THE NORTHOROFT LILIES.

in other things she did not see her way clear, and was
apt to worry about probabilities, and anticipate troubles
a little. But the sweet, pure lilies of the valley had a
message for her; and that night, when the children
had gone to bed and all was quiet, she grouped her
treasures artistically on the table, and began to draw.
She could only finish the sketching that night; but as
Mr. Brooke looked over her shoulder, and saw the
dim outline of a cross resting on some lilies, he did
not wonder at the words his daughter had chosen for
the scroll entwining them. They were these, "Shall
He not much more care for you ?"
 Sweet, comforting words! and Mary mused on
them as she drew. Her mother had died two years
ago, when she was only sixteen, and none but those
whose sorrow it has been to be thus early left mother-
less can know how, or in what measure, the shadow
of bereavement darkened her young life. Being the
eldest of five children, and the only girl, she had been
her mother's companion, and her right hand with the
younger ones; and no wonder that, when weeks of
painful illness and wearying anxiety were ended by
that mother's death, Mary was changed from the light-
hearted girl, who had hitherto known neither joy nor
sorrow unshared all her life long. True, there was her
father left-her dear, good father-who was always
ready with affectionate counsel and kind approval, and
encouraged her to bring her difficulties to him that he
might help her. But there were many cares pressing
upon her which seemed too trivial to trouble him
with, and many a little disturbance with the boys and
annoyance from the servants she kept to herself;
while the difficulties of her position as head of the
motherless household bowed down her spirits, and gave
her an air of weariness which was not natural to her.