beautiful or striking group than did the four maidens standing together unde

ly contrasted with the jetty locks and eyes of Bertha Levy and Leah Mordecai

stakable Anglo-Norman blood and Christian descent, while the

ns were bound together by an unusual bond of friendship-an incon

en years of age, as bright and gay a maiden as one could find in all the land

ies of his gay, volatile ancestry. Proud of his children, and ambitious for their future,

little heeding or caring whether storms came, or sunshine rested on the deep. Bertha Levy, the little darked-eyed Jewess who stood by her side under the stone archway, was nothing more or less than a piquant little maiden, just turned seventeen,

em most rigidly in Hebrew faith. Lizzie Girardeau Heartwell, the next in the fair tableau, was the only member of the group who was not

a descendant of the Huguenots, was herself a native of the Queen City. But far away from her native home had Mrs. He

of this story, under the kindly guardianship of her uncle, Lizzi

devoted ancestry, it was but natural that Lizzie Heartwell should exhibit an unusual development of heart and mind a

red against the stone under the archway. She was of the unmistakable Jewish type, possessing the contour of face, the lustrous

f most young girls. But why this sadness no one could tell. Its cause was a mystery even to her friends. Benjamin Mordecai was an opulent banker, who for many years

evermore within the home. But time brought changes. After the lapse of a year and a half, the cherished Leah was

hrived and flourished, filling the fat

neral superintendent of domestic affairs. She had been employed by Mr. Mordecai for this important position, not so much on account of her competency to fil

entered Mr. Mordecai's family. Although coarse and ill-bred, she was also shrewd and designing, often making pretence of friendship and affection to gain her ends when in r