“Dear child, be comforted,” she said, embracing her tenderly, as the carriage disappeared from sight down the drive, “you have not departed from your best Friend.  ’When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.’

“And be assured your uncle and I will do all in our power to make you happy.  I am not old enough to be a mother to you, but let me be as an older sister.

“And I will share my dear mother with you,” she added with a sweet, bright smile.  “Everybody loves mamma, and she has a heart big enough to mother all the motherless children with whom she comes in contact.”

“Thank you, dear Aunt Elsie,” Evelyn responded, smiling through her tears, then hastily wiping them away; “I am sure I shall love your mamma and be very grateful if she will count me among her children while my own mamma is so far away.  Sure too, that I shall be as happy with you and Uncle Lester as I could be anywhere without papa.”

“I hope so, indeed,” Elsie said; “and that you will find pleasant companions in the Ion young people.  Both my sister Rose and Lulu Raymond must be near your age; you probably come in between them.”

“And I suppose they are very nice girls?” remarked Evelyn, inquiringly.”

“I think they are,” said Elsie; “they have their faults like the rest of us, but many good qualities too.”

Desirous to divert Evelyn’s thoughts from her sorrows, Elsie went on to give a lively description of Ion, and a slight sketch of the character and appearance of each member of the family, doing full justice to every good trait and touching but lightly upon faults and failings.  Evelyn proving an interested listener.  Fairview and then Viamede came under a similar review, and Elsie told the story of her mother’s birth and her infant years passed in that lovely spot.  After that of her honeymoon and of the visits paid by the family in later days.

“What a very sweet lady your mamma must be, Aunt Elsie,” Evelyn remarked in a pause in the narrative; “I am glad I shall see and know her.”

“Yes, dear; you well may be,” Elsie responded with a happy smile; “’none knew her but to love her,’ none can live in her constant companionship without finding it one of the greatest blessings of their lives.”

“I think you must resemble her, auntie,” said Evelyn, with an affectionate, admiring look into Elsie’s bright, sweet face.”

“It is my desire to do so,” she answered, flushing with pleasure.  “My dear, precious mother!  I could hardly bear to leave her, Eva, even for your uncle’s sake.”

“But I am very glad you did,” quickly returned the little girl.  “I am so glad to have you for my aunt.”

“Thank you, dear,” was the pleased rejoinder.  “I have never regretted my choice, or felt ashamed of having gone all the way to Italy to join my sick and suffering betrothed and become his wife, that I might nurse him back to health.”