oval--"and up it'll go--so--as
high as ye want it! and this 'ere can be shoved in and out for ye to put
yer feet on, and this 'ere back can be let anyways ye want it. He seen a
picture o' one in a paper, once, and he went and made this by his own
eye, and all the hinges and cranks, and everythin' as slick as a pin! He
didn't say anythin'," Grandma continued, in a slightly lowered,
insinuating tone of voice; "about likin' to come up and see ye, when ye
was able to set up, and you know, teacher, as I don't believe in meddlin'
in young folks' affairs; but it appeared to me, havin' had so much
experience with the men folks as I have, that may be he was kind o'
hangin' around waitin' for an invitation--for ye see, they're goin' to
sail now in a vary few days."

So, a little later, I sat up in my new chair and received the Cradlebow,
in a loose, trailing gown of rich material, daintily embroidered. In the
midst of my narrow and humble surroundings I had an exiled-princess sort
of consciousness, and recognized with a new pleasure the Cradlebow's
lordly face and bearing, as he stooped on entering the little red door.

Living in a reverie, still,--a fancy, a day-dream, strangely vivid and
life-like, but not real,--not real, I was so far softened by my illness
that, with the delicious sense of returning health and strength, I was
content, for a time, to live simply in the present, to dismiss the stern
warden, Duty, from my thoughts, and that ever-grave necessity for
maintaining a mental and moral superiority which had so oppressed me.

"It had been weary work living on the heights, and what had it all
amounted to?" I asked myself, with a recklessness too tranquil, now, to
be converted into bitterness. "It was so much easier and safer, lower
down." But while I doubted and almost gave up the struggle, the
Cradlebow aspired ever to greater faith and hope in life, and enthusiasm
for life's work.

And with all this, it was evident that there had been with him an inward
struggle and preparation, a silent conquering of self. With a vain
discontent for my own failure, I marvelled at the glory which had crowned
his humble efforts. "This, too," I thought, "is a sort of heroism:" and
my spirit of condescension towards the youth took on something new, like
reverence.

It was even with pride that I reflected, "Here is a strength I may rely
upon by and by;" and I was proud that my lover's kiss was so pure upon my
lips, his breath on my ch