a two days' illness,
fell a victim to cholera.

Margaret's record of the grief which this affliction brought her is very
deep and tender. Her father's image was ever present to her, and seemed
even to follow her to her room, and to look in upon her there. Her most
poignant sorrow was in the thought, suggested to many by similar
afflictions, that she might have kept herself nearer to him in sympathy
and in duty. The altered circumstances of the family, indeed, soon
aroused her to new activities. Mr. Fuller had left no will, and had
somewhat diminished his property by unproductive investments. Margaret
now found new reason to wish that she belonged to the sterner sex,
since, had she been eldest son instead of eldest daughter, she might
have become the administrator of her father's estate and the guardian of
her sister and brothers. She regretted her ignorance of such details of
business as are involved in the care of property, and determined to
acquaint herself with them, reflecting that "the same mind which has
made other attainments can in time compass these." In this hour of trial
she seeks and finds relief and support in prayer.

"May God enable me to see the way clear, and not to let down the
intellectual in raising the moral tone of my mind. Difficulties and
duties became distinct the very night after my father's death, and a
solemn prayer was offered then that I might combine what is due to
others with what is due to myself. The spirit of that prayer I shall
constantly endeavor to maintain."

This death, besides the sorrow and perplexity which followed it, brought
to Margaret a disappointment which seemed to her to bar the fulfilment
of her highest hopes. She had for two years been contemplating a visit
to Europe, with a view to the better prosecution of her studies. She had
earned the right to this indulgence beforehand, by assisting in the
education of the younger children of the family. An opportunity now
offered itself of making this journey under the most auspicious
circumstances. Her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Farrar, were about to cross the
ocean, and had invited her to accompany them. Miss Martineau was to be
of the party, and Margaret now saw before her, not only this beloved
companionship, but also the open door which would give her an easy
access to literary society in England, and to the atmosphere of
old-world culture which she so passionately longed to breathe.

With this brilliant vision before her, a