y mother!" I exclaimed, with a glow of pleasure at the fancied
resemblance, "why, she is the most beautiful person I have yet
seen,--there is, there can be no likeness."

"But there is, though. You speak as if you thought yourself quite ugly.
I wonder if you do. Ugly and old. Strange self-estimation for a pretty
girl of fifteen!"

"I suppose you learn to flatter in college," said I, "but I do not care
about being flattered, I assure you."

"You are very much mistaken if you think I am trying to flatter you. I
may do so a year or two hence if I chance to meet you in company, but
here, in this rural solitude, with the very element of truth in my hand,
I could not deceive, if I were the most accomplished courtier in the
world."

We had reached the top of the green acclivity which we bad been
ascending, I fear with somewhat tardy steps. We could see the road
through an opening in the trees,--a road little travelled, but leading
to the central street of the town. The unusual sound of carriage wheels
made me turn my head in that direction, and a simultaneous exclamation
of Richard's fixed my attention.

A very elegant carriage, drawn by a pair of large shining bay horses was
rolling along with aristocratic slowness. The silver-plated harness
glittered so in the sun, it at first dazzled my eyes, so that I could
discern nothing distinctly. Then I saw the figures of two ladies seated
on the back seat in light, airy dresses, and of two gentlemen on
horseback, riding behind. I had but a glimpse of all this, for the
carriage rolled on. The riders disappeared; but, as a flash of lightning
reveals to us glimpses of the cloud cities of heaven which we remember
long after the electric gates are closed, so the vision remained on my
memory, and had I never again beheld the youthful form nearest to us, I
should remember it still. It was that of a young girl, with very fair
flaxen hair, curling in profuse ringlets on each side of her face, which
was exquisitely fair, and lighted up with a soft rosiness like the
dawning of morning. A blue scarf, of the color of her eyes, floated over
her shoulders and fluttered from the window of the carriage. As I gazed
on this bright apparition, Richard, to my astonishment, lifted his hat
from his brow and bowed low to the smiling stranger, who returned the
salutation with graceful ease. The lady on the opposite side was hidden
by the fair-haired girl, and both were soon hidden by the thick branches