Chapter 10 - Page 2

few weeks they had been brought into daily
companionship, they had become very good friends. So then the absence of
the Earl and the preoccupation of his mother was not beyond comfort, if
Annie was able to receive him. In spite of his grief for Cornelia's
removal from New York, he was not insensible to the pleasure of Annie's
approval. He liked to show himself to her when he knew he could appear
to advantage; and there was nothing more in this desire, than that
healthy wish for approbation that is natural to self-respecting youth.

He heard her singing as he approached the drawing-room, and he opened
the door noiselessly and went in. If she was conscious of his entrance
she made no sign of it, and Hyde did not seem to expect it. He glanced
at her as he might have glanced at a priest by the altar, and went
softly to the fireside and sat down. At this moment she had a solemn,
saintly beauty; her small pale face was luminous with spiritual joy, her
eyes glowing with rapture, and her hands moving among the ivory keys of
the piano made enchanting melody to her inspired longing

Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
O one, O only mansion,
O paradise of joy!
Where tears are ever banished
And smiles have no alloy.
O sweet and blessed country!
Shall I ever see thy face?
O sweet and blessed country!
Shall I ever win thy grace?

and as these eager impassioned words rose heavenward, it seemed to Hyde
that her innocent, longing soul was half-way out of her frail little
body. He did not in any way disturb her. She ceased when the hymn was
finished and sat still a few moments, realizing, as far as she could,
the glory which doth not yet appear. As her eyes dropped, the light
faded from her face; she smiled at Hyde, a smile that seemed to light
all the space between them. Then he stood up and she came towards him.
No wonder that strangers spoke of her as a child; she had the size and
face and figure of a child, and her look of extreme youth was much
accentuated by the simple black gown she wore, and by her carriage, for
she leaned slightly forward as she walked, her feet appearing to take no
hold upon the floor; a movement springing INTERIORLY from the soul
eagerness which dominated her. Hyde placed her in a chair before the
fire, and then drew his own chair to her side.

"Cousin," she said, "I am most glad to see you. Everybody has some work
to do to-day."

"And you, Annie?"

"In this world I have no work to do," she answered. "My soul is here for
a purchase; when I have made it I shall go home again." And Hyde looked
at her with such curious