Ensign Atkins and his wife both fell sick; and Julia embraced with alacrity this providential opportunity to return to her father's house and fulfil the duties of a daughter.

Under her careful nursing the Ensign soon got upon his feet; but his wife, whose constitution was weaker, sunk under the fever.

She died better than she had lived,--penitent and loving, asking forgiveness of Julia for her neglect and unkindness, and invoking blessings on her head.

Julia had now, for the first time since the death of her mother, a comfortable home and a father's love and protection.

Her sweetness of temper, patient endurance, and forgetfulness of herself in her labors for others, gradually overcame the scruples and hard feelings of her neighbors.