Year: 1871

4L4 aND AO nG0.

 s [Concluded.l .

 Perhaps the thing of all others tha

 morning brings surely, and that one a once most dreads and prizes, is reaction and as its sequence, reflection. The ebb O feeling always comes in the morning, th' high tide at night; and so the morning after the night in which Victor Heywart told Amy Fortescue that he loved her brought to her sense of fear and doubt ldwarfed her fancies aud magnified be sense of the working. day world, and mad,

 its briars seem thicker than ever Ant the morning brought her too letter, he

 first from Ralph since his departure. and i seemed like hls presence, and constrained

 her to be true to his promise. For ail hi

 writings and speakings had flavor of him self therein. He told her of his plans anl hopes. The letter ended with few word. of strong, calm, possessing love that made her shrink involuntari!y, as if the hand o Fate had been laid on her wrist and Was leading her away from the path into which her feet had strayeu that night. But the question, the great question that comes tC us all Tn some shape or other. and which makes or breaks us as We answer it truly ol falsely. the question of being herself, fnl. hlllng her natures intention, living out her life. or of lying down in some Procrustean bed of her own making or anothers, and then being stretched or Topped to fill some other souls idea of life and perfection. was upon her; and although she was no accom- plished self-analyst, she felt the pressure as plainly as if she had been able to express 1t in clear terms. And every other avenue of escape WAS closed; the want of her &C., customed occupations, the seasons. Ralph's absence. and above all the unceasing "se- same" whispered at her hearts door by Victor's voice and presence, all combined against her will. The days went by, and as they fled she unconsciously gided into sort of languid, drifting dream, which even the mornings clear sun did not serve to dissipate. For it grew deeper and deep- CT, Victor had judged her rightly when he spoke of the possibilities of her nature, and with infinite tact, elaborate, and yet imper- ceptible tact given only by love when it transfgures a nature like his, he ministered to her vague longings till they grew bolder and gained strength from the only source whence strength should ever come, by nourishment. He never spoke one word of love to her from the night in which his first strange, violent outburst had seemed III. he filled the air about her with it's invisible but potent spirit. The earth was charmed beneath her feet. and. like Ariel, he did his spiriting so gently that she never mistrust. ed or feared it.

 They were of necessity thrown much to- gether, for Mrs. Heyward treated Amy in all respects as an equal and companion; ~-a ti.e hes;t"tiua wi1iois nIight have oc- cured to her in throwing her eldest son with an attractive young girl, who was at the same time an undesirable match for man of his position. was of course put out of the question by the fact of Amy's en- gagement to Mr. Holcombe. It was but natural that Victor, who tenderly loved his 1 mother, should be constantly with her; and what more natural than that they should form part of one daily life, isolated as they were from society from without? And ', vlose: seemed a pervading spirit. The anaa n-sJ-a about Amy. the woods and nOwers ana streams una I:-.ls all srnko of him and pleaded for him. and sSoAo voices were part of the same harmony with his own. It was not for Victor, but>for passion and youth ard love, that they spoke. He was but the embodiment of the spirit that inspired them all. But Words worth tells it best:

 NOT less, tO leeO VOluptu00S thought,

 The beauteous forms of nature wrought,

 Fair trees and gorgeous flowers.

 The breeZes their own languor lent,

 The stars had feelings which they sent

 Into those favored bowers.

 The very stars in their courses fought against her. Surely she had never known what the influence of the heavens at night could be till she felt it reflected from his eyes.

 And Victor was no mean representative of the spirit of love and life at any time, least of all now when he loved ardently and with his whole soul for the first time. Every gift seemed doubled in power as he bent himself to make Amy love him-or rather not love him, for love between them was Q thing of simple recognition, but ac. cept his love; not merely let him rule, but crown him king This he found hard to do, but the summer flew by and they dreamed on, and Ralph still wrote; but as time went by. Amy, wrapped and clothed in love as with garment, was not touched by his letters as formerly. The divine in- toxication of passion was on her; she was herself and more than herself, and yet merged in Victor. Hitherto when with Ralph she had felt that he dominated her, absorbed her; but now she felt that she was herself. only 0 glorifed, illuminated self, and yet she lived only in Victor. She had lost nothing, and gained, it seemed, another life, which blended with her own without ever overshadowing it-a harmony of color and melody brighter and sweeter than any of which she had ever dreamed. But time went by ruthlessly, and Ralph wrote of the approaching return, and spoke of their speedy marriage and fitting for the West. Marriage! the word was not joy ous chime but dull knell in Amy's ear, and she put it away from her mind. In the intense reality of her new life the past grew dim to her; this new existence, in which she seemed to walk on air, was a thousand fold more real than the barren commonplace of the days she had plodded through before Victor came.

 It is common mistake to confound real lity and practicality; the reality of thing depending almost altogether on what it is to us, and it's practicality being based on what it is in itself. The moments when our ideas tread the earth and walk hand in hand with us. are the most real moments of our lives, but they are in no wise practi- cal. Victor, on his side, shut out all thought of the future; it would be truer to say that the future was shut out by the very fullness of the present When he knew that the evening would be spent with Amy, he thought,

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