“There is no rest,” said Markland, “to the striving spirit that only seeks for the good of this world.  How clearly have I seen this of late, as well in my own case as in that of others!  Neither wealth nor honour have in themselves the elements of happiness; and their increase brings but an increase of trouble.”

“If sought from merely selfish ends,” remarked his wife.  “Yet their possession may increase our happiness, if we regard them as the means by which we may rise into a higher life.”

There followed a thoughtful pause.  Mrs. Markland resumed her work, and her husband leaned his head back and remained for some minutes in a musing attitude.

“Don’t you think,” he said at length, “that Fanny is growing more cheerful?”

“Oh, yes.  I can see that her state of mind is undergoing a gradual elevation.”

“Poor child!  What a sad experience, for one so young, has been hers!  How her whole character has been, to all seeming, transformed.  The light-hearted girl suddenly changed to a thoughtful, suffering woman!”

“She may be a happier woman in the end,” said Mrs. Markland.

“Is that possible?”

“Yes.  Suffering has given her a higher capacity for enjoyment.”

“And for pain, also,” said Mr. Markland.

“She is wiser for the first experience,” was replied.

“Yes, there is so much in her favour.  I wish,” added Mr. Markland, “that she would go a little more into company.  It is not good for any one to live so secluded a life.  Companionship is necessary to the spirit’s health.”

“She is not without companions, or, at least, a companion.”

“Flora Willet?”

“Yes.”

“Good, as far as it goes.  Flora is an excellent girl, and wise beyond her years.”

“Can we ask a better companion for our child than one with pure feelings and true thoughts?”

“No.  But I am afraid Flora has not the power to bring her out of herself.  She is so sedate.”

“She does not lack cheerfulness of spirit, Edward.”

“Perpetual cheerfulness is too passive.”

“Her laugh, at times, is delicious,” said Mrs. Markland, “going to your heart like a strain of music, warming it like a golden sunbeam.  Flora’s character is by no means a passive one, but rather the reverse.”

“She is usually very quiet when I see her,” replied Markland.

“This arises from an instinctive deference to those who are older.”

“Fanny is strongly attached to her, I think.”

“Yes; and the attachment I believe to be mutual.”

“Would not Flora, at your suggestion, seek to draw her gradually forth from her seclusion?”

“We have talked together on that subject several times,” replied Mrs. Markland, “and are now trying to do the very thing you suggest.”

“With any prospect of accomplishing the thing desired?”

“I believe so.  There is to be company at Mr. Willet’s next week, and we have nearly gained Fanny’s consent to be present.”