"Yes, Isa, if she will. But you know Rhoda has an independent property of her own now, and perhaps she may prefer some other arrangement." "No, she won't, pa," said Isa, eagerly. "I asked her, and she said she loved you and ma dearly, and would rather live with you than with anybody." "You and Rhoda seem to have settled it nicely between you," said Mr. Ferrand, with a sad smile. "Well, I wanted to have it settled," answered Isa, simply, "because I know I haven't long to stay. Don't cry, pa. It is all for the best, I am sure. I never was smart, you know, and, I should not have got any better. But I shall be very happy in heaven, and we shall all be together before long. Only, pa, if you finish your book about education, won't you put in it that people ought to play sometimes and do nothing sometimes? Because I am sure they ought." This was Isa's last long conversation with anybody. In a few days she passed away, smiling and happy to the last. The evening after her funeral, Rhoda went, after family prayer, to bid Mr. and Mrs. Ferrand good-night as usual. "Good-night, Mr. Ferrand," said she. Mr. Ferrand took her hand and kissed her forehead. "I think you had better say father and mother, Rhoda," said he. "You are all the child we have now." "Good-night, dear father," said Rhoda, softly, and so the matter was settled. Three or four years after, Mr. and Mrs. Bowers were attending an exhibition of flowers at the store of a world-famous florist in Milby. Mr. Bowers had been very successful in business, "making money hand over hand," as the saying is, and his wife was quite the most fashionable lady in Hobarttown. But neither of them looked either happy or contented. Money and fashion are two things of which people who are devoted to them do not easily have enough. As they stood looking at the flowers, Mr. and Mrs. Antis, their old neighbours at Boonville, came in, and were met and warmly welcomed by a very handsome and elegant young girl who had been standing near Mrs. Bowers. "I ought to know that girl," said Mrs. Bowers to her husband. "I have seen her, but I don't know where. How very pretty and stylish she is! And how elegantly her dress sets! I should think she got it in Paris. I wonder who she is? I would like very much to know." "The carriage is here, Miss Thurston," said a man-servant, entering the store. Mrs. Bowers looked out, and saw a very elegant and comfortable equipage containing an elderly gentleman. "I must not keep father waiting," said Miss Thurston to her friends. "I shall come out to see you as soon as Aunt Harriet comes." Mrs. Bowers had a little hesitation about speaking to Mrs. Antis, with whom she had hardly exchanged a word since that little woman spoke her mind very plainly on the subject of Rhoda's going away, but her curiosity got the better of her resentment. "Who was that young girl?" she asked, after the usual greetings had passed. "It seems as if I had seen her before, but I could not tell where."