d; and
such was the affectionate sympathy by which they caught each other's
feelings, that every countenance, save! one, became partially
overshadowed. Jane, although her eye was the first and quickest! to
notice this anxiety of her father, exhibited no visible proof of
a penetration so acute and lively. The serene light that beamed so
mournfully from her placid but melancholy brow, was not darkened by what
she saw; on the contrary, that brow became, if possible, more serene;
for in truth, the gentle enthusiast had already formed a settled plan
of exalted resignation that was designed to sustain her under an
apprehension far different from that which Osborne's ambitious
speculations in life would have occasioned her to feel had she known
them.

"I see," said she with a smile, "that my papa has no good news to tell.
A letter has come to his father, but none to me; but you need not fear
for my firmness, papa. I know from whence to expect support;
indeed, from the beginning I knew that I would require it. You often
affectionately chid me for entertaining apprehensions too gloomy; but
now they are not gloomy, because, if what I surmise be true, Charles and
I will not be so long separated as you imagine. The hope of this, papa,
is my consolation."

"Why, what do you surmise, my love, asked her father.

"That Charles is gone, perhaps irretrievably gone in decline; you
know it is the hereditary complaint of his family. What else could,
or would--yes, papa, or ought to keep him so long from home--from
his friends--from me. Yes, indeed," she added with a smile, "from me,
papa--from his own Jane Sinclair, and he so near us, in England, and the
time determined on for his return expired."

"But you know, Jane," said her father, gratified to find that her
suspicion took a wrong direction, "the air of Bath, he writes, is
agreeing with him."

"I hope it may, papa; I hope it may; but you may rest assured, that
whatever happens, the lesson you have taught me, will, aided by divine
support, sustain my soul, so long as the frail tenement in which it is
lodged may last. That will not be long."

"True religion, my love, is always cheerful, and loves to contemplate
the brighter side of every human event. I do not like to see my dear
child so calm, nor her countenance shaded by melancholy so fixed as that
I have witnessed on it of late."

"Eternity, papa--a happy eternity, what is it, but the brighter side of
human life--here we see