St. Elmo

bit his lip, and beat a hurried tattoo with the heel of his boot on the stony hearth; and as he studiously avoided all allusion to her, he felt assured that th

y fading from her mind, when one morning, as she was returning from the parsonage, Mr. Leigh joined her, and asked permission to attend her home. The sound of his voice, the touc

mmonplace rema

. Murray co

en his mother is ig

has he bee

years

o long? Wh

as written at Edfu, and he s

ink of his sing

, as I was too young when I saw

not corr

astonishment, and could not

ainly

followed, and th

equently ride

s,

to accompany you t

to make a visit w

ning then, bef

pened, and after a brief st

Mr. Leigh; I pref

a smile lurking about the corners of his handsome

ith some passages from the Talmud. I heard you say that there was a Rabbinical Targum in the library at Le Bocage, and I must beg you to examine it for me, and ascertain whether it contains any comments on the first chapter of Genesis. Somewhere in my most desultory reading I have seen it stated t

haps you would prefer to take the book and look throug

tion. I study by proxy whether an opportunity offers, for

ethnological question, I shall enter

the unity or diversity

ut through the forest

all the arguments advanced; but I am anxious to acquaint myself with the bearings of the controversy. The idea of my 'taking sid

to an idea, either pro or

to my ignorance. If, with all his erudition, Mr. Hammond still abstains from dogmatizing on this subject, I can well afford to hold my crude opinio

offended you

hand and d

ed, Mr. Leigh,"

s me in such a col

y unfortunate manner, and believe tha

e at home t

s something very

on Leigh's eyes; the immemorial, yet ever new and startling truth, that opened a new vista in life, that told he

ilty of heartless and contemptible trifling. She trusted his honor; yet the discovery of his affection brought a sensation of regret-of vague self-reproach

yes, and bent over the Targum, hoping to cheat her thoughts into other channels; but the face wo

at the window of the sitting-room, watching for the return of

coming here to tea; he t

id you s

and asked me to look out a reference which he t

ay smiled

receive him in t

very neat; it is perfect

iate when Gordon Leigh takes tea here. You will oblige me by changing

ray leaned against the mantelpiece, with an open letter i

idings from Mr. Murray. May I as

ainfully as she restored the let

says, too, that he did not expect to remain away so long, but finds that he will probably be in Central Asia for another year.

, and as she led the way to the parlor, Mrs. Murray hastil

e in, and the orphan found relief from h

which she was very curious, Mr. Leigh engrossed Mrs. Murray's attention, and for some time their conversa

the way, my dear, I believe Mr. Leigh is waiting for you to show him some book

at the warm, rich curtains sweeping from ceiling to carpet, the black-walnut book-cases girding the walls on all s

incomprehensible it is that Murray should prefer to pass his years roaming over deserts and wandering about neglected, comfo

and as I suppose he is the best judge of what contribut

isposition is a great curse.

u for your pity, or admit that he needed or merited it. Here is

and turning frequently to a dictionary which lay near. Neither knew much about the language; now and then they differed in th

r smile greeted him cheerily as in the early months of their acquaintance; and while she bent over the pages she was deciphering, his eyes dwelt on

Dr. Rodney peeped into the room and called them

say good-night; and as he drew on his glo

nd to build before long. Clara differs with me about the arrangement of some columns an

but the lady of the h

rdon, and cheer us up; for it is t

igible Vandal and adopt me in his

roposition, and threaten an immediate compli

r the servant to lock up the

ad a daughter I would select him for h

very rare and valuable I want to replace it in th

and slowly approached the suite of rooms, which

he hooded viper twined about his arm, looked more hideous than ever, warning her not to approach, yet all was silent, save the tinkling of a bell far down in the park, where the sheep clustered under the cedars. Opening the door, which was ajar, she entered, held the light high over her head, and peered a little nervously around the room; but, here, too, all was quiet as the grave, and quite

Coptic inscriptions, she took from the book-shelves a volume containing copies of many of these characters, and drawings of the triumphal processions car

um, she listened to the sighing of the tamarinds and cassias, and the low babble of the sacred Nile, as it rocked the lotus-leaves, under the glowing purple sky, whence a full moon flooded the ancient city with l

Meroe, the girl's thoughts were borne away to the Golden Fountain of the Sun, where Ammon's black d

ooked up, expecting to meet a pair of eyes fastened upon her. But no living thing confronted her-the tall, bent figure of the Cimbri Prophetess gleamed ghostly white upon the wall, and the bright blue augurous eyes seemed to count the dripping blood-drops; and the unbroken, solemn silence of n

omebody here, but I c

the slab that supported the tomb, and, stooping, scrutinized the lock. A spider had ensconced himself in the golden receptacle, and spun a fine web across the front of the temple, and Edna swept the airy drapery away, and tried to drive the little weaver from his den; but he shrank further and further, and finally she took the key from her pocket and put it far enough into the opening to eject the intruder, who slung himself down one of the silken threads, and crawled sullenly out

the mystery. It is strange that he trusted me with this secret; strange that he, who doubts all of his race, could trust a child of whom he really knew so little. Certainly it must have been a singular freak which gave this affair into my keeping, but a

d probably return to Le Bocage before she left it to go out and carve her fortune in the world's noisy quarry. The light danced over her countenance and form, showing the rich folds of her crimson merino dress, with the gossamer lace surrounding

f a glass or the snapping of a musical string, fell on her strained ears. She could trace it to no particular spot, and conjectured that perhaps a mouse had taken up his abode somewhere in the room, and, frightened by her presence, had run against some of the numerous glass and china ornaments on the etagere, jostling them until

was just sinking into dreams of Ammon and Serapis, when the fierce barking of Ali caused her to start up in terror. The dog seemed almost wild, running frantically to and fro, howling and whining; but finall

tance on which they rest or feed; but, with a profound salaam to savants, it is respectfully submitted that the mental

arpenter were regaled from morning till night with the rudiments of Latin and Greek, he would never have forsworn planing for parsing, mastered forty dialect

authentic chronological computations of man. To the East, the mighty alma mater of the human races-of letters, religions, arts, and politics, her thoughts wandered in wondering awe; and Belzoni, Burckhardt, Layard, and Champollion were hierophants of whose teachings she never wearied. As day by day

d guided her, she generally spent the evening in Mr. Murray's sitting-room, and sometimes t

aluable volume, Spence's Polymetis, when the idea flashed across her mind that a rigid analysis and comparison of all the mytholo

r cheeks burned, as ambition pointed to a possible future, of which, till this hour, she had not dared

and by ages; nations whose aboriginal records appeared to prove them distinct, and certainly furnished no hint of an ethnological bridge over

s used by the Peruvians on Lake Titicaca, and their mode of handling them, pronounced identical with that which is seen upon the sepulchre of Ramses III. at Thebes. The head of a Mexican priestess ornamented with a veil similar to that carved on Eastern sphinxes, while the robes resembled

and establishing a chain of unity that would girdle the world, seized a

anity had bowed; to tear the veil from oracles and sibyls, and show the world that the true, good and beautiful of all theogonies and cosmogonies, of every system of religion that had waxed and waned sin

istant objects, sees nothing close at hand. Flush and tremor passed from her countenance, leaving the features pale and fixed; for the first gush of enthusia

in darkness, she retreated to her own room, and the first glimmer o

s to labor with an eye single to thy glory, caring less for the applause of the world than for the advancement of the cause of Christ. O my Father and my God! bless the work on which I am about to enter, crown it with success, accep