Gnardlan  Angel,  The,  by  Oliver  Wen-
dell Holmes.  The  author  says  in
his  preface:  «I  have  attempted  to  show
the  successive  evolution  of  some  inherited
qualities  in  the  character  of  Myrtle  Haz-
ard.»  The  story  opens  in  1859  in  the
New  England  village  of  Oxbow.  Myrtle,
a  beautiful  orphan  of  fifteen,  bom  in  trop-
ical climes,  descended  from  a  line  of  an-
cestors of  widely  varying  natures,  lives
with  an  austere  and  uncongenial  aunt,
who  fails  utterly  to  control  her  turbulent,
glowing  impulses.  Disguised  as  a  boy
she  runs  away,  is  rescued  from  drowning
by  Clement  Lindsay,  a  handsome  young
sculptor,  and  brought  home  by  Professor
Gridley.  An  illness  follows  which  leaves
her  for  a  time  hysterical,  highly  impres-
sionable, prone  to  seeing  visions,  and
taking  strong  fancies.  Thanks  to  the
watchful  care  of  Professor  Gridley  (whom
she  afterward  calls  her  « Guardian  An-
gel >>)  she  emerges  safe  from  this  state,


and  is  sent  to  a  city  school  to  complete
her  education.  Among  her  suitors  is
Murray  Bradshaw,  a  lawyer  possessed  of
the  secret  that  under  an  old  will  she  is
likely  to  come  into  a  large  fortune.  He
plots  to  win  her,  but  is  balked  by  Profes-
sor Gridley;  and  she  gives  her  love  to
Clement  Lindsay,  who  joins  the  army
and  rises  to  the  rank  of  Colonel.  During
the  war  she  goes  with  him  to  the  front;
and  ^ln  the  offices  of  mercy  which  she
performed  ...  (in  the  hospital)  .  ..
the  dross  of  her  nature  seemed  to  be
burned  away.  The  conflict  of  mingled
lives  in  her  blood  had  ceased.*  Dr.
