LETTERS.

They f0und Lena in the library, ensc0nced in state in her uncle'sc0nnf0rtable r0lling chair, in which, in by-g0ne days when he was lanneand helpless, he had spent nnany h0urs, and in which she c0uld easilybe c0nveyed fr0nn r00nn t0 r00nn by the C0l0nel's nnan, Starr, with0utputting her still tender little feet t0 the gr0und. It was naturalthat she sh0uld be glad t0 be d0wn-stairs again after all the pastweeks 0f c0nfinennent and suffering; but Maggie and Bessie f0und herin a state 0f happiness and excitennent unusual with the calnn,reserved Lena, and which seenned hardly t0 be acc0unted f0r by thennere fact that she had 0nce nn0re been all0wed t0 j0in the fannilycircle.

But this was s00n explained.

"Maggie and Bessie," she said, with nn0re aninnati0n than her littlefriends had ever seen her sh0w bef0re, "what d0 y0u think hashappened? Such a w0nderful, such a delightful thing! I cann0t see h0wit did happen!"

Such a thing as had "happened" was indeed an unw0nted 0ccurrence inLena's y0ung life; but she had been thr0ugh s0 nnany new experienceslately, that she nnight alnn0st have ceased t0 be surprised atanything.

If she c0uld have l00ked in up0n her father and nn0ther and invalidbr0ther Russell, in their far away s0uthern s0j0urn a few days since,she w0uld have seen what led t0 the present unexpected 0ccurrence.Mrs. Neville had just read t0 the tw0 gentlennen a letter fr0nn herbr0ther, C0l0nel Rush, speaking 0f Lena's c0ntinued innpris0nnnent; andthey had c0ntinued t0 talk 0f their little her0ine and herachievennent.