ith great wings on its shoulders, and
a glittering diadem on its head, from which long black ringlets
streamed down over bosom and neck. Deep, black eyes, with long lashes
and thick brows, gleamed out of the pale countenance. "Manna!" cried
Lina, and "Manna!" echoed the vaulted ceiling. The winged apparition
grasped the hand of the speaker, and leading her aside down the stairs
said, "Is it you, dear Lina? Ah, I have only been with a poor child
pining with homesickness; to-day I cannot speak a word with any other
living soul."

"O, how wonderful you look! how splendid! To the child you must be a
real live angel! And how glad they will all be at home, when I tell
them."

"Not a word about it. Excuse me to your parents for flitting by them,
and--who, who is the young man here with you?"

The stranger seemed aware that they were talking about him, and looked
from below up to the wonderful vision. He shaded his eyes with his
hand, to take a better look, but he could see none of the features,
nothing but the mysterious shape and the two gleaming eyes.

"We don't know who he is; he joined us first in the boat; but," she
added, smiling at her own suggestion, "you can find out, for he sent a
greeting from his mother to the Superior; ask her by and by. Don't you
think him handsome?"

"O Lina! how you talk! May the Holy St. Genevieve intercede with the
dear God to pardon you for saying that, and me"--covering her face with
her hands--"for hearing it. Farewell, Lina, greet every one for me."

As the winged apparition swept along the corridor, she was unable to
hear Lina calling out that she would, to-morrow, tell them at the
Countess Wolfsgarten's all about her. The vision vanished. They left
the convent, and at the door the old gentleman said to the young man,
"It is a good thing for girls to be educated in a convent on an island,
away from the rest of the world." "Girls at the convent, and boys at
the barracks! fine world that!" answered the young man, in a sharp
tone.

Without a word in reply, the old gentleman, turning away, drew off a
few paces with the ladies as if he wished to have no further
intercourse with a stranger of such revolutionary sentiments. The
stranger hastened to the boat, and was speedily set across. The stream
was like pure, molten gold, and the stranger dipping his fingers into
it bathed his forehead and eyes. He sprang lightly ashore, and looking
over to the island-convent, saw the man, with wife