le with poverty."

"But it is over, dear mother, and the North will help the South to
recuperate," said Lucy. "Phil says so, and I've heard it from others too;
just as soon as the struggle ended, people were saying, 'Now they have
given up, the Union is safe, and we're sorry for them and will do all we
can to help them; for they are our own people.'"

"Yes, I have been most agreeably surprised at the kind feeling here," her
mother answered; "nobody has had a hard word to say of us, so far as I
have been able to learn; and I have seen nothing like exultation over a
fallen foe; but on the contrary there seems a desire to lend us a helping
hand and set us on our feet again."

"Indeed, mother, I assure you that is so," said Sophie.

"And all through the war," added Lucy, "there was but little hard feeling
towards the people of the South; 'deceived and betrayed by their leaders,
they are more to be pitied than blamed,' was the opinion commonly
expressed by those who stood by the government."

"And papa says there will be no confiscation of property," Sophie said,
"unless it may be merely that of the leaders; and that he will help us to
restore Ashlands to what it was: so you will have your own home again,
mother."

"How generous! I can never repay the obligation," Mrs. Carrington said, in
a choking voice.

"But you need not feel overburdened by it, dear mother. It is for Herbert,
you know, his own grand son."

"And mine! Ah, this news fills me with joy and gratitude."

"Yes, I feel papa's kindness very much," Sophie said, "and hope my son
will never give him cause to regret it."

Elsie rose. "I hear my baby crying, and know that he wants his mother.
Dear Mrs. Carrington, you are looking very weary; and it is more than an
hour yet to dinner-time; will you not lie down and rest?"

"Yes, and afterwards you must show me your children. I want to see them."

"Thank you; I shall do so with much pleasure," the young mother answered
smilingly, as she hastened from the room; for Baby Harold's cries were
growing importunate.

This was the regular hour for Eddie and Vi to take a nap, and Elsie found
them lying quietly in their little bed, while the screaming babe stoutly
resisted the united efforts of his elder sister and Aunt Chloe to pacify
and amuse him.

"Give him to me, mammy," she said, seating herself by the open window; "it
is his mother he wants."

Little Elsie, ever concerned for her mother's happiness, studi