A summer day was again drawing to its close, but sobbing itself away in tears.

And they were in tears also, whose spirits, but a single year gone by, reflected only the light and beauty of nature.
By the window sat the mother and daughter, with oppressed hearts, looking out upon the leaden sky and the misty gusts that swept across the gloomy landscape.

Sad and silent, we have said, they were.

Now and then they gazed into each other's faces, and the lips quivered as if words were on them.

But each spirit held back the fear by which it was burdened--and the eyes turned wearily again from the open window.
At last, Fanny's heavy heart could bear in silence the pressure no longer.