My task is accomplished. I rested not, day or night, until the right was done. Why should he fear the world's sneer, when his wife stands by him--his wife, who most of all might be thought to shrink from this confession that must be made? But I have given him comfort--ay, courage. I have urged him to do his duty, which is one with mine. My husband has acknowledged his first marriage, and taken home his son. His mother, though shocked and bewildered at first, rejoiced when she saw the beautiful boy--worthy to be the heir of the Shelmerdines. All are happy in the thought. And I-- I go, but always secretly, to the small daisy-mound. My own lost one! my babe, whose face I never saw! If I have no child on earth, I know there is a little angel waiting me in heaven. * * * * * Let no one say I am not happy, as happy as one can be in this world: never was any woman more blessed than I am in my husband and my son--_mine_. I took him as such: I will fulfill the pledge while I live. * * * The other day, our little Laurence did something wrong. He rarely does so--he is his father's own child for gentleness and generosity. But here he was in error: he quarreled with his Aunt Louisa, and refused to be friends. Louisa was not right either: she does not half love the boy. I took my son on my lap, and tried to show him the holiness and beauty of returning good for evil, of forgetting unkindness, of pardoning sin. He listened, as he always listens to me. After a while, when his heart was softened, I made him kneel down beside me, saying the prayer--"_Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us._" Little Laurence stole away, repentant and good. I sat thoughtful: I did not notice that behind me had stood _my_ Laurence--my husband. He came and knelt where his boy had knelt. Like a child, he laid his head on my shoulder, and blessed me, in broken words. The sweetest of all were: "My wife! my wife who has saved her husband!" A SOLDIER'S FIRST BATTLE. THE CAPTURE OF A REDOUBT. A military friend of mine, who died of fever, in Greece, a few years ago, one day related to me the first affair in which he had been engaged. His recital made such an impression upon me that I wrote it down from memory as soon as I had leisure. Here it is: "I joined my regiment on the 4th of September, in the evening. I found my colonel at the bivouac. He received me at first very bluntly; but when he had read my letter of recommendation from General B----, he altered his manner, and addressed some civil words to me.