of his. The first time I saw him, it reminded me of the
undulations of that terrible snake in the strawberry patch, and I cannot
get over the association. Then he does not admire me at all, only as the
sister of Mittie."

"He has paid Mittie very great and peculiar attention, and people look
upon them as betrothed lovers. Were you to become an object of jealousy
to her, you would be very, very unhappy. The pleasure of gratified
vanity would be faint to the stings exasperated and wounded love could
inflict."

"For all the universe could offer I would not be my sister's rival,"
cried Helen, rising impetuously, and looking round her with a wild
startled expression. "I will go and tell her so at once. I will ask her
to confide in me and trust me. I will go away if she wishes it. If my
father is willing, I will live with Miss Thusa in the wild woods."

"Wait awhile," said Arthur, smiling at her vehemence, "wait Helen,
patiently, firmly. When temptations arise, it is time to resist. I fear
I have done wrong in giving premature warning, but the impulse was
irresistible, in the silence of these twilight woods."

Helen looked up through the soft shadows to thank him again for his
counsels, and promise that they should be the guide of her life, but the
words died on her lips. There was something so darkly penetrating in the
expression of his countenance, so earnest, yet troubled, so opposite to
its usual serene gravity, that it infected her. Her heart beat
violently, and for the first time in her life she felt embarrassed in
his presence.

That night Helen pressed a wakeful pillow. She felt many years older
than when she rose in the morning, for the experience of the day had
been so oppressive. She could not realize that she had thought and felt
and learned so much in twelve short hours.

CHAPTER IX.

"All other passions have their hour of thinking,
And hear the voice of reason. This alone
Breaks at the first suspicion into frenzy,
And sweeps the soul in tempests."--_Shakspeare._

The day that Alice left, Helen felt very sad and lonely, but she
struggled with her feelings, and busied herself as much as possible with
the household arrangements. Mrs. Gleason took her into the chamber which
Mittie had been occupying alone, and showed her every thing that had
been prepared for her accommodation as well as her sister's. Helen was
unbounded in her gratitude, and thought the room a paradise, with its
n