e their rigid lives, forgetting that
it was the dark persecution of the times in which they lived that left
this impress upon their characters. Her husband loved to commend the
good deeds of their neighbors, while she was equally fond of censuring
transgressors. Perhaps the result of their efforts was better than it
would have been had both possessed the disposition of either one of
them. Her firmness and energy atoned for the negligence resulting from
his easy temper, and his sunny smile and kind words softened the
asperity with which she would have ruled her household. Their son was
engaged in mercantile business in a neighboring city, and their home
would have been desolate but for the presence of little Clara. She was
the sunshine of the old man's heart, and he forgot toil and weariness
when he sat down by his own fireside, with the merry prattler upon his
knee, and her little arms were twined about his neck. She was the
image of his lost sister, and it seemed to him but a little while
since her mother had sat thus upon his knee, and lavished her caresses
upon him. In spite of the predictions of the worthy dame that she
would be spoiled, he indulged her every wish, checking only the
inclination to do wrong. Nor was the good lady herself without
affection for the little orphan, but she wished to engraft a portion
of her own sternness into her nature, and in her horror of prelacy she
did not like to have such a connecting link between her family and
that of the rector. She had never loved Clara's father, yet she could
not find it in her heart to be unkind to the little orphan, so she
contented herself with laying his faults and follies at the door of
the church to which he belonged. Clara had been my playfellow from
infancy, and at the village school we had pursued our studies
together. When my parents decided to place me at a boarding-school on
the banks of the Hudson, I plead earnestly with the deacon that Clara
might go with me. Her aunt objected strenuously to her acquiring the
superficial accomplishments of the world, but the old man for once in
his life was firm, and declared that Clara should have as good an
education as any one in the vicinity. Accordingly we were placed at
Monteparaiso Seminary, where was laid the scene of the last chapter.

CHAPTER III.

THE RETURN HOME.

Our school-days passed, as school-days ever will, sometimes happily,
and again lingering as if they would never be gone. Clara was st