his
ignorance and seeks for knowledge, if he feels his badness, and longs
for goodness, and loves with all his heart, he is fit to marry the
king's daughter, and inherit the throne."

* * * * *

_September 27._--I went this evening into Lucy's room, and found Elinor
there alone. I sat down near her.

She looked up, with a smile on her face, and said: "I have been wanting
to see you, Walter, and tell you what a glorious path is opened before
me. I believe myself to be a chosen instrument for carrying the Gospel
to the heathen. And Mr. Colman" (this lower) "thinks me worthy to labor
with him in the vineyard."

"And you will marry him?" I asked in a constrained voice.

"Yes," said she, faintly; "I have promised."

I arose and walked many times across the room. When power of speech
came, I said, standing still near her: "Elinor, do you remember, the
night before I went away, I wanted so much to tell you something? Let me
tell it now. But you know. You must have known--you must have seen--I
have been waiting to make myself worth offering. I am almost sure I can
make you happy, and--have thought you loved me--a little. If I could
only hear you say so!"

"Walter," she replied, "I must not seek for happiness. I have loved you,
not a little." Here the bright color spread over her face; for while the
woman spoke, the angel blushed. "I have loved you. O God, sustain me in
this my trial hour!"

This little prayer dropped softly from her lips. I scarce caught the
sound of it. Then she spoke in a firmer tone: "What have I to do with
happiness or unhappiness? The path of duty lies straight before me. And
therein I must walk, though thorns pierce my feet."

"But," I asked, "is it right to marry without--Elinor, do you love Mr.
Colman?"

"With my soul I do. He was with me in the Valley of the Shadow of
Death,--spiritual, not bodily death. With his help I obtained my
heavenly joy. My soul is bound to his. I have loved you, Walter, more
than"--and again came the bright blushes, speaking more sweetly than her
lips--"more than you can ever know. But the greater the love, the
greater the glory of crushing it out. The heavier the cross, the
brighter will be the crown, and with the greater rapture shall I wake
the music of my golden harp through the countless years of eternity.
What is this life? A puff, a breath of air. In it we must prepare for
the real life, which lies beyond. When the heavens ar