difficult,
and I have met with more than one young person, quite as ignorant as you
are of things above-ground. But now the railway through our great tunnel
takes us in a few minutes to the upper regions of our country. I long,
Nell, to hear you say, 'Come, Harry, my eyes can bear daylight, and I
want to see the sun! I want to look upon the works of the Almighty.'"

"I shall soon say so, Harry, I hope," replied the girl; "I shall soon go
with you to the world above; and yet--"

"What are you going to say, Nell?" hastily cried Harry; "can you
possibly regret having quitted that gloomy abyss in which you spent your
early years, and whence we drew you half dead?"

"No, Harry," answered Nell; "I was only thinking that darkness is
beautiful as well as light. If you but knew what eyes accustomed to its
depth can see! Shades flit by, which one longs to follow; circles mingle
and intertwine, and one could gaze on them forever; black hollows, full
of indefinite gleams of radiance, lie deep at the bottom of the mine.
And then the voice-like sounds! Ah, Harry! one must have lived down
there to understand what I feel, what I can never express."

"And were you not afraid, Nell, all alone there?"

"It was just when I was alone that I was not afraid."

Nell's voice altered slightly as she said these words; however, Harry
thought he might press the subject a little further, so he said, "But
one might be easily lost in these great galleries, Nell. Were you not
afraid of losing your way?"

"Oh, no, Harry; for a long time I had known every turn of the new mine."

"Did you never leave it?"

"Yes, now and then," answered the girl with a little hesitation;
"sometimes I have been as far as the old mine of Aberfoyle."

"So you knew our old cottage?"

"The cottage! oh, yes; but the people who lived there I only saw at a
great distance."

"They were my father and mother," said Harry; "and I was there too; we
have always lived there--we never would give up the old dwelling."

"Perhaps it would have been better for you if you had," murmured the
maiden.

"Why so, Nell? Was it not just because we were obstinately resolved to
remain that we ended by discovering the new vein of coal? And did not
that discovery lead to the happy result of providing work for a large
population, and restoring them to ease and comfort? and did it not
enable us to find you, Nell, to save your life, and give you the love of
all our hearts?"

"Ah, yes,