ture could not swallow without being raised up, and it was impossible for her to do it, and at the same time give her the water. Nancy's eagerness for it was intense. "Water, cold water," she repeated.

Beulah, without further hesitation, called in Winthrop to her assistance, for she feared the poor woman was dying. He came and raised her tenderly, while Beulah held the water to her lips. She drank it with avidity and was somewhat revived.

"Beulah, my child," said she, "I am almost gone; send for some one to be with me."

go

"I will, Nancy. I have a friend here who will for any one you will name. Can you lie down

now?"

"I will try; it is a strong arm and a strange one that supports me, I thank him, whoever it is."

And Winthrop, placing the blind woman's head gently upon her pillow, withdrew his arm, much wondering at this quickness of perception.

"Beulah, my sweet child, how kind you have always been to me. May God reward you, but I am too sick now for your youthful experience. Send for Nurse White," said Nancy. "I shall not need any one long."

Beulah now stepped to the door with Winthrop, and pointed out to him the house of Nurse White, saying she would wait until she came. Winthrop went, reflecting with surprise on the readiness with which that delicate young girl remained alone with the dying blind woman.

Beulah sat down by the bedside. Nancy was for a while silent, excepting a low, indistinct moaning, at intervals. At length she said, "I cannot collect my thoughts, and I wish to pray. Will you pray with me, Beulah?

Beulah knelt by the bedside, clasped her hands, and, lifting her eyes to heaven, uttered a short and fervent petition in behalf of the dying woman.

As Winthrop returned to say that the nurse would soon be there, he passed by the low, open window, and the touching scene within met his eye. He saw that youthful countenance uplifted while the heart was in communion with the Father of spirits, and the scriptural expression, "the beauty of holiness," was for the first time revealed to him, in all its fulness of meaning.

Towards evening of the same day, Beulah glided out unobserved, and went to inquire after Nancy. When she reached the door, Nurse White met her, and informed her that the poor

woman had died a few hours after she left in the

morning.

Beulah asked why they had not sent to her father's for any assistance that might have been needed.

66

"O," said the nurse, "the good young gentleman that came for me this morning left his purse with me, begging me to see that poor Nancy wanted for nothing. But that is not all; he was here when she died, and no one else was with her but me, and he was so kind and gentle, and gave such sweet consolation to the dying woman, -equal to any minister. And poor Nancy had her reason to the last, and blessed the stranger with her dying breath. I told him the neighbours, would have taken care of her, and paid the expenses of her funeral, for they had always been kind to her; but he only said, if they had enjoyed the privilege of doing good so long, he ought to have the opportunity now. And he was very urgent, that I should not tell all this to any one, but I thought I might just mention it to you, because you always took such an interest in the poor soul who is now at rest."

Beulah walked thoughtfully homeward, and on her way she was joined by Winthrop, but their

walk was almost a silent one; they were too much inclined to serious meditation, at that soft, twilight hour, after the solemn events of the day, to be communicative. Yet they had in that single day become better acquainted with each other's true character than they would have done, in the ordinary intercourse of society, in months, or perhaps years.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE FUTURE MOTHER-IN-LAW.

"WELL, Cousin Winthrop," said Squire Morris, three or four days after the arrival of the Whatelys, "well, Cousin Winthrop, what did you see in foreign countries equal to these United States ?" "Not any thing that I love half as well," he replied.

"Now I like that," continued the Squire; "you have n't come home, then, as some youngsters do, puffed up with pride, despising Yankees. I am right glad that you have brought back a good, sound, healthy heart, true to your own kith and kin.”

"Perfectly so," replied Winthrop; "I never loved them half as well before."

"And what are you going to do for the good of your own country, now you have travelled and got knowledge at a foreign University?"