erved came to an anchor at
Spithead, within a few days of each other.

Harry went on board the frigate in which Headland was serving as first
lieutenant.

"You are sure of your promotion, Headland," he said after their greeting
was over. "I have just got a letter from my uncle telling me your name
is on the list. You deserve a spell on shore. We are to go into
harbour to be paid off to-morrow, and as soon as I am free you must
start with me for Texford, where my family are now residing. Captain
Fancourt has already spoken to them of you, and you will receive a
hearty welcome. No excuses, old fellow, you will be Captain Headland by
that time, and that alone will be sufficient introduction to any family
in the land."

Headland hesitated. He thought of making a tour round England, and
perhaps going over to France, to have a look at the country from which
Englishmen had so long been excluded, but Harry overcame all objections,
and Headland agreed should he not be appointed to a command, which was
not very likely, to accompany his friend to Texford.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

SECOND PERIOD OF MAIDEN MAY'S HISTORY.

Time went on, and nothing occurred to interrupt the even tenor of the
Miss Pembertons' well-spent lives. They never wearied in their efforts
to benefit the bodies and souls of their poorer neighbours, and if some
were ungrateful, many blessed them for the words they spoke, and the
kind acts they performed. Their young pupil, in winter and summer, rain
and sunshine, continued to come to them every day. She never wished for
a holiday, and it would have been a trial to her to have had to keep
away from Downside. Though she was as loving as ever to those at home,
she was able to bestow an equal amount of affection on the ladies who
devoted themselves to her instruction.

She was now no longer the little fisher maiden she had appeared in
former years; but the charms of her mind and person having gradually
been developed, though she herself was scarcely aware of the change, she
had become a truly lovely girl already entering womanhood.

Adam had lost none of the affection he had from the first felt for the
child, whose life he had saved. He could no longer, however, properly
call her his little Maiden May, for she had become a full-grown damsel,
full of life and spirits; and if, conscious that she was not his
daughter, she did not bestow on him all of a daughter's affection, she
yet treated him with r