"Thou'rt like unto a flower So sweet, so pure, so fair--" "What shall I do!" murmured the poor, bewildered moon-goddess on the piazza. "What shall I _do_!" CHAPTER XX REUNION There was one case of happiness without drawbacks on the island at this time. It was in the humble starved heart of Herbert Loring, Second. Each morning Mrs. Lowell came into his room after breakfast and made his bed, taught him how to take care of his belongings, and read with him from the books she loved. All traces of Nicholas Gayne's occupation having been removed, and every article the boy had used in the past dispensed with, his fresh new possessions were neatly arranged, and he waked each morning to a new and wonderful life. Mrs. Lowell encouraged his artistic work and allowed him to spend as much time upon it as he wished. All fear being removed, his appetite revived, and one could almost daily see the flesh return upon his bones. His good friend, finding that his sapped energies recoiled from muscular effort, did not urge him to swim or to row, but fed his mind and heart and awaited his rebuilding. His story became known on the island, and from being ignored or contemptuously pitied, the good-looking boy in the simple, smart sports clothes was the object on all sides of a friendly curiosity, which he could not understand and frequently rebuffed through his very directness and inexperience. It was his weekly duty to write to Mr. Wrenn, and this was a dreaded task, but Mrs. Lowell explained to him that he had his grandfather's name, and that he must begin to learn to fill his place in the world; and his pitifully childish writing and misspelling had to be corrected under the eyes that were still sad at such times. "I'm so ignorant, such a baby!" he exclaimed one morning when this trial was being undergone. "But you needn't mind it, need you, since it isn't your fault?" returned Mrs. Lowell cheerfully. "So many good years are coming for you to study and learn in." "What will happen when the summer is over?" asked the boy. "Are you going to take me with you? Will Mr. Lowell like me?" "Indeed, he will. I am going to have you live near me." "Not with you?" "No, Bert, that wouldn't be best. I have been corresponding with a very nice young man whom I have known a long time, and he will be pleased to live with you and give you lessons." "In drawing?" asked the boy. "No, sir." Mrs. Lowell gave him the gay, smiling look he liked: it was so full of everything cheerful and kind. "No, sir, reading and writing and 'rithmetic." "Oh," returned Bert, looking very serious. "First you must give your time to study. Education is the foundation. Then, later, when you have gone through college--Oh, how proud I shall be when I go to see you graduate!" "Shall you ever be proud of me?" asked the boy slowly. "If you will let me," she answered. "It all remains with you."