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Twilight of this same day found Gertrude and Emily seated at
a window which commanded a delightful western view. Gertrude
had been describing to her blind friend the gorgeous picture presented
to her vision by the masses of rich and brilliantly-painted
cloud; and Endly, as she listened to the glowing description of
nature, as she unfolded herself at an hour which they both preferred
to all others, experienced a participation in Gertrude's enjoyment.
The glory had now faded away, save a long strip of
gold which skirted the horizon; and the stars, as they came out,
one by one, seemed to look in at the chamber-window with a smile
of recognition.

In the parlor below there was company from the city, and the
sound of mirth and laughter came up on the evening breeze; so
mellowed, however, by distance, that it contrasted with the peace
of the quiet room, without disturbing it.

“You had better go down, Gertrude,” said Emily; “they
appear to be enjoying themselves, and I love to hear your laugh
mingling with the rest.”

“O, no, dear Emily!” said Gertrude; “I prefer to stay with
you; they are nearly all strangers to me.”

“As you please, my dear; but don't let me keep you from
the young people.”

“You can never keep me with you, dear Emily, longer than I
wish to stay; there is no sodiety I love so well.” And so she
staid, and they resumed their pleasant conversation, which,

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though harmonious and calm, was not without its playfulness and
occasional gleams of wit.

They were interrupted by Katy, whom Mrs. Graham sent to
announce a new visitor,—Mrs. Bruce,—who had inquired for
Emily.

“I suppose I must go down,” said Emily; “you'll come too,
Gertrude?”

“No, I believe not, unless she asked for me. Did she, Katy?”

“Mrs. Graham was only afther mintioning Miss Emily,” said
Katy.

“Then I will stay here,” said Gertrude; and Emily, finding it
to be her wish, went without her.

There was soon another loud ring at the door-bell. It seemed
to be a reception evening, and this time Gertrude's presence was
particularly requested, to see Dr. and Mrs. Jeremy.

When she entered the parlor, she found a great number of
guests assembled, and every seat in the room occupied. As she
came in alone, and unexpected by the greater part of the company,
all eyes were turned upon her. Contrary to the expectation
of Belle and Kitty, who were watching her with curiosity,
she manifested neither embarrassment nor awkwardness; but,
glancing leisurely at the various groups, until she recognized Mrs.
Jeremy, crossed the large saloon with characteristic grace, and as
much ease and self-possession as if she were the only person present.
After greeting that lady with her usual warmth and cordiality,
she turned to speak to the doctor; but he was sitting next
Fanny Bruce in the window-seat, and was half concealed by the
curtain. Before he could rise and come forward, Mrs. Bruce
nodded pleasantly from the opposite corner, and Gertrude went
to shake hands with her; Mr. Bruce, who formed one in a gay
circle of young ladies and gentlemen collected in that part of the
room, and who had been observing Gertrude's motions so attentively
as to make no reply to a question put to him by Kitty Ray,
now rose and offered his chair, saying, “Miss Gertrude, do take
this seat.”

“Thank you,” said Gertrude, “but I see my friend the doctor,

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on the other side of the room; he expects me to come and speak
to him,—so don't let me disturb you.”

Dr. Jeremy now came half-way across the room to meet her,
and, taking her by both hands, led her into the recess formed by
the window, and placed her in his own seat, next to Fanny Bruce.
To the astonishment of all who knew him, Ben Bruce brought his
own chair and placed it for the doctor opposite to Gertrude. So
much respect for age had not been anticipated from the modernbred
man of fashion.

“Is that a daughter of Mr. Graham?” asked a young lady of
Belle Clinton, who sat next her.

“No, indeed,” replied Belle; “she is a person to whom Miss
Graham gave an education, and now she lives here to read to her,
and be a sort of companion; her name is Flint.”

“What did you say that young lady's name was?” asked a
dashing lieutenant, leaning forward and addressing Isabel.

“Miss Flint.”

“Flint, ah! she's a genteel-looking girl. How peculiarly she
dresses her hair!”

