Year: 1875

but finding me heartless and frivoIou,
he preferred poverty to marriage will
hirt, and Withdrew his claim to my
hand"


| ooh, Flora such a heart as YOU
| have thrown away. II. the hours he
has spent here trying to entertain me,
have learned much of the nobleness
of his nature and of his love for Won.
| He has SO hoped that you would LET
! your own generous nature show you the
folly of your frivolous Ways


I" have had one lecture, Kate, pray
| spare me a second. Ralph Benedict
may seek somewhere else a wife as cold
and censoriOus as himself"


And you ?"


Oh with a nervous laugh-''he
has kindly indicated my future for me. u


Flora, you will not marry Harry
Vane


"Such brainless lirt. MOI Though
Ralph fattered me enough to think we
are well mated. All Ralph thinks to
mortify me by his rejection he shall
see how gladly I accept my freedom. "
And Flora left the room as abruptly as
she had entered it, to fly to her own
chamber, lock the door, and indulge in
long and bitter fit of weeping,


That afternoon Ralph Benedict was
riding and musing. With his own hand
be had torn from his heart its one bright
spot. In the few glimpses Flora had
let him see of her generous heart, her
many secret acts of charity, her tender
care of her cousin, he had learned TO
love the bright little beauty, all the
more that her vivacity SO strongly con-
trasted with his own rather stern nature.
His life was one of earnest aims and
steady seeking for the highest ends OF
life. He had seen in his short time of
practice such hard realities of life, such
scenes of suffering, such calls upon his
deepest feelings that life had become to
him one broad field for the exercise of
usefulness and self-sacrifice.


His one dream of happiness he had
broken that day, because he dared not
trust the hopes of his life in the hands
of trifer. Yes, he loved her, loved
her as such a nature as his loves the
bright loveliness of a gay little beauty
like Flora, and his heart ached solely as
he took his long, lonely ride. He had
promised his uncle to finish bis pro-
jected visit and remain some weeks
longer, and he was nervjng himself to
think of his cousin as the wife of an
other, lost to him by his own act. AS
he drew his horse up 90 the stable-door
one of the servants came running to
meet him.


"Oh, DR.. Benedict, am so glad you
have come Miss Kate, sir, is very i'll.
Will you come to her quick ?"


&C What is it, Nora ?"


"'Oh SIR one of those dreadful spells
she used to have when she first hurt her
spine"


The quick, firm step of Ralph was
the first grateful sound Flora had heard
since being called to her cousins side.
All embarrassment was forgotten as she
sprang ta meet him.


"Oh, Ralph, help me -


"You have seen her in these attacks
BEFORE" he said, graveIy; sc tell me
what you did then, and how she has
been taken now"


Clearly and concisely, while sitting at
the bedside of the sufferer, Flora de-
scribed former at aeks and their treat
ment, and the probable cause of the
present one.


Quick to decide and prompt to act,
Ralph made Flora useful as nurse, while
he tried his skill with loving zeal to
ease the gentle girl before them. His
uncle came in late in the afternoon,
and, seeing how things were, refused to
send for any other advice, and, thus
free to act, Ralph was busy, faithful,
and untiring, yet his hand was not
frmer, his step quicker, or his mind
clearer than those of the pale, yet steady
little nurse. For three nights and days
she never left the sick girls side, and
in the whispered talks beside her when
asleep all levity was gone, all tFihing
vanished. Sorrow and anxiety did what
harshness or coldness could never have
done-subdued the frivolity that was on
the surface of FlorR's nature, showing
the devoted love, the quiet presence of
mind, the unwearying capacity for self
sacrifice, that dwelt under the vivacity.


At last the danger was over, and after
a fortnight of devoted watching Kate
was pronounced convalescent, and her
weary little nurse consented to leave
her for a long afternoon sleep in her
own room.


eff you please, sir," said NOra's
scarSd voice at Ralph's door, . Miss
Flora has tainted clean dead away,
sir"


Where ?'' cried Ralph, starting up.
g In her room, sir. She is altogether
worn out with nursing"


Worn out, indeed Ralph thought,
as he raised the little figure in his



very pale face. It was only the reac-
tion from fatigue and anxiety, and in
few moments Flora opened her eyes to
see Ralph bending over her, his face
full of tender, anxious love.


&" "FIora, poor child, you are worn
out. I have been careless and selfish
not to watch you more closely. Oh,
Flora, can you ever forgive my imper-
tinent harshness, and let me tell you
how 1 respect as well as love you ?"


"Ralph, I am a good for-nothing
fiirt," but if You will trust such a tor
ment once more she will try to be a
wife worthy of you. Aud as Flora
afterwards declared, "the man actually
began to find out what his magnificent
eyes were made for"


So she consented, and was from
youth to age the pride and Joy of his
faithful heart


WHAT WAS IN THE PROGRABAIE.--A
colored mau employed as a deck hand
on q propeller, was rushing around tOwn