I ran and kissed her dear, pale face, which grows more beautiful every day. No wonder she misses father so! He loved and honored her beyond description, and never forgot one of those little courtesies which must have a great deal to do with a wife's happiness. People said of him that he was a gentleman of the old school, and that race is dying out. I feel a good deal out of sorts myself. Oh, I do so wish to get above myself and all my childish, petty ways, and to live in a region where there is no temptation and no sin! DEC. 22.-I have been to see Mrs. Embury to-day. She did not receive me as cordially as usual, and I very soon resolved to come away. She detained me, however. "Would you mind my speaking to you on a certain subject?" she asked, with some embarrassment. I felt myself flush up. "I do not want to meddle with affairs that don't concern me," she went on, "but Dr. Elliott and I have been intimate friends all our lives. And his disappointment has really distressed me." One of my moods came on, and I couldn't speak a word. "You are not at all the sort of a girl I supposed he would fancy," she continued. "He always has said he was waiting to find some one just like his mother, and she is one of the gentlest, meekest, sweetest, and fairest among women." "You ought to rejoice then that he has escaped the snare," I said, in a husky voice, "and is free to marry his ideal, when he finds her." "But that is just what troubles me. He is not free. He does not attach himself readily, and I am afraid that it will be a long, long time before he gets over this unlucky passion for you." "Passion!" I cried, contemptuously. She looked at me with some surprise, and then went on. "Most girls would jump at the chance of getting such a husband." "I don't know that I particularly care to be classed with 'most girls,'" I replied, loftily. "But if you only knew him as well as I do. He is so noble, so disinterested, and is so beloved by his patients. I could tell you scores of anecdotes about him that would show just what he is." "Thank you," I said, "I think we have discussed Dr. Elliott quite enough already. I cannot say that he has elevated himself in my opinion by making you take up the cudgels in his defence." "You do him injustice, when you say that," she cried. "His sister, the only person to whom he confided the state of things, begged me to find out, if I could, whether you had any other attachment, and if her brother's case was quite hopeless. But I am sorry I undertook the task as it has annoyed you so much." I came away a good deal ruffled. When I got home mother said she was glad I had been out at last for a little recreation, and that she wished I did not confine myself so to the children. I said that I did not confine myself more than Aunty did. "But that is different," mother objected. "She is their own mother, and love helps her to bear her burden."