“Very becoming, however, to that style of face,” remarked the
young lady who had first spoken. “Don't you think so?”

“I don't know,” replied the lieutenant; “something becomes
her; she makes a fine appearance. Bruce,” said he, as Mr.
Bruce returned, after his unusual effort at politeness, “who is
that Miss Flint?—I have been here two or three times, and I
never saw her before.”

“Very likely,” said Mr. Bruce; “she won't always show herself.
Isn't she a fine-looking girl?”

“I haven't made up my mind yet; she's got a splendid figure,
but who is she?”

“She's a sort of adopted daughter of Mr. Graham's, I believe;
a protegée of Miss Emily's?”

“Ah! poor thing! An orphan?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” said Ben, biting his lip.

“Pity!” said the young man; “poor thing! but, as you say,
Ben, she's good-looking, particularly when she smiles; there is
something very attractive about her face.”

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There certainly was to Ben, for, a moment after, Kitty Ray
missed him from the room, and immediately espied him standing
on the piazza, and leaning through the open window to talk with
Gertrude, Dr. Jeremy and Fanny. The conversation soon became
very lively; there seemed to be a war of wits going on; the
doctor, especially, laughed very loud, and Gertrude and Fanny
often joined in the merry peal. Kitty endured it as long as she
could, and then ran boldly across to join the party, and hear
what they were having so much fun about.

But it was all an enigma to Kitty. Dr. Jeremy was talking
with Mr. Bruce concerning something which had happened many
years ago; there was a great deal about a fool's cap, with a long
tassel, and taking afternoon naps in the grass; the doctor was
making queer allusions to some old pear-tree, and traps set for
thieves, and kept reminding Gertrude of circumstances which
attended their first acquaintance with each other and with Mr.
Bruce.

Kitty was beginning to feel that, as she was uninitiated in all
they were talking about, she had placed herself in the position of
an intruder, and was thereupon looking a little embarrassed and
ill at ease, when Gertrude touched her arm, and, kindly making
room for her next herself, motioned to her to sit down, saying, as
she did so, “Dr. Jeremy is speaking of the time when he (or he
and I, as he chooses to have it) went fruit-stealing in Mrs.
Bruce's orchard, and were unexpectedly discovered by Mr.
Bruce.”

“You mean, my dear,” interrupted the doctor, “that Mr.
Bruce was discovered by us. Why, it's my opinion he would have
slept until this time if I had n't given him such a thorough
waking up!”

“My first acquaintance with you was certainly the greatest
awakening of my life,” said Ben, speaking as if to the doctor,
but looking meaningly at Gertrude; “that was not the only nap
it cost me. How sorry I am, Miss Gertrude, that you've given
up working in the garden, as you used to! Pray, how does it
happen?”

“Mrs. Graham has had it remodelled” replied Gertrude, “and

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the new gardener neither needs nor desires my services. He has
his own plans, and it is not well to interfere with the professor
of an art; I should be sure to do mischief.”

“I doubt whether his success compares with yours,” said Ben.
“I do not see anything like the same quantity of flowers in the
room that you used to have.”

“I don't think,” said Gertrude, “that he is as fond of cutting
them as I was. I did not care so much for the appearance of the
garden as for having plenty of flowers in the house; but with him
it is the reverse.”

Kitty now addressed some remark to Mr. Bruce on the subject
of gardening, and Gertrude, turning to Dr. Jeremy, continued
in earnest conversation with him, until Mrs. Jeremy rose
to go, when, approaching the window, she said, “Dr. Jerry, have
you given Gertrude her letter?”

“Goodness me!” exclaimed the doctor, “I came near forgetting
it.” Then, feeling in his pocket, he drew forth an evidently foreign
document, the envelope literally covered with various-colored
post-office stamps. “See here, Gerty, genuine Calcutta; no
mistake!”

