Year: 1874

ful things that God has made should be SO
frailp'


"And am not I faithful, motherP" asked
the youth.


eyes, my son, yOu are faithful; and
though you are your fathers child, and
though that father was my husband, yet l
love you. But he All why did he desert
meP When he went away he told me that
I should see him again but years have
rolled by since then, and still he comes not.
o, how cruel for him to desert me thus
But you will not leave me, my dear boy"


"Never," uttered the youth; and as he
spoke he threw his arms about his moth
er's neck and kissed her.


The poor woman drew her son to her
bosom, and after returning his kiss, she
said


There, Orlando, go you now and bid
Elpsey prepare you some food, for you
cannot live upon these flowers, as 1 can"


Morgiana Chester was what the reader
must have already suppose-insane She
could not yet have seen forty years, and
though there was no bloom upon her cheek,
yet there was transcendent beauty in her
features. Her eyes were large and dark,
and into their brilliant depths one might
have gazed for hours and not guess that
reason had flown from the mind that look
ed through them.


Orlando could remember nothing back of
his mothers strange mania and the first
thing plainly fixed in his memory was of
having lived somewhere in Massachusetts,
colony, and of having come from there to
Virginia in vessel, accompanied by his
mother and negro woman named Elpsey.
Yet he knew that his mother was grown
to womanhood before she left England,
though he could not ascertain from her
whether he was born there or in Massa-
chusettS.


The old negress said that her lady had
much money when she first lived with her
but as it had been long since gone, Orlando
supposed that the amount could not have
been very considerable, though it might
have appeared SO to the eyes of Elpsey. In
fact the only thing that Orlando could gain
with definiteness from his mother was, that
his father had deserted her and he rea-
sonably supposed that circumstance caused
her mental arrangement; and yet Morgiana
never breathed word against her husband
in anger-she only mourned his faithless-
ness and sometimes wept over her loneli-
ness.


The old negress was not long in pre-
pairing meal for Orlando and as he sat
down to the repast he urged his mother to
partake with him, but she persisted in the
assertion that she needed no food and so
the youth ate alone.


The young man had finished his repast,
and already had the sun sunk behind the
tree-tops as he arose from the table. AS
he turned towards his mother he was some-
what surprised to find her in seeming
meditation. The vacant look that usually
rested upon her features when she assumed
musing attitude was not there, but the
same strange, sparkling light that shone
upon her more active movements was still
in her eyes, though its beams were more
steady and intense.


eyes, yes, l did put it in there" she
murmured, as she rose from her seat mo-
ment after her son had commenced watch
ing her. eyes, twas yesterday / put it
there, for I remember it well. How could
have forgotten it ?"


AS she spoke she went to O large oaken
chest that stood in one corner and COM
menced taking out the contents and pla-
cling them upon the floor. Orlando gazed
a moment upon his mothers movements,
and then bright tear-drop stole down his
cheek. A thousand times had he seen the
poor woman do this, and he knew that she
suffered extremely whenever the strange
delusion came over her. Slowly and care
fully Morgiana Chester took article after
article from the chest each one she would
unfold and examine, then lay it aside for
the next And so she went on till every
article in the chest had been examined,
after which she diligently searched every
nook and corner Of the inside. The chest
was perfectly plain, with not even till to
break the sameness Of its interior, and after
: a moments examination she turned TO her
son and asked


Orlando, have yen been here since
yesterday"


No, mothcf, have not"
Z "Some Sne has been here and stolen my
n,5avy. o, how could they be SO cruel !