led his inmost soul, for he saw plainly it would
interfere with the prospects of his own children. Indeed, Mr. Dundass
had already settled fifty thousand dollars upon his granddaughter
Mildred, asserting also that at his death that sum should be doubled.
Mr. Donaldson possessed great influence over his wife--his words to
her were oracles--his wishes laws. By degrees, therefore, he instilled
into her mind a jealousy against her absent child, mingled with
feelings of resentment toward her father, that, to the exclusion of
her little Grace and Anna, he should have made her the object of his
love and munificence. This feeling once engendered Mr. Donaldson took
good care to keep alive. The poison worked slowly but so secretly,
that no doubt Helen herself would have been shocked could she have
read her own heart and found that, instigated by jealousy, a mother's
tenderness for her first-born was fast turning to bitterness.

In the meantime seventeen rosy summers had flitted as some fairy dream
over the head of Mildred, when her grandfather, no longer able to
resist his desire of seeing her, urged her return to Jamaica.

CHAPTER III.

To merry England our story now takes us, that we may trace a brief
sketch of those scenes wherein the days of Mildred had glided so
happily away.

Norcross Hall, the ancestral domain of the late Mrs. Dundass was
situated in one of England's most charming nooks, about forty miles
from the great metropolis. It was an ancient building, the main part
of which was said to have been erected in the time of Elizabeth--but
of this little of the original structure remained. Its present
occupant, Sir Hugh Norcross, was the son of Mrs. Dundass's eldest
brother, and to his guardianship the little Mildred had been
consigned. In this charming family she was treated with the utmost
tenderness, receiving the same education and sharing the same pursuits
as her little cousins, between whom and herself a lively affection
sprung up. Lady Norcross was a superior woman, both of mind and heart;
and under her guidance and gentle teachings, which her every-day life
so beautifully exemplified, what wonder that the little family growing
up around her should prove all that was good and lovely. Helen
Norcross was near the same age as Mildred, Rupert three years her
senior. It was not until the latter had reached his fourteenth year
that the three cousins were ever separated, even for a single day; but
now, Rupert was s