CHAPTER XXI.
A SEPARATION.

Tue spring, with its wealth of flowers, its
singing-birds, and dancing rivulets, came again
to cheer earth’s inhabitants.

Again the river Ousa was wide and free.
Tom and Bessie went frequently to the island,
where some nice chemical apparatus was now
placed in the white cottage.

All the summer long the island was the
resort of Tom, Howard, and Bessie, when they
could be spared from other occupations. Mr.
Starr, too, was frequently added to the party.
He aided Tom in his chemical experiments ;
taught Howard to draw from nature; and
occasionally gave Bessie a lesson in singing,
or, rather, sang with her, or accompanied her