw, because he was blind, the
real me underneath; the me that never was burned by the fire; the me
that isn't disfigured, unless my wicked discontent has done it; the me
that has lived on and on and on, starving to death for the friendship
and sympathy and love that come to other women. I have spent my forty
years in the wilderness, feeding on wrath and bitterness and tears.
Forgive me, Lord, and give me one more vision of the blessed land of
Canaan, even if I never dwell there."

VI.

"Nor less the eternal poles
Of tendency distribute souls.
There need no vows to bind
Whom not each other seek, but find."

Emerson's _Celestial Love._

Davy's sickness was a lingering one. Mrs. Buck came for two or three
hours a day, but Lyddy was the self-installed angel of the house; and
before a week had passed the boy's thin arms were around her neck, his
head on her loving shoulder, and his cheek pressed against hers. Anthony
could hear them talk, as he sat in the kitchen busy at his work. Musical
instruments were still brought him to repair, though less frequently
than of yore, and he could still make many parts of violins far better
t