arning from her some little art in
needlework, listening to an agreeable book, or Emily's more agreeable
conversation, Kitty passed hours which were never forgotten, so peaceful
were they, so serene, so totally unlike any she had ever spent before.

None could live in familiar intercourse with Emily, listen to her words,
observe the radiance of her heavenly smile, and breathe in the pure
atmosphere that environed her very being, and not carry away with them
the _love_ of virtue and holiness, if not something of their _essence_.
She was so unselfish, so patient, notwithstanding her privations, that
Kitty would have been ashamed to repine in her presence; and there was a
contagious cheerfulness ever pervading her apartment, which, in spite of
Kitty's recent cause of unhappiness, often led her to forget herself,
and break into her natural tone of buoyancy and glee.

CHAPTER XXXII.

ENVY, HATRED, AND MALICE.

Little did Gertrude imagine, while she was striving to promote the
welfare of Kitty, who had thrown herself upon her love and care, the
jealousy and ill-will she was exciting in others. Isabel, who had never
liked one whose tone of action and life reproached her own vanity and
selfishness, and who saw in her the additional crime of being the
favoured friend of a youth of whose interesting boyhood she herself
retained a sentimental recollection, was eager to render her odious to
Mrs. Graham. She was not slow to observe the confidence that existed
between Kitty and Gertrude; that her cousin had forsaken her own room
for that of the latter the night after her probable quarrel and parting
with Bruce; and her resentment, excited still further by the growing
friendship which her own unkindness to Kitty served only to confirm, she
communicated to Mrs. Graham her suspicion that Gertrude had selfishly
made a difficulty between Bruce and Kitty, and fostered and widened the
breach, and succeeded in breaking off the match. Mrs. Graham readily
adopted Belle's opinion. "Kitty," said she, "is weak-minded, and much
under Miss Flint's influence. I shouldn't be surprised if you were
right, Belle!"

Thus they tried to entrap Kitty into a confession that Gertrude had
driven away her lover. But Kitty, while she indignantly denied
Gertrude's having injured her, refused to reveal the occurrences of the
eventful evening. Mrs. Graham and Belle were angry, and many were their
private discussions on the subject, and as they became m