remember him?"

"I remember how you and he used to be inseparable! And he has settled
down, at last, by your side?"

"The two old doctors hope to bolster each other up till Mr. Tom
comes down with modern science in full force. That boy will do great
things--he has as clear a head as I ever knew."

"And more--" said Ethel.

"Ay, as sound a heart. I must find you his tutor's letter, Flora. They
have had a row in his tutor's house at Eton, and our boys made a gallant
stand for the right, Tom especially, guarding the little fellows in a
way that does one good to hear of."

"'I must express my strong sense of gratitude for his truth,
uprightness, and moral courage,'" quoted Meta.

"Ah, ha! you have learned it by heart! I know you copied it out for
Norman, who has the best right to rejoice."

"You have a set of children to be proud of, Richard!" exclaimed Mrs.
Arnott.

"To be surprised at--to be thankful for," said Dr. May, almost
inarticulately.

To see her father so happy with Mrs. Arnott necessarily drew Ethel's
heart towards her; and, when they had bidden him goodnight, the aunt
instantly assumed a caressing confidence towards Ethel, particularly
comfortable to one consciously backward and awkward, and making her feel
as intimate as if the whole space of her rational life had not elapsed
since their last meeting.

"Must you go, my dear?" said her aunt, detaining her over her fire.
"I can't tell how to spare you. I want to hear of your dear father. He
looks aged and thin, Ethel, and yet that sweet expression is the same as
ever. Is he very anxious about poor Margaret?"

"Not exactly anxious," said Ethel mournfully--"there is not much room
for that."

"My dear Ethel--you don't mean?--I thought--"

"I suppose we ought to have written more fully," said Ethel; "but it has
been very gradual, and we never say it to ourselves. She is as bright,
and happy, and comfortable as ever, in general, and, perhaps, may be so
for a long time yet, but each attack weakens her."

"What kind of attack?"

"Faintness-sinking. It is suspended action of the heart. The injury
to the spine deranged the system, and then the long suspense, and the
shock--It is not one thing more than another, but it must go on. Dr.
Spencer will tell you. You won't ask papa too much about it?"

"No, indeed. And he bears it--"

"He bears everything. Strength comes up out of his great lovingness.
But, oh! I sometimes long that he may never have any