, that carries off her want of those pretty accomplishments
which the ladies value so highly. And then she is _so_ beautiful, and
her husband is so proud of having the handsomest woman in London for
his wife; and one artist begs to model her ear, another her hand--you
cannot think how fair and soft and 'do-nothing' it looks,--and as
to her portraits, they are in all those pretty painted books which
Mr. Stokes calls 'vanities.' There is a queer, quirky, little old
gentleman who visits here, who said that Helen owed her great success
in society to her 'tact.' Oh! Edward, she owes her sorrow to her
_ambition_. Would you believe it possible that she, the beauty
of Abbeyweld, who for so long a time seemed to us satisfied with
that distinction, is not satisfied now. Why, there is not such an
establishment, no, not at Mrs. Howard's, as that which she commands.
Oh! Edward, to have once loved Helen, is to be interested for her
always; there is something great in her very faults; there is nothing
poor or low about her. That little cranky old gentleman said the other
evening while looking at her, 'Miss Rose, a woman, to be happy, should
either have no ambition, or an ambition beyond this world.' Do ask Dr.
Stokes if that is true."

CHAPTER VI.

After she had been a little longer in town, Rose saw more clearly the
workings of that ambition which had undermined her cousin's happiness.
She saw where the canker ate and withered, but she did not know how it
could be eradicated. Something which women understand, prevented her
laying open the secrets of the house to Edward; and yet she desired
counsel. Possessing much observation as to the workings of the human
heart, she had but little knowledge as to how those feelings might be
moulded for the best; and she naturally turned for advice, and with
the faith of a Christian spirit, to the pastor who had instructed
her youth. He had loved them both, and she longed for his counsel, in
the--alas! vain--hope that she, a right-minded but simple girl--simple
as regards the ambition of life's drama--might be able to turn her
cousin from the unsatisfied, unsatisfying longings after place and
station. The difference in their opinions was simply this--Rose
thought that Helen possessed everything that Helen could desire, while
Helen thought that Helen wanted all things.

It was morning--not the morning that Rose had described to her lover,
but not more than seven o'clock--when Rose, who had