of it; the spear has entered and forced out the heart's
blood, the pure ichor follows. I know not yet how to feel so; I have
not yet grieved away the bitter pang.

"My mother wrote me he said sometimes he would get a boat and carry
yellow flowers to his Aunty Margaret. I suppose he had not yet quite
forgotten that I used to get such for him. I often thought what I
should carry him from Europe--what I should tell him--what teach? He
had a heart of natural poetry; he would have prized all that was best.

"Oh, it is all over; and indeed this life is over for me. The
conditions of this planet are not propitious to the lovely, the just,
the pure; it is these that go away; it is the unjust that triumph. Let
us, as you say, purify ourselves; let us labor in the good spirit here,
but leave all thought of results to Eternity.

"I say this, and yet my heart is bound to earth as never before; for I,
too, have a dearer self--a little son. He is now about the age sweet
Pickie was when I was with him most; and I have thought much of the one
in the dawning graces of the other. But I accept the lesson, and will
strive to prepare myself to resign him. Indeed, I had the warning
before; for, during the siege of Rome, when I could not see him, my
mind, agonized by the danger of his father, as well as all the
overpowering and infamous injuries heaped upon the noble, sought refuge
in the thought of him safe, in his green nook, and, as I thought, in
care of worthy persons. When at last we left, our dearest friends laid
low, our fortunes finally ruined, and every hope for which we
struggled, blighted, I hoped to find comfort in his smiles. I found
him wasted to a skeleton; and it is only by a month of daily and hourly
most anxious care (in which I was often assisted by memories of what
Mrs. Greeley did for Pickie) that I have been able to restore him. But
I hold him by a frail tenure; he has the tendency to cough by which I
was brought so low.

"Adieu. You say, pray for you; oh, let us all pray together. I hope
we shall yet find dear Pickie where he is; that earthly blemishes will
be washed out, and he be able to love us all. Till then, God help and
guide us, dear friend. Amen.

"M. F. O.

"You may address me in future as Marchioness Ossoli."

CHAPTER XXII.

The Friends' Seminary--The Principal Chappaqua
Residences--Reminiscences of Paris during the War--An Accomplished
Lady--Her Voice--Festivities--A Drive to