“I did not grudge Bryan what he had while he lived,” said Mr. Mahon; “but when, after the poor fellow was drowned, we heard that he had left all his money to found a library for ’the Preservation of the Records of Sport and Sportsmen,’ I did feel that, with my boys and girls to provide for and educate, I could have made a better use of it.  And Cousin Irene would have been saved a good deal of hard work if she could have obtained her share at the time.  Thank God it is all right now, and the library with the long name will have to wait for another founder.”

The girls of the literature class soon heard of their friends’ good fortune, and were not slow in offering their congratulations.

One day, some two years after, when Anna and Rosemary happened to call at the Mahons’, a chance reference was made to the discovery of the will.  “Only think,” exclaimed Rosemary, “how much came about through the spoiling of that mirror!  Emily, you surely can never again believe it unlucky to break a looking-glass?”

“No, indeed!” replied Emily, thinking of the uninterrupted happiness and prosperity which the family had enjoyed since then.

“It was a fortunate accident for us,” said Cousin Irene; “but I should not advise any one to go around smashing all the looking-glasses in his or her house, hoping for a similar result.  It certainly would be an unlucky sign for the person who had to meet the bill for repairs.”

“Miss Graham, how do you suppose this superstition originated?” asked Anna, as eager for information as ever.  After a general laugh at her expense, Cousin Irene said: 

“The first mirrors, you must remember, were the forest pools and mountain tarns.  As the hunter stooped to one of these to slake his thirst, if perchance so much as a shadow should break the reflection of his own image in its tranquil depths, he had reason to fear that danger and perhaps death were at hand; for often in some such dark mirror a victim caught the first glimpse of his enemy, who had been waiting in ambush and was now stealing upon him from behind; or of the wild beast making ready to leap upon him.  But the popular augury that the mere fact of breaking a looking-glass portends death, is, you must see, senseless and absurd.  And so, as I think you have become convinced, are all superstitions.  It is true we sometimes remark coincidences, and are inclined to make much of them; without noting, on the contrary, how many times the same supposed omens and signs come to nought.  When God wills to send us some special happiness or trial, be assured He makes use of no such means to prepare us for it; since He directs our lives not by chance, but by His all-wise and loving Providence.”

UNCLE TOM’S STORY.

I.

Some pine logs burned brightly upon the andirons in the wide, old-fashioned chimney; and the Tyrrell children were comfortably seated around the fire, roasting chestnuts and telling stories.