Year: 1875

she began to sing, not as he had heard
her sing before, in dashing opera airs;
her voice rose clear, but subdued, In sad
melodies, old ballads, and those longing
airs of "Auld Lang Syne," so seldom
heard nowadays.


The tea-bell broke in upon the pleas
ure and the light dining-room found
Ralph as dignified and Flora as saucy as
if no music had stirred their hearts into
q new and strange communion.


Kate heard, day after day, with pain,
of tbs marked coldhess between Ralph
and Flora, and of her increasing hlrta-
ton with Harry Vane.


At last the crash came.


&c am free !"


Flora threw back the door and rushed
in, with burning cheeks and flashing
eyes.


81 am free, Kate. My charming
cousin came to me one hour ago and
asked an interview-a private one
which | granted, of course. Ho in
formed me that when he graduated as a
physician, with his heart full of the
glory and responsibility of his profes-
sion, he had come here trusting to find
wife who would be his companion and
true hclpmate in the arluous life before
him. He had hoped that my livelincss
was merely youthful spirits, but finding
me hcartlcss and frivolous he preferred
poverty to marriage with a tllrt, and
withdrew his claim to my hand"


ooh, Flora such a heart as youhave
thrown away. In the hours he has
spent here trying to entertain me, l
have learned much of the nobleness of
his nature and of his love for You. He
has SO hoped that you would let your
own generous nature show you the folly
of your frivolous ways -


81 have had one lecture, Kate, pray
spare me second. Ralph Benedict
may seek somewhere else wife as cold
and censorious as himself"


"And youf'


"Oh with n nervous laugh" he
has kindly indicated my future for me-


"Flora, you will not marry Harry
Vnno?"


"Such brainless flirt. No. Though
Ralph hattercd me enough to think We
are well mated. All Ralph thinks to
mortify me by his rejection; he she'll see
how gladly | accept my freedom" And
Flora left the room rs abruptly as she
had entered it, to ny,to herown chamber,
lock the door, and indulge in long and
bittcr fit of weeping.


That afternoon Ralph Benedict was
riding and musing. With his own hand
he had torn from his heart its one
bright spot. In the few Slimpses 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 50 strongly con
trlStol 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
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
a triilcr. Yes, he loved her, loved her
as such a nature as his loves the bright
lovcliness of a gay little beauty like
Flora, and his heart nched sorely as he
took his long, lonely ride. He had
promised his uncle to finish his pro
jcctcd visit and remain some weeks
longer, and he WIS nerving 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 at the stable door one
of the servants came running to meet
him.


"Oh, DIR. Benedict, / am so glad you
have come! Miss Kate, sir, is very i'll.
Will you come to her quicks"


"Nhut is it, Nora z"


ooh, sir! one Of those dreadful spells
she used to have whom she first hurt her
spine"


Tho 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
sprung to meet him.


Oh, Ralph, help me y


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


Clearly and conciscly while sitting at
the bedside OF the sufferer, Flora de-
scribed former attacks and their treat
mcnt, 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