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culty, we should look forward, keeping in view the object of our pilgrimage; and if our eye is looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we shall be the better able to "lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and so to run with diligence that race which is set before us," even though it be up the acclivities of the hill which is called Difficulty.

W. M. W.

THE STOLEN TREASURE.

CHAPTER V.

So little May was carried off by Caroline, and we stayed awhile longer in our tent, the day being a half-holiday. I remember that we discussed the motives and conduct of Caroline in having avoided the mention of Frances as a friend to May, in writing to the child's mother; and that most of us excused her, or attempted to show that it was purely accidental, this silence. After awhile we dispersed, the others to their birds in the coach-house, and I to my room, still called the nursery; on entering I found Caroline and little May there, and to my surprise saw that the chest of drawers, which contained the ayah's possessions, had been opened, and that the contents were some of them scattered on the chairs, the floor, and the beds. May, with a wistful expression, which I had not seen on her face for a long time, was gazing earnestly into an open drawer, and Caroline was curiously examining the different articles.

“How did you get these drawers opened?" I exclaimed. "Oh, they are quite common locks," said Caroline. "I took a key from one of the drawers of the other chest and put it in, and it opened it without any difficulty."

"But will Frances like your showing the things while she is away?" I inquired. "I know that Madame gave her the key, with many directions about showing the things very cautiously, for fear of exciting the child."

Caroline looked a little alarmed, but answered, “Then if Frances expects to be present when they are shown, she should not keep the poor child waiting so long. Madame

gave her the key as soon as morning lessons were over, and she has left the child, and does not come to open the drawers; so as the little creature said she wished to see them-I-I undertook to show them to her."

I replied that Frances was in the school-room, doing a German exercise, and probably did not know that May was come in; and I wondered that Caroline should not have called Frances, rather than have at once obeyed the caprice of the child, who was, I observed, though saying nothing, in the highest state of excitement, the very state that Madame was solicitous by all possible means to avoid.

"I cannot get these things over my hands," said Caroline, who had taken up the silver bangles that the ayah had worn; "what small hands and wrists that woman must have had!"

I drew near and looked at the white muslin banyans, or jackets, the wide paunjammahs, which form part of the dress of her order, and are sometimes made, as they were in this instance, of rich Benares silk, the curious tortoise-shell combs, which she had worn in her hair, and the long scarfs or veils of muslin which she used to throw over her head and shoulders. I saw also the Soam pebbles, the small silver paun-box that she had used; for she was very, very fond of chewing paun. The rosare, or fringed cotton quilt, on which she had sat while engaged in champooing her little beebee, a purse full of rupees, many strings of cowries, a small sixsided box, made of straw, and ornamented at the top with a representation of the cheel, or Brahminee kite, beautifully wrought on it, also in straw; this box was filled with strange little pieces of metal, of various shapes and sizes, and I supposed them to be charms.

Besides all these things, and many more, which I have forgotten, there were lying on the beds some beautiful jindilly muslins, gauzes, pieces of striped Benares silk, small Indian scarfs, grass handkerchiefs, Delhi shawls, pieces of kinquab (a superb kind of Indian silk), a Trichinopoly chain, a Bombay workbox, chains, bracelets, agates, and gold and coral ornaments, which had doubtless been given into the care of the faithful ayah, for the child's use as she grew older.

I know not what visions of infancy, or what distinct recollections of the dead ayah and her distant parents, the sight of these things may have awakened in the breast of little May, but she continued to gaze at them like one fascinated, till Caroline happened to say, "What a curious smell there is about everything that comes from the East! it is not sandalwood. What is it?"

"I do not know," I replied; "but I noticed it about all May's clothes at first, and the ayah seemed always to waft it as she walked. It must be some kind of spice."

Caroline had put on a Benares silk slip of widely striped silk, she had drawn round her one of the Indian shawls; it looked very well on her slender form, and she was just completing her costume, by fastening a muslin veil on her head, when the child, attracted by our voices, turned round, and starting at the sight of her, laughed at first, and held out her arms, but in another moment she was evidently frightened, and began to scream most violently.

Caroline, who did not know how thoroughly the child was excited, hoped to quiet her with a few kisses, and when these failed, she first scolded, then entreated, but all to no purpose; then being afraid of being seen by Madame, whose approval of what she had done was doubtful, she ran to the drawers, flung them open, and began to throw in the costly articles which she had so unceremoniously taken from their concealment; but her purpose was not wholly accomplished when Frances, attracted by the screams of her nursling, flew into the room, and breathlessly demanded to know what was the matter.

Caroline, discovered dressed in this strange costume, in another person's room, and proving herself so unfit for the office she had taken upon herself, was so angry, and so ashamed of her ridiculous position, that she would not say a word, and I was obliged to explain the matter as well as I could in the interval of little May's piercing screams.

