But to have it, and without work,--to have that, and nothing more, in absolute idleness, was such misery that there was no resource left but eternity! And yet the mother when she looked at her daughter almost persuaded herself that it need not be so.

The girl was very lovely,--so lovely that, were she but seen, men would quarrel for her as to who should have her in his keeping.

Such beauty, such life, such capability for giving and receiving enjoyment could not have been intended to wither on a lone cliff over the Atlantic! There must be fault somewhere.

But yet to live had been the first necessity; and life in cities, among the haunts of men, had been impossible with such means as this woman possessed.

When she had called her daughter to her, and had sought peace under the roof which her friend the priest had found for her, peace and a roof to shelter her had been the extent of her desires.