enly upon him from
behind a neighboring shrub.

"I plead, not guilty," said Mary; "but, Henry, where are your offerings?
you should not come into the presence of deities without suitable
gifts."

"Permit me to present to you my friend Mr. Burling, Miss Halberg," said
Henry, as the young man approached with Rosalie and Ellen.

"You see I have not forgotten the custom to bring some propitiatory
sacrifice."

"A very acceptable one in these days of dearth," said Mary, blushing.
"We are a very secluded race," continued she, addressing Mr. Burling,
"and the arrival of friends is quite an era in our quiet life."

"It is a wonder that we do not wholly vegetate," said Ellen. "Do not you
think, Henry, that we are in danger of dissipating too much, now that
our coterie is so greatly enlarged?"

The young man looked thoughtfully upon her for a moment, and then
replied "There needs not an increased circle, nor the seductions of a
fashionable clique, Nellie, to lead us to excess; the soul may run riot,
and indulge in vain repinings for the follies and vanities of life, even
in the remotest solitudes. But come, let us go to the piazza, I see your
youngest sister there, and wish also to make the acquaintance of your
guest."

Just then Carrie and Jennie espied Rosalie, and, running forward, met
her with the warmest manifestations of delight, and seizing upon her,
they hurried her on to see grandpa, who sat in his arm-chair on the
piazza, with the cool breeze refreshing his fevered brow.

It was a beautiful sight, the three young girls just bursting into
womanhood, with their earnest and pure natures, ministering to the faint
old man who was fast wasting away from this earthly being. Henry and his
friend were deeply impressed by it, and dreaded to disturb so charming
a picture, but as they advanced to greet Mr. and Mrs. Halberg, Carrie
sprang to meet her old friend Henry, and leading him to her
grandfather's seat, introduced him to Jennie, and placed a chair for him
by her side. The young girl looked up with a sweet smile as he asked her
some question concerning her escape from school, and shaking back the
heavy mass of ringlets that shaded her forehead, she replied, "School
was any thing but a prison-house to me, yet I love very much to be
occasionally free from a fixed routine of duties, especially when I find
so pleasant a retreat as this, and so dear a charge as grandpa. We all
have a care for him," she added, taking in Car