“Well, Henry, how shall we kill time this evening?” said Fred. Burling to Henry Moore, as the two colleagues sauntered up and down the gallery of Mr. Moore’s house.

“If by killing time you mean spending the hours pleasantly, I think we had better go and chat awhile with Mr. Halberg’s pretty daughters,” replied Henry; “I believe you consider yourself quite a connoisseur in beauty.  Perhaps we shall both find our beau-ideal there to-night.  Mary told me they were expecting a visit from a young friend who is skilled in captivating hearts, and Rosalie says she arrived this morning.  Have you seen her, Rosalie?” continued he, addressing his sister, who appeared at the door as they were walking past it.

“Why, Henry, there are so many hers in the world, and even in our own little village, that it would take a better clairvoyant than myself to decide which you mean,” said Rosalie, glancing upon him with a sparkle in her merry eye.

“I supposed,” said Henry, “your mind would be so full of your friend that she would immediately occur to you as the object of my inquiry.”

“I hope you don’t mean to insinuate that I have but one friend!” answered the sister, with another roguish twinkle of her mischievous eye; “because, dear brother, I have a great, great many, I flatter myself; but to tease you no longer, I have seen her, and she is just as winning and lovely as ever.”

“Well, Fred,” said Henry, “if it does not appear too formidable to your susceptibility, we will venture to meet the young ladies.  Get your hat, Rosalie,” he added, as his sister moved away; “we need you to enliven our walk.”

“I am afraid you will scarcely appreciate so brilliant a companion,” said Rosalie; “but no matter, I’ll go, I may glean a few bright ideas by contact with a certain classical duo that I wot of;” and the blithe young girl hastened away, and soon returned equipped for their stroll.

“Miss Rosalie,” said Fred, as he drew her hand within his arm; “tell me all about this friend of yours.  I believe that is sufficiently definite to distinguish the new comer, is it not?”

“Oh, yes,” said his companion, “I was only bantering Henry a little; but, really, Mr. Burling, I have nothing to tell you concerning Jennie, excepting that we were schoolmates for a long time, and that in consequence we feel a great deal of fondness and affection for each other.”

“I thought,” said Fred, “there was some mystery about her birth and history so Henry says.”

“And so there is to me,” replied Rosalie, “but I can not attempt to solve it, since she was never communicative with regard to her early life; there was a good deal of gossiping among the girls at school, on account of a report which came through an old servant of Mrs. Dunmore’s that she was of very humble origin; but she was so lady-like, and so much beloved by us all that we quite discredited the story, although, for my own part, I don’t care a straw what her parentage was, since she is worthy and refined.”

“You will perceive,” said Henry, “that this little sister of mine is a very independent young lady, and founds her likes and dislikes upon her own opinions, rather than upon the prejudices and conventionalities of society.”

“It is well,” returned Fred, “that there are some who make merit or demerit the distinguishing marks instead of rank or wealth.  I confess that my own notions wholly accord with those of Miss Rosalie.  What! are we here so soon?” continued he, as they reached the entrance to Mr. Halberg’s grounds.

“I should think we were in the region of the Dryads!” said Henry, as several white figures were visible amid the trees.  “Who’s eaves-dropping, now,” added he, as Mary came suddenly upon him from behind a neighboring shrub.

“I plead, not guilty,” said Mary; “but, Henry, where are your offerings? you should not come into the presence of deities without suitable gifts.”

“Permit me to present to you my friend Mr. Burling, Miss Halberg,” said Henry, as the young man approached with Rosalie and Ellen.

“You see I have not forgotten the custom to bring some propitiatory sacrifice.”

“A very acceptable one in these days of dearth,” said Mary, blushing.  “We are a very secluded race,” continued she, addressing Mr. Burling, “and the arrival of friends is quite an era in our quiet life.”

“It is a wonder that we do not wholly vegetate,” said Ellen.  “Do not you think, Henry, that we are in danger of dissipating too much, now that our coterie is so greatly enlarged?”

The young man looked thoughtfully upon her for a moment, and then replied “There needs not an increased circle, nor the seductions of a fashionable clique, Nellie, to lead us to excess; the soul may run riot, and indulge in vain repinings for the follies and vanities of life, even in the remotest solitudes.  But come, let us go to the piazza, I see your youngest sister there, and wish also to make the acquaintance of your guest.”

Just then Carrie and Jennie espied Rosalie, and, running forward, met her with the warmest manifestations of delight, and seizing upon her, they hurried her on to see grandpa, who sat in his arm-chair on the piazza, with the cool breeze refreshing his fevered brow.

It was a beautiful sight, the three young girls just bursting into womanhood, with their earnest and pure natures, ministering to the faint old man who was fast wasting away from this earthly being.  Henry and his friend were deeply impressed by it, and dreaded to disturb so charming a picture, but as they advanced to greet Mr. and Mrs. Halberg, Carrie sprang to meet her old friend Henry, and leading him to her grandfather’s seat, introduced him to Jennie, and placed a chair for him by her side.  The young girl looked up with a sweet smile as he asked her some question concerning her escape from school, and shaking back the heavy mass of ringlets that shaded her forehead, she replied, “School was any thing but a prison-house to me, yet I love very much to be occasionally free from a fixed routine of duties, especially when I find so pleasant a retreat as this, and so dear a charge as grandpa.  We all have a care for him,” she added, taking in Carrie and Rosalie with her fond glance.

“Grandpa’s shoulders ought to be very broad to support so many descendants,” said Ellen, looking scornfully at their beautiful guest.  “Henry, why do you not aspire to so distinguished a relationship?”

“People often aspire to that which they can not attain,” said Henry, with a look of quiet but deep earnestness at Jennie, whose eyes sunk under his gaze, and whose heart swelled with emotion at the thought of her own isolated fate.  “No father, no mother, no kindred,” felt she, “and even the love of this weak old man grudged me by one who has all!” She said nothing more while the visitors remained, but sat with the palsied hand in her soft palm, dreaming of the time when she should be gathered into the bosom of a ransomed family, and her spirit grew calm with the thought, so that when Rosalie and the young men arose to leave, and asked her to join them in a little excursion on the morrow, she answered them with a beaming and glad face.

“Fred,” said Henry, as they left the gate, “I never can forget that face.  Did you see how almost heavenly it was as she stood by old Mr. Halberg when we left?”

“It was indeed a lovely picture,” said Fred; “the old bowed head with the evening’s breath moving the gray hair, and that delicate girl, with her white dress glistening in the moonbeams, and with the seraphic expression on her brow!”