lock, I wrote the last line of my little book. Then I went to Mount
Auburn, and walked gently among the graves."

And here ends what we have to say about Margaret's New England life.
From its close shelter and intense relations she was now to pass into
scenes more varied and labors of a more general scope. She had become
cruelly worn by her fatigues in teaching and in writing, and in the year
1844 was induced, by liberal offers, to accept a permanent position on
the staff of the "New York Tribune," then in the hands of Messrs.
Greeley and McElrath. This step involved the breaking of home ties, and
the dispersion of the household which Margaret had done so much to
sustain and to keep together. Margaret's brothers had now left college,
and had betaken themselves to the pursuits chosen as their life work.
Her younger sister was married, and it was decided that her mother
should divide her time among these members of her family, leaving
Margaret free to begin a new season of work under circumstances which
promised her greater freedom from care and from the necessity of
unremitting exertion.

CHAPTER VIII.

FAREWELL TO BOSTON.--ENGAGEMENT TO WRITE FOR THE "NEW YORK
TRIBUNE."--MARGARET IN HER NEW SURROUNDINGS.--MR. GREELEY'S OPINION OF
MARGARET'S WORK.--HER ESTIMATE OF GEORGE SAND.

When Margaret stepped for the last time across the threshold of her
mother's home, she must have had the rare comfort of knowing that she
had done everything in her power to promote the highest welfare of those
who, with her, had shared its shelter. The children of the household had
grown up under her fostering care, nor had she, in any flight of her
vivid imagination, forgotten the claims and needs of brothers, sister,
or mother. So closely, indeed, had she felt herself bound by the
necessity of doing what was best for each and all, that her literary
work had not, in any degree, corresponded to her own desires. Her
written and spoken word had indeed carried with it a quickening power
for good; but she had not been able so much as to plan one of the
greater works which she considered herself bound to produce, and which
could neither have been conceived nor carried out without ample command
of time and necessary conditions. In a letter written to one of her
brothers at this time, Margaret says:--

"If our family affairs could now be so arranged that I might be
tolerably tranquil for the next six or eight years, I should go out of
life