humor!"--were the exclamations of Edward Caryl's kind and generous
auditors, at the conclusion of the legend.

"It is a pretty tale," said Miss Pemberton, who, conscious that her
praise was to that of all others as a diamond to a pebble, was therefore
the less liberal in awarding it. "It is really a pretty tale, and very
proper for any of the Annuals. But, Edward, your moral does not satisfy
me. What thought did you embody in the ring?"

"O Clara, this is too bad!" replied Edward, with a half-reproachful
smile. "You know that I can never separate the idea from the symbol in
which it manifests itself. However, we may suppose the Gem to be the
human heart, and the Evil Spirit to be Falsehood, which, in one guise or
another, is the fiend that causes all the sorrow and trouble in the
world. I beseech you to let this suffice."

"It shall," said Clara, kindly. "And, believe me, whatever the world
may say of the story, I prize it far above the diamond which enkindled
your imagination."






GRAVES AND GOBLINS.

Now talk we of graves and goblins! Fit themes,--start not! gentle
reader,--fit for a ghost like me. Yes; though an earth-clogged fancy is
laboring with these conceptions, and an earthly hand will write them