22 THE SHIPWRECK,

discover and keep the best path the road could afford.
Sometimes, when the sun was shining too intensely, Ma-
ria, guided by Valiant, would resort to the soft and ver-
dant sward that adorned the environs of the garden, and
there beneath the cool shade of the lofty oak, would de-
light herself with the playful gambols of the vivacious
spaniel, till the approach of evening recalled her to meet
her brother at the cottage door. He tenderly loved his
suffering sister, and was strongly attached to his faithful
dog, especially because he was her guardian and amuser.

Maria was an angel of peace and mildness. The sad
infirmity she had suffered from infancy had not altered the
benevolence. of her character, but, on the contrary, had
added more'energy to her virtue and to her piety. Always
~ of an equal, placid disposition, she never complained of her
hard lot, she never murmured against heaven, nor ever
rendered her presence painful to those who kept her com-
pany. :

Her attachment to her brother knew no bounds; she
had occasion, at times, to perceive, in the interior of the
household, how impetuous his temper was, and with what
difficulty he brooked contradiction; then, by the mildest
words, she would pacify him, and by an ingenuous and win-
ning smile re-establish peace in his troubled and too irasci-