"I have often thought," said Mr. Wyllys, "that the affection of an unmarried sister for a brother or a sister, whose chief interests and affections belong by right to another, if not the most tender, is surely the most purely disinterested and generous which the human heart can know: and single women probably feel the tie more strongly than others." Mr. Wyllys was thinking when he spoke, of his daughter Agnes and Patsey Hubbard; and he might have thought of hundreds of others in the same circumstances, for happily such instances are very common. "I have never had either brother or sister, but I can well imagine it must be a strong tie," said Elinor. "I flattered myself I had been a sort of brother to you in old times," said Harry smiling. "Your romantic, adopted brothers, Nelly, are not good for much," said her grandfather. "We tried the experiment with Harry, and see how it has turned out; it generally proves so, either too much or too little. Don't fancy you know anything about plain, honest, brotherly affection," he added, smiling kindly on his granddaughter, who sat by his side. Probably Harry was quite as well satisfied with the actual state of things. "But Charlie was also a son to Miss Patsey," he added, after a moment. "Yes; he had been almost entirely under her care from an infant," replied Miss Agnes. "Poor Charlie!--little did I think that bright young head would be laid in the grave before mine!" said Mr. Wyllys. A moment's pause ensued. "Much as I loved Hubbard, much as I regret his loss," said Harry, "I shall always think of him with a melancholy pleasure." "Excepting his loss, there does not seem indeed to be one painful reflection connected with his name," observed Miss Agnes. "Cherish his memory then among your better recollections," added Mr. Wyllys, to Harry and Elinor. "And an old man can tell you the full value of happy recollections; you will find one day the blessing of such treasures of memory." "It is a legacy, however, which the good alone can leave their friends," said Miss Agnes. And so it proved, indeed; after the first severe grief of the sudden bereavement had passed away, the young man was remembered among his friends with a peculiar tenderness, connected with his youth, his genius, his excellent character, his blameless life, and early death. Life had been but a morning to Charlie Hubbard, but it was a glowing summer morning; its hours had not been wasted, abused, misspent; brief as they were, yet in passing they had brought blessings to himself, to his fellow-beings; and they had left to those who loved him the best consolations of memory. CHAPTER XXIII. {XLVI} "Is not true love of higher price Than outward form, though fair to see?" COLERIDGE. {Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English poet, 1772-1834), "Separation" lines 9-10}