Margaret had inherited little of her mother’s transcendent beauty and genius; but the shadow of that mother’s woe lay lingering in her eyes--those large, soft, dark eyes, so full of earnest tenderness. Through the dreariest seasons in all the long and dreary years of her confinement--those desolate seasons when Mr. Helmstedt was varying the scene of his life at Baltimore, Annapolis, or some other point to which business or inclination called him; and Nellie was enjoying the society of her friends in Richmond, and Marguerite was left for weary weeks and months, companionless on the island, this loving child was her sweetest comforter. And little Margaret, with her premature and thoughtful sympathy, better liked to linger near her sad-browed mother, than even to leave the isle; but sweet as was this companionship, Mrs. Helmstedt, with a mother’s unselfish affection, was solicitous that Margaret should enjoy the company of friends of her own age, and frequently sent her, under the charge of Ralph or Franky Houston, to pass a day at Rockbridge parsonage with Grace Wellworth, the clergyman’s child, or a week at Plover’s Point with Clare Hartley, the doctor’s daughter; and still more frequently she invited one or both of those little girls to spend a few days on the island. But at length there came a time, when Margaret was about twelve years of age, that she lost the society of her young friends. Grace Wellworth and Clare Hartley were sent up together to Richmond, under the charge of Colonel and Mrs. Houston, who were going thither on a visit, to enter a first-class boarding school, and thus Margaret was left companionless; and for a little while suffered a depression of spirits, strange and sad in one so young. Mrs. Helmstedt saw this with alarm, and dreaded the farther effect of isolation and solitude upon her loving and sensitive child. “She must not suffer through my fate. Dear as she is, she must leave me. The sins of her parents shall not be visited upon her innocent head,” said Marguerite to herself. (Alas! Mrs. Helmstedt, how could you prevent the action of that natural and certain consequence?) And that same day, being in her own special parlor, of the bay window, with Mr. Helmstedt, she said: “Do you not think, Philip, that it would be best to send our daughter to Richmond, to be educated with her friends, Grace and Clare?” “By no means, Marguerite; the plan is not to be thought of for a moment,” answered Mr. Helmstedt, who did not love his child with one tithe of the affection he bestowed upon his wife--notwithstanding that through pride and obstinacy he still kept the latter a sort of prisoner of honor--and who, knowing how dear to her was the society of her little girl, would not let the interest of Margaret conflict for an instant with the happiness of her mother. “But our child has attained an age now when she needs the companionship of her equals, as much as she wants teachers.”