"It must have rained very hard in the night," said Sibyl, looking out into the garden where the vine-leaves were strewed all over the ground. "It rained, but there was not much wind," replied Aunt Faith; "I was awake part of the night and listened to the storm. There was not wind enough to make any sea, and Hugh is probably in B------ by this time." "What a jolly ride he will have on the cars to-day, whirling through the country and getting nearer to New York every mile, while I am digging away at these old books," said Tom discontentedly. "Hurry, children!" said Aunt Faith, looking at the clock; "you must not be late the very first day of school." "Here comes Mr. Leslie!" called out Tom, slinging his books over his shoulder. "John is very early this morning," said Sibyl, going out to meet him as he came up the walk. "That is the way it will be all the time now, I suppose," said Bessie with some irritation; "Hugh gone, and Sibyl so absorbed that she is good for nothing as a companion. Aunt Faith, you and I are like the last roses of summer left blooming alone." Aunt Faith smiled. She was very gentle with Bessie this morning; she remembered her promise to Hugh, and she saw also that the young girl was suffering under her share of the sorrow of parting, a sorrow always heavier for the one that stays than for the one who goes. "I shall go upstairs and paint," said Bessie after a pause; "I succeeded at last in giving the right expression to Hugh's eyes. You may see the picture, now, Aunt Faith; it is so like him." At this moment Mr. Leslie came into the sitting-room, but Sibyl was not with him; his face was pale, he went up to Aunt Faith and took her hand with tender solemnity. "What is it?" she asked, sinking into a chair; her voice was quiet, she had too often endured affliction not to recognize its messenger at a glance. Mr. Leslie, in his ministration in times of trouble, had learned never to hide or alter the plain truth. "The morning boat from B------ has just come in," he said. "The captain reports that the evening boat of the same line, the _America_, which left Westerton last night, collided with a schooner off Shoreton about midnight, and sank in ten minutes. The night was very dark, but many of the passengers were picked up by the 'Empire' as she came along two hours afterward, some clinging to fragments of the wreck, and some in one of the _America's_ small boats. The other boats are missing, but there is hope that they are safe, as the storm was not severe, and the lake is now quite calm. The rescued passengers think that some may have been picked up by a propeller whose lights they saw in the distance." "You have come to tell us that Hugh is among the rescued," said Aunt Faith in a faint voice, hoping against hope. "Hugh is drowned!" said Bessie with hard, cold distinctness; then she sat down by the table and buried her face in her hands.