"Heaps of gold, Eric?" And Ronald laid his hand kindly on his brother's shoulder. "Our mother used to say she hoped we would all find out what is better than gold."
Eric made no reply; the mention of his dead mother had touched his heart.
Only Nora spoke. "Ronald," she said, "I've unwished my first wish, and wished another. Can I?"
Her brother smiled. "I don't know whether it will stand good, pet, or not; I am not in the secret of the well."
"But, at all events, Ronald, my last is my real one. I'm sure the first was just a sort of one; but I'll keep to this one, and see if it comes true."
She had wished that she might obtain what is "above rubies."
[CHAPTER II.]
THE OLD NURSE.
"Not yours, but His by right;
His peculiar treasure now—
Fair and precious in his sight,
Purchased jewel for this brow.
He will keep what thus he sought,
Safely guard the dearly bought;
Cherish that which he did choose;
Always love, and never lose."
ON leaving the well, the children stood for a minute or two looking around them, Ronald especially taking in every feature of the lovely scene before him. And although the other two hardly then realized it would be so, yet in after-years, in far different scenes, the memory of that day, and even many minute details of the landscape around the Wishing-Well, rose distinctly before their minds.