are weaknesses, after all."

"And therefore should not be encouraged."

"Certainly not. We should be governed by some higher end than the
mere love of admiration--even admiration for good qualities."

"I admit the truth of what you say, and yet, the state is one to
which I have not yet attained."

Walter Gray turned a look full of tender interest upon the maiden by
his side, as she ceased speaking, and said in a tone that had in it
much of tenderness,

"You express, Miss Emory, but the feeling which every one has who
truly desires the attainment of true excellence of character. We
have not this excellence, naturally, but it is within the compass of
effort. Like you, I have had to regret the weaknesses and
deficiencies of my own character. But, in self-government, as in
everything else, my motto is, Persevere to the end. The same motto,
or the same rule of action, clothed in other words, perhaps, I
trust--nay, I am sure, rules in your mind."

For a few moments Jane did not reply. She feared to utter any form
of words that would mislead. At length she said, modestly,

"I try to subdue in me what is evil, or that which seems to me to
act in opposition to good principles."

Before Walter Gray, pleased with the answer, could frame in his mind