almost alarmed the children, when, after resting from their journey, they
explored the scenes of their future haunts. On the glass of the large
window in the hall, were the names of a maiden and her lover, descended
from the cavaliers of Virginia. This writing was cut with a diamond, and
the children knew not that the writing was their parents'. The little ones
walked carefully over the polished floors; but there seemed nothing in all
they saw to tell them they were welcome. They lifted the grand piano that
maintained its station in one of the unoccupied rooms of the house; but the
keys were yellow with age, and many of them soundless--when at last one of
them answered to the touch of Ellen's little hand, it sent forth such a
ghostly cry that the two children gazed at each other, not knowing whether
to cry or to laugh.

Children are like politicians, not easily discouraged; and Ellen's "Come
on, Willy," showed that she, by no means, despaired of finding something to
amuse them. They lingered up stairs in their own apartment, William
pointing to the moss-covered rock that lay at the foot of the garden.

"Willy, Willy, come! here is something," and Willy followed her through a
long passage into a room, lighted only by the rays that found entrance
through a broken shutter. "Only see this," she continued, laying her hand
on a crib burdened with a small mattress and pillow; "here too," and she
pointed to a little child's hat that hung over it, from which drooped three
small plumes. "Whose can they be?"

"Come out o' here, children," said the nurse, who had been seeking them.
"Your aunt told me not to let you come into this part of the house; this
was her nursery once, and her only child died here."

The children followed their nurse, and ever afterward the thought of death
was connected with that part of the house. Often as they looked in their
aunt's face they remembered the empty crib and the drooping plumes.

Time does not always fly with youth; yet it passed along until Ellen had
attained her sixteenth year, and William his eighteenth year. Ellen shared
all her brother's studies, and their excellent tutor stored their minds
with useful information. Their uncle superintended their education, with
the determination that it should be a thorough one. William did not intend
studying a profession; his father's will allowed him to decide between
this, or assuming, at an early age, the care of his large estate, with
suitable