e, she bore up nobly in the struggle, and, with
patient submission, resigned her fate to the will of Heaven.

Her chief employment now was to train the mind of the young Mamalis to
truth, and in this sacred duty she derived new consolation in her
affliction. The young Indian girl had made Windsor Hall her home since
the death of her brother. The generous nature of Colonel Temple could
not refuse to the poor orphan, left alone on earth without a protector,
a refuge and a home beneath his roof. Nor were the patient and prayerful
instructions of Virginia without their reward. The light which had long
been struggling to obtain an entrance to her heart, now burst forth in
the full effulgence of the truth, and the trusting Mamalis had felt, in
all its beauty and reality, the assurance of the promise, "Come unto me
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Her
manners, which, with all of her association with Virginia, had something
of the wildness of the savage, were now softened and subdued. Her
picturesque but wild costume, which reminded her of her former life, was
discarded for the more modest dress which the refinement of civilization
had prescribed. Her fine, expressive countenance, which had often been
darkened by reflecting the wild passions of her unsubdued heart, was now
radiant with peaceful joy; and as you gazed upon the softened
expression, the tranquil and composed bearing of the young girl, you
might well "take knowledge of her that she had been with Jesus."

CHAPTER XXXIX.

"Farewell and blessings on thy way,
Where'r thou goest, beloved stranger,
Better to sit and watch that ray,
And think thee safe though far away,
Than have thee near me and in danger."
_Lalla Roohk._

Moonlight at Windsor Hall! The waning, January moon shone coldly and
brightly, as it rose above the dense forest which surrounded the once
more peaceful home of Colonel Temple. The tall poplars which shaded the
quiet yard were silvered with its light, and looked like medieval
knights all clad in burnished and glistening mail. The crisp hoarfrost
that whitened the frozen ground sparkled in the mellow beams, like
twinkling stars, descended to earth, and drinking in with rapture the
clear light of their native heaven. Not a sound was heard save the
dreary, wintry blast, as it sighed its mournful requiem over the dead
year, "gone from the earth for ev