"I am truly glad of that," observed Miss Mary, with marked emphasis. "I
will leave you young people here, and go in and have a talk with Julia.
I daresay you will have something to say to each other."

Harry and May offered to accompany the kind lady to the house.

"No, no," she answered; "I can find my way perfectly well alone, and
shall not meet with an accident if there are no wheelbarrows or rakes in
the way," and rising, she proceeded at a slow pace towards the house.

May told Harry how anxious she had been on hearing of his being wounded
by highwaymen--how grateful she felt to him for having endeavoured to
recover Jacob. Then Harry told her how, day by day, he had heard of her
from the doctor, and how the knowledge that she was getting better did
more to restore him than anything else. He refrained from telling her,
as long as he could, what he knew would give her pain--that he was
appointed to a ship which he must soon join. At length, however, he had
to communicate the information.

"But May," he added, "if you will consent at once to be mine, we would
marry before I go, and then no human power can separate us."

"Harry," she exclaimed, gazing at him fixedly as they sat on the bench
together, "I had not thought that the time for parting would be so soon.
You know my regard; but I must not tempt you to act contrary to what I
fear are your father's wishes, and by so doing run the risk of injuring
your prospects in life, and your advancement in your profession. Your
father has been here, and has expressed his opinions strongly to Miss
Jane, and she has told me all he said. I shall be as truly yours as if
we were married, and you will thus avoid offending him, whose wishes you
are bound to respect. My thoughts will be ever with you, my prayers
hourly offered up for your safety, and I shall live in hopes that the
obstacles which now exist to our union will be removed when you return.
Your father may relent when he finds that you are constant, and I know
you will be;" and she smiled as she gazed at his countenance, and felt
the impossibility of his changing.

"But I know him so well that even then I am sure he will refuse his
consent on the same grounds that he does now. Will you still believe
that you ought not to marry me?" exclaimed her lover.

"Oh, Harry, do not press me for an answer," answered May. "I wish to do
what is right, and your cousins tell me, and my conscience assures me
that they are