"I did not know you had brought May in," said Frances, rather coldly, and at the same time drawing the key from her pocket. Caroline neither looked at her nor made any answer. "I was perfectly ready to show these drawers to her," she continued, and then added firmly, "May, if you are not quiet I shall be exceedingly angry.'

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"Poor little thing!" exclaimed Caroline, indignantly; "how can you speak so crossly to her?-don't you see that she cannot help sobbing? she has no power to prevent it."

"Yes, she has," said Frances, addressing herself more to the child than to Caroline, and speaking steadily, but not unkindly. "May can stop, and she must; she will be extremely ill if she goes on screaming in this way. May, do you hear me?"

The child, awed by the unusual manner and expression of Frances, tried to do as she was bid, and would no doubt have succeeded, being assisted by her surprise, if Caroline had not murmured some excuses, remarking, most injudiciously, "She

may stop for a moment, but she is sure to begin again. I know she will."

Of course, upon this the child did begin again, and Frances instantly took her up, carried her out of the room, and shut the door behind her.

There was both indignation and dignity in her manner as she did this, and if Caroline felt herself reproved, it was probably no more than Frances intended.

"Insolence!" exclaimed Caroline, "insolence! What right has she to assume those miserable airs of superiority over me, carrying off May as if my presence was improper for her, and treating her like an ignorant child? Insolence!-but I will have her yet-I'll have her back again, even if I have to appeal to Madame. Frances, indeed; what is she that she is to thwart me and get the upper hand in everything? I will enter the lists with her, and we shall soon see who will win. May shall be my child again before she is a fortnight older." And, to my great surprise, she burst into a passion of tears, and hurried to little May's bed, laying her head down on the pillow, sobbing and covering her beautiful eyes with the ayah's muslin veil.

I did not at all suppose that she was serious when she spoke of appealing to Madame, and of having the little May back again, for she was too indolent, I thought, to desire seriously a charge that was sure to be so troublesome; I therefore looked on her speech as an outbreak of mingled indignation, mortification and passion. And, when she threw herself on the bed, I could not help feeling amused; for I thought it childish in her to have a fit of crying, and show her temper so openly, because she had been vexed. Most of the girls, I thought, would have been too proud for such an exhibition; and I looked on very composedly, wondering what would be done next, till presently the pretty way in which she bemoaned herself, wishing she had never come to this place-this sorrowful place-where it was never really warm, and where the people were as cold as the weather; where no one understood her, and no one really loved her; declaring that she was the most unhappy person possible, and that no half-holiday had ever before been so sorrowful, worked on my feelings to such a degree, that before I knew what I was about, I was at her side, begging her to be comforted, and was caressing her, quite forgetting whether she was right or wrong, and was lifting up her face and entreating her to be comforted.

"You used to love me before Frances came," sobbed Caroline, "but now-now you always take part with her."

I was so completely beguiled, that I thought of nothing but how to comfort her, and only answered that I loved both very much, and hoped she would forget this little scene, and be friendly towards Frances.

Caroline laid her head on my bosom, and, after a great deal more comforting, caressing, and petting, was induced to rise, dry her eyes, and smile again. She stood up, and with my help, divested herself of the rich silken petticoat, the Indian shawl, and the ayah's veil, which she had fastened on with some long silver pins, probably intended for that purpose. Then she walked to the glass to arrange her hair, still looking very pensive; but her first remark, on seeing herself therein reflected, struck me as so very irrelevant and so completely beneath the dignity of such a heroine in distress as she had just been enacting, that I could not help bursting into a sudden laugh.

"Well, I don't look much worse for my crying fit," was the remark in question; "but if I were Frances, I would never cry at all-it really swells up her eyelids, and makes her nose so red, that she looks quite ugly after it. What can you be laughing at, Sophia?"

"I cannot help it."

"You are not laughing at me, surely?—you are, I believe ! What is the reason?-tell me, this instant, you little quiz."

"Because as people are not supposed to cry if they can help it, or unless they are really in sorrow, it seemed so droll to suppose that they consider whether it will be unbecoming or not, and act accordingly."

"Ah! one ought to be more cautious what one says to you, presidentess; such a straightforward, simple person as myself cannot get on with you at all; you are always weighing and criticizing. This glass hangs in a very bad light!" "Caroline, I want to say something to you." "Well, say it, then."

"You think I observe my friends too closely. I must tell you something that I have observed about you."

"If it is an agreeable thing, you may.'"

"But it is not an agreeable thing altogether, yet as it concerns me as well as yourself, I must tell you, because not telling it sometimes makes me feel as if I were deceitful." "Does it make you feel as if you were blushing violently? because you are."

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Well, I do not care; I shall tell you, notwithstanding." "I agree with you that you are deceitful, presidentess; for you say you don't care, and you do. You sha' n't tell me.' So saying, Caroline walked up to me, and laying her hands

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