Ester Ried

ts, she found leisure to observe him more closely. Mr. Newton was absorbed in the Tribune; so she gave her undivided attention to the two, and could hear snatches of the conversation which passed be

glad though, to see his mother once more? And he's got children-two of them; one is named after

," her companion answered. "So the old home is

very thing I've got to re

basket, and, rummaging within, brought to light a withered bouquet of the very commone

Oh, times and times I've sat and weeded and dug around them, with him sitting on the stoop and reading out loud to me. I thought all about just how it was while I was picking these. I

mfortable; yet it must be confessed that that awkward bunch of faded flowers, arranged without the slightest regard to colors, looked rather ridiculous

iend after all. Does it comfort your heart very much to remember that, in a

was now sure that he was a minister. Someway Ester had fallen into a way of thinking that

ming with tears. "And I don't s'pose I need any other, if I've got Jesus left I oughtn't to need any thin

who is expecting you;

rowfully shaken. "Oh, I'm afraid

spared to rest yet. I presume the Master is

sometimes I think maybe my coffin could do it better

oth were, anyway-the wrinkled, homely, ignorant old woman and the cultivated, courtly gentleman. Ester was ill at ease-conscience was arousing her to unwonted thought. These two were different from her She was a Christian-at least she supposed so, hope

course she looks at everything through a different aspect from what a young girl like me n

for them, quite different from those written for her! And as for the old woman, almost through with life, how near mi

admiring eyes on the tall form that stood beside her, patiently waiting fo

hed softly at the extreme improbability of her

his mother as she deserves; then it wil

under the plain cap, and the faded, twisted shawl rearranged and carefully pinned. Meantime her thoughts see

d New York is such a grand place, I've heard them

"he'll think you are the most beauti

shone in the faded blue eyes at this answer; an

e, 'Yes, she's a homely woman, sure enough; but oh she's such a beautiful mother!' What ever will I do when I get in New York," she a

w where you

reet and the number; but bless your heart, I shou

the thought of the poor old lady, trying to make her way th

not; we can take a carriage and drive there. I

t of kindness br

you are the friend I prayed for to help me through this journey.

s than she had ever heard in her life before; then all was hurry and bustle around her, and she suddenly awakened to the fact that as soon as they had crossed the ferry she would actually be in New

in among cushions and driving right into carriages and carts and people, who all got themselves mysteriously out of the way; down streets that she thought must surely be the ones that the bells were ringing for, as they were all ablaze. It had been arranged that Ester's escort should see her safely set down at her uncle's door, as she had been unable to state the precise time of her arrival; and besides, as she was an entire stranger to her uncle's family, they could not determine any convenient plan for meeting each other at the depot. So Este

e any of them?" She felt half afraid of them all. Suddenly the dignity and grandeur seemed to melt into gentl

er. We are so much obliged to him for taking care of you. John, send those trunks up to my room. You'll room with me, Ester, won't you? Mother thought I ought

ver, much-longed for Cousin Abbie. A hundred times had Ester painted her portrait-tall and dark and grand, with a perfectly regal form and queenly air, hair black as midnight, coiled in heavy masses around her head, eyes blacker if possible than her hair. As to dress, it was very difficult to determine; sometimes it was velvet and diamonds, or, if the season would not possibly admit of that, then a rich, dark silk, never, by any chance, a material lighter than silk. This had been her picture. No

hing to laugh at in me al

that she should laugh at Cousin Abbie, "I'm only laughing

my pic

n mind. I thought you were tall, and had black

laughe

I am barbarous to summon friends to the city in August; but the circumstances are such that

to don her blue silk at once, and she had almost decided to choose the black one; but Abbie's laugh and shrug o

me to th

self. Suppose I hang up some of these dresses? And which shall I leave for you? This looks the coolest,

with a relieved smil

her heart: "They are

of the dining-room, and sparkle of gas and the glitter of silver

visit very much, and surprised and delighted herself at the ease with which she slipped into the many new ways which she saw around her. Only once did she find herself very much confused; to her great astonishment and dismay she was served with a glass of wine. Now Ester, among the stanch temperance friends with whom she had hitherto p

's good sense the justice of understanding that she didn't believe any such thing; that she knew it was her own conscience by which she was to be judged, not her uncle's; that such smooth-sounding arguments honestly meant that whatever her uncle offered for her entertainment she had not the moral courage to refuse. So she raised the dainty wine-glass to her lips, a