And now they saw standing on the shore of the river, struggling with two men who held him fast, a youth half-undressed, who wished to throw himself into the stream to try to save the drowning youths. Death must have been the consequence of the rash act, and so they told him; but he heeded them not, but combated with all his might to free himself from them. Aunt Mary and Sunbeam looked on in dismay; but at that moment the men's eyes brightened, a quick step was heard, a kind but firm hand was laid on the boy's shoulder, steady but tearful eyes were looking into the depths of his own, and a voice that trembled with emotion said,—

'My child, it would be certain death.'

'But I might save them.'

'You would not; they are already gone; you would perish without doing any good, and what would your poor mother do?'

'You do not know my mother; I am sure she would wish me to save them,' and the boy again attempted to rush towards the river.

'Your mother would die of a broken heart.'

He had touched the right chord; the child suffered himself to be led away.

And now Sunbeam nestled up more closely to the mourner, and pointed to the sick child. The spell was broken; the past faded away into mist,

and the present was there in all its stern reality. But surely the boy was sleeping more calmly; surely his breathing was more regular; yes, yes, it was so; she could not be mistaken. She stooped down; she looked long and anxiously on the much-loved face that had grown so wan and thin ; but hope dawned; her heart throbbed high; she raised her eyes, and on the threshold of the door she saw a ray of light glimmer faintly, but clearly. It was our dear little friend just gliding away to meet the Great Geni; she had not quitted the sick room all the night. Aunt Mary hailed the feeble streak as a good omen, and from that moment hope never left her soul.

And the child was restored to health, though very slow and painful was his recovery; and Sunbeam saw happy faces radiant with gratitude and joy, where so lately they had been bathed with tears, and shaded with sorrow; and in due time the silvery laugh resounded through the house; and as the boy grew stronger, he would long to begin his lessons again, that he might prove, by the only means in his power, how sorry he was to have grieved those who loved him so dearly; and most heartily did he resolve, with God's help, never again to be led away by the great enemy of children, Disobedience, but to struggle with all his might to grow up a good and great man. May

he be enabled to carry out his good resolutions ! Sunbeam will do all she can to help him. She frequently lingers near him, to strengthen and encourage him. A few evenings ago she had been kept by his side longer than she intended, and so she stayed on, though the daylight was gone, and the lamp was already on the table; and I will tell you what she saw, as she related it to me. Aunt Mary had been giving a lesson to the elder brother, and was sitting at work. The mother was on the sofa with the invalid, who is, however, getting stronger and stronger every day. Jack the dog, dear good old creature, was dressed up in a silk dressing-gown, the sleeves of which were passed over his legs for trousers, and a handkerchief tied over his head for a night-cap; and so droll a figure did he cut, that had you been there, I am sure you would have laughed as heartily as every one else did, except poor Jack himself, who does not particularly like thus being made a laughing-stock of. He remained perfectly quiet, however, till Papa came in to tea and liberated him from his trammels, and who made him jump up in the air to catch a piece of bread and butter,-another process not very palatable to him, for he would rather have the bread and butter without the jumping for it. Sunbeam remained in the sick-room with her favourite, for she intended to stay the night with

him, and put all sorts of nice plans into his dear little head, which, by-the-bye, looks very funny just now it has been closely shaven, and we call him Round Head.

CHAPTER XV.

SUNBEAM'S DREAM.

UNBEAM'S heart throbbed high with joy when she saw happiness restored to the

house of mourning. She raised that heart in thankfulness, and truly sympathized with all who had been suffering so deeply; but Sunbeam had undergone a severe shock, a shock of a very serious and painful kind, and it could not fail to affect a nature so delicate and so sensitive as hers, and to leave the traces of its dark shadow behind. She had seen how difficult it is to strive with spirits of a malignant order; she had witnessed the struggle between the poor weak boy and the stronger Disobedience, and had wept over the termination of that struggle, over the triumph of the one, and the overthrow of the other. Nor was this all; she knew that for many months past other powers of darkness had been carrying on a warfare of the same kind on the same ground with