Gertrude took the letter, and, as she thanked the doctor, her
eountenance expressed pleasure at receiving it; a pleasure, however,
somewhat tempered by sadness, for she had heard from
Willie but once since he learned the news of his mother's death,
and that letter had been such an outpouring of his vehement
grief that the sight of his hand-writing almost pained her, as she
anticipated something like a repetition of the outburst.

Mr. Bruce, who kept his eyes upon her, and half expected to
see her change color, and look disconcerted, on the letter being
handed to her in the presence of so many witnesses, was reässured
by the composure with which she took it, and held it openly in
her hand while she bade the doctor and his wife good-evening.
She followed them to the door, and was then retreating to her
own apartment, when she was met at the foot of the stairs by
Mr. Bruce, who had noticed the movement, and now entered
from the piazza in time to arrest her steps, and ask if her letter

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was of such importance that she must deny the company the
pleasure of her society in order to study its contents.

“It is from a friend of whose welfare I am anxious to hear,”
said Gertrude, gravely. “Please excuse me to your mother, if
she inquires for me; and, as the rest of the guests are strangers,
I shall not be missed by them.”

“O, Miss Gertrude,” said Mr. Bruce, “it's no use coming
here to see you, you are so frequently invisible. What part of
the day is one most likely to find you disengaged?”

“Hardly any part,” said Gertrude. “I am always a very busy
character; but good-night, Mr. Bruce,—don't let me detain you
from the other young ladies;” and Gertrude ran up stairs,
leaving Mr. Bruce uncertain whether to be vexed with himself or
her.

Contrary to Gerty's expectations, her letter from William Sullivan
proved very soothing to the grief she had felt on his
account. His spirit had been so weighed down and crushed by
the intelligence of the death of his grandfather, and finally of his
second and still greater loss, that his first communication to Gertrude
had alarmed her, from the discouraged, disheartened tone
in which it was written; she had feared lest his Christian fortitude
would give way to the force of this double affliction.

She was, therefore, much relieved to find that he now wrote in
a calmer strain; that he had taken to heart his mother's last
entreaty and prayer for a submissive disposition on his part;
and that, although deeply afflicted, he was schooling himself to
patience and resignation. But he did not, in this letter, dwell
long upon his own sufferings under bereavement.

The three closely-written pages were almost wholly devoted to
fervent and earnest expressions of gratitude to Gertrude for the
active kindness and love which had cheered and comforted the
last days of his much-regretted friends. He prayed that Heaven
would bless her, and reward her disinterested and self-denying
efforts, and closed with saying, “You are all there is left to me,
Gertrude. If I loved you before, my heart is now bound to you
by ties stronger than those of earth; my hopes, my labors, my

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prayers, are all for you. God grant we may some day meet
again!”

For an hour after she had finished reading, Gertrude sat lost
in meditation; her thoughts went back to her home at Uncle
True's, and the days when she and Willie passed so many happy
hours in close companionship, little dreaming of the long separation
so soon to ensue. She rehearsed, in her mind, all the succeeding
events which had brought her into her present position,
and was only startled at last from the revery she was indulging
in by the voices of Mrs. Gruham's visitors, who were now taking
leave.

Mrs. Bruce and her son lingered a little, until the carriages
had driven off with those of the guests who were to return to the
city, and, as they were making their farewells on the door-step,
directly beneath Gertrude's window, she heard Mrs. Graham say,
“Remember, Mr. Bruce, we dine at two; and, Miss Fanny, we
shall hope to see you also. I presume you will join the walking
party.”

This, then, was an arrangement which was to bring Mr. Bruce
there to dinner, at no very distant period; and Gertrude's reflections,
forsaking the past, began to centre upon the present.

