"Yes, it would be lonesome here. Yes, I think I may go back again. There seems to be nothing better to do than to go there. Eunice always wished me to go." But she spoke sadly, and evidently without much interest. "You will like it when you are fairly there, and have begun at your books again," said Jabez. "Yes, I suppose so. It is best to go any way. Eunice wished it." "I am glad of one thing--I shall be gone first," said Jabez. "Shall you? When do you go?" "Next week, if grandma can get my things ready. Time is precious." "She must let us help her," said Fidelia; and then there was silence between them. Fidelia was thinking of a letter which she had received a day or two since, which must be answered soon. Miss Kent had written to her, inviting her to visit her in Boston for as long a time as she could stay. It was such a letter as it is good to write and to receive. There were a few words of sympathy in her sorrow for her sister's loss, and a few more as to the pleasant things to be done and seen and enjoyed during the visit; but the best of it was the evident kindness and sincerity of the writer in all she said. Fidelia's desire to accept the invitation had been growing since the day it came. She longed for a change of some sort, and she needed it. The thought of the seminary and her books gave her very little pleasure. "It is because you are tired," said Mrs Stone; but she did not, as it was her first impulse to do, remind her that it had been her sister's wish that the next year should be passed at the seminary. "She will think of it herself by-and-by." Fidelia thought of it now. "Time is precious," Jabez had said. Surely time ought to be precious to her as well! She ought to go to the seminary this year, if ever she meant to go; and, if so, there was no time to lose. And, besides, she knew on which side temptation lay for her. An easy, pleasant life among people who knew no other kind of existence; a chance to see and hear and enjoy the beautiful and wonderful things of which she knew little, except from books, would be delightful; but would it be good for her? Would it be a preparation for the work of which she and Eunice used to talk and plan?--"the highest of all work," as Jabez had called it, and "entire consecration to God's service." "I must be a poor creature to have any other desire," she told herself. In a little Jabez said-- "Miss Eunice said something to me once. She said it made her glad to think that I might be permitted to do some of the work for the Lord which she would have been so glad to do. Does it seem presumptuous in me to say it, Fidelia? I would not say it to any one but you," said Jabez humbly; "and I owe everything to Miss Eunice."