 one thought, scarcely shaped out to herself, yet fervent and
strong within her, that upheld Florence when she strove, and filled her true
young heart, so sorely tried, with constancy of purpose. Into her mind, as into
all others contending with the great affliction of our mortal nature, there had
stolen solemn wonderings and hopes, arising in the dim world beyond the present
life, and murmuring, like faint music, of recognition in the far-off land
between her brother and her mother: of some present consciousness in both of
her: some love and commiseration for her: and some knowledge of her as she went
her way upon the earth. It was a soothing consolation to Florence to give
shelter to these thoughts, until one day - it was soon after she had last seen
her father in his own room, late at night - the fancy came upon her, that, in
weeping for his alienated heart, she might stir the spirits of the dead against
him. Wild, weak, childish, as it may have been to think so, and to tremble at
the half-formed thought, it was the impulse of her loving nature; and from that
hour Florence strove against the cruel wound in her breast, and tried to think
of him whose hand had made it only with hope.
    Her father did not know - she held to it from that time - how much she loved
him. She was very young, and had no mother, and had never learned, by some fault
or misfortune, how to express to him that she loved him. She would be patient,
and would try to gain that art in time, and win him to a better knowledge of his
only child.
    This became the purpose of her life. The morning sun shone down upon the
faded house, and found the resolution bright and fresh within the bosom of its
solitary mistress. Through all the duties of the day, it animated her; for
Florence hoped that the more she knew, and the more accomplished she became, the
more glad he would be when he came to know and like her. Sometimes she wondered,
with a swelling heart and rising tear, whether she was proficient enough in
anything to surprise him when they should become companions. Sometimes she tried
to think if there were any kind of knowledge that would bespeak his interest
more readily than another. Always: at her books, her music, and her work: in her
morning walks, and in her nightly prayers: she had her engrossing aim in view.
Strange study for a child, to learn the road to
