"Yes, mother, I can well remember the infant with the gold bands, and
the pretty white dress, all wet with salt water; then were my first
ideas of innocency."

"She has proved a rich blessing to us, and I do not feel that I can ever
part with her; but I have been thinking it was selfish, indeed, in
keeping her with us, to deprive her of those advantages which would fit
her for filling the station which I can plainly see belongs to her. Not
but that she might finish her education at home, for our island can rank
among the first in her systems of education, and there are many of our
citizens who are recognized by our most literary friends of the
continent, as among the first in the arts and sciences; but I think it
would be greatly to her advantage to see more of the world, and my
purpose is to accept the urgent request of a dear friend residing in
Boston, that my daughter should spend some time in her family, where she
may receive the same excellent instructions with her own child. Our
means have been for the last year or two somewhat curtailed, yet as long
as we have enough to be comfortable, we will share with her what she
most justly deserves."

"Yes, mother, give my portion to her; I can take care of myself, and
you shall not want for anything so long as I can help you. I do not know
how we can let her go, but it is for the best. She will learn of this
world, and they will learn of another."

As the two had been speaking, they had not observed a light form,
reclining under a flowering currant, which only separated them from the
object of their conversation. It was a little arbor, formed by a
clustering rose, vieing with the flowering currant in fragrance; thither
had the Sea-flower repaired, and as the softest rays of a northern sky,