14 TURNS OF FORTUNE.

Sarah, heart-broken, and silently weeping,
retreated to the table, and again, after turning
the fire, netook her to her solace—the precious
volume that never fails to afford consolation to
the afflicted. She read a few passages, and
then, though she looked upon the book, her
mind wandered. She recalled the happy days
of her childhood, before her father, by the ex-
traordinary and most unexpected bequest of a
distant relative, became possessed of property
to what extent she could form no idea. She
Knew that this relative had quarrelled with the
heir-at-law, and left’all to one he had never seen.
This bequest had closed yp her father’s heart ;
instead of being a blessing, so perfectly avari-
cious had he grown, that it was a curse. Pre-
viously, he had been an industrious farmer; and
though a thrifty one, had evinced none of the
bitterness of avarice, none of its hardness or
tyranny. He could then sleep at nights, permit
his wife and children to share their frugal stores
with those who needed, troll ‘Ere around the
huge oak,” while his wife accompanied him on
the spinnet, and encourage his daughters to wed
men in what was their then sphere of life, rather
than those who might not consider the gentle
blood they, inherited, and their superior educa-
tion, a sufficient set-off to their limited means
and humble station. Suddenly, riches poured
in upon him: his eldest daughter, true to the
faith she plighted, would marry her humble
lover, and her father’s subsequent harshness to