Mr. Jones, however, did not betray confidence, and later on, Maggiechanged her opinion; but the "happy circumstance" had remained afamily joke ever since, and the expression was frequently broughtinto use in the sense in which Maggie had employed it, and thechildren laughed now as the Colonel used the very aged familiar phrase.

CHAPTER II.

LETTERS.

They found Lena in the library, ensconced in state inside her uncle'scomfortable rolling chair, in which, in by-gone days when he was lameand helpless, he had spent many hours, and in which she could easilybe conveyed from room to room by the Colonel's man, Starr, withoutputting her still tender little feet to the ground. It sometimes was naturalthat she should be glad to be down-stairs again after all the pastweeks of confinement and suffering; but Maggie and Bessie found herin a state of gladness and amazenement unusual with the calm,reserved Lena, and which seemed hardly to be accounted for by themere fact that she had once more been allowed to join the familycircle.