Mr. Bruce's attentions to her had that day been marked; and
the professions of admiration he had contrived to whisper in her
ear had been still more so. Both these attentions and this
admiration were unsought and undesired; neither were they in
any degree flattering to the high-minded girl, who was superior to
coquetry, and whose self-respect was even wounded by the confident
and assured manner in which Mr. Bruce made his advances.
As a youth of seventeen, she had marked him as indolent and
ill-bred. Her sense of justice, however, would have obliterated
this recollection, had his character and manners appeared changed
on the renewal of thier acquaintance, some years after. This
was not the case, however, for the outward polish, bestowed by
fashion and familiarity with society, could not cloud Gertrude's
discernment; and she quickly perceived that his old characteristics
still remained, heightened and rendered more glaring by an
ill-concealed vanity. As a boy, he had stared at Gertrude from

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impudence, and inquired her name out of idle curiosity; as a
youthful coxcomb, he had resolved to flirt with her, because his
time hung heavy on his hands, and he could think of nothing
better to do. But, to his surprise, he found the country girl (for
such he considered her, never having seen her elsewhere) was
quite insensible to the flattery and notice which many a city
belle had coveted; appeared wholly indifferent to his admiration;
and that when he tried raillery he usually proved the disconcerted
party. If he sought her, as he was frequently in the habit of
doing, when she was at work among the flowers, he found it impossible
to distract her attention from her labors, or detain her
after they were completed; if he joined her in her walks, and,
with his wonted self-conceit, made her aware of the honor lie
supposed himself conferring, she either maintained a dignity
which warded off his fulsome adulation, or, if he ventured to
make her the object of direct compliment, received it as a jest,
and retorted with a playfulness and wit which often left the
opaque wits of poor Ben in some doubt whether he had not been
making himself ridiculous; and this, not because Gertrude was
willing to wound the feelings of one who was disposed to admire
her, but because she perceived that he was far from being sincere,
and she had an honorable pride which would not endure to be
trifled with.

It was something new to Mr. Bruce to find any lady thus indifferent
to his merits; and proved such an awakening to his
ambition, that he resolved, if possible, to recommend himself to
Gertrude, and consequently improved every opportunity of gaining
admittance to her society.

While laboring, however, to inspire her with a due appreciation
of himself, he fell into his own snare; for, though he failed in
awakening Gertrude's interest, he could not be equally insensible
to her attractions. Even the comparatively dull intellect of Ben
Bruce was capable of measuring her vast superiority to most
girls of her age; and her vivacious originality was a contrast to
the insipidity of fashionable life, which at length completely
charmed him.

His earnestness and perseverance began to annoy the object

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of his admiration before she left Mr. Graham's in the autumn,
and she was glad soon after to hear that he had accompanied his
mother to Washington, as it insured her against meeting him again
for months to come.

Mr. Bruce regretted losing sight of Gertrude, but amid the
gayety and dissipation of southern cities contrived to waste his
time with tolerable satisfaction. He was reminded of her again
on meeting the Graham party at New Orleans, and it is some
credit to his understanding to say, that in the comparison which
he constantly drew between her and the vain daughters of
fashion she stood higher than ever in his estimation. He did
not hesitate to tell her so on the morning already mentioned,
when, with evident satisfaction, he had recognized and joined her;
and the increased devotion of his words and manner, which now
took a tone of truth in which they had before been wanting,
alarmed Gertrude, and led to a serious resolve on her part to
avoid him on all possible occasions. It will soon be seen how
difficult she found it to carry out this resolution.

On the day succeeding the one of which we have been speaking,
Mr. Graham returned from the city about noon, and, joining
the young ladies in the entry, unfolded his newspaper, and, handing
it to Kitty, asked her to read the news.

“What shall I read?” said Kitty, taking the paper rather
unwillingly.

“The leading article, if you please.”

Kitty turned the paper inside and out, looked hastily up and
down its pages, and then declared her inability to find it. Mr.
Graham stared at her in astonishment, then pointed in silence to
the wished-for paragraph. She began, but had scarcely read a
sentence before Mr. Graham stopped her, saying, impatiently,
“Don't read so fast,—I can't hear a single word!” She now
fell into the other extreme, and drawled so intolerably that her
auditor interrupted her again, and bade her give the paper to her
cousin.

Belle took it from the pouting Kitty, and finished the article,—
not, however, without being once or twice compelled to go back
and read more intelligibly.

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