shall sit in my lap and rest -- I don't
want to sew to-night. Winnie, the good Shepherd will gather my
little lamb with his arm and carry her in his bosom, if she
minds his voice; and then he will bring her by and by where
she shall walk with him in white, and there will be no spots
on the white any more."

"I know. Make haste, mother, and let us sit down together and
talk."

So they did, with Asahel at their feet; but they didn't talk
much. They kept each other silent and soft companionship, till
Winifred's breathing told that she had lost her troubles in
sleep on her mother's bosom.

"Poor little soul! she takes it hard," said Karen. "She's
'most as old as her mother now."

"You must get her to play with you, Asahel, as much as you
can," Mrs. Landholm said in a whisper.

"Why mamma? aint she well?"

"I don't know -- I'm afraid she wont keep so."

"She's too good to be well," said Karen.

Which was something like true. Not in the vulgar prejudice, as
Karen understood it. It was not Winifred's goodness which
threatened her well-being; but the very delicate spirits which
answered too promptly and strongly every touch; too strong in
their acting for a bodily frame in like manner delicate.

CHAPTER XIII.

_Mess_. -- He hath indeed, better bettered expectation, than you
must expect me to tell you how.
_Leon_. -- He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much
glad of it.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Mr. Landholm came back in excellent spirits from Shagarack.
The boys were well entered, Will Junior and Winthrop
Sophomore, and with very good credit to themselves. This had
been their hope and intention, with the view of escaping the
cost of one and two years of a college life. President Tuttle
had received them very kindly, and everything was promising;
the boys in good heart, and their father a proud man.

"Aint it queer, now," he said that evening of his return, as
he sat warming his hands before the blaze, "aint it queer that
those two fellows should go in like that -- one Junior and
t'other Sophomore, and when they've had no chance at all
beforehand, you may say. Will has been a little better, to be
sure; but how on earth Winthrop ever prepared himself I can't
imagine. Why the fellow read off Greek there, and I didn't
know he had ever seen a word of it."

"He used to learn up in his room o' nights, father," said
Asahel.

"He used to carry his books to the field and study while the
oxen were r