to be shielded and guarded--a man that
has five times the force and vigour of body and mind that he has now,
whatever they may have been.'

'Very beautiful, and I cannot help telling you how beautiful,' said
Ethel, greatly moved; 'only remember, it is not to be mentioned.'

'Ha! did he ever make you an offer? I have sometimes suspected it.'

'No indeed! It was much--much more beautiful than that!'

'Our mother then? I had thought of that too, and it accounts for his
having always taken to you the most of us.'

'Why, I'm the least like her of us all!'

'So they say, I know, and I can't recollect enough to judge, except
that'--and Tom's voice was less clear for a moment--'there was
something in being with her that I've never found again, except now and
then with you, Ethel. Well, he never got over it, I suppose.'

And Ethel briefly told of the rash resolution, the unsettled life, the
neglect of the father's wishes, the grievous remorse, the broken
health, and restless aimless wanderings, ending at last in loving
tendance of the bereaved rival. It had been a life never wanting in
generosity or benevolence, yet falling far short of what it might have
been--a gallant voyage made by a wreck--and yet the injury had been
less from the disappointment than from the manner of bearing it.
Suddenly it struck her that Tom might suspect her of intending a
personal application of the history, and she faltered; but he kept her
to it by his warm interest and many questions.

'And oh, Tom, he must not be allowed to go away in this manner! Nothing
would so cut papa to the heart!'

'I don't believe he ever will, Ethel. He may go on for years as he is;
and he said in the midst that he meant to live to carry out the
drainage. Besides, if it comes gradually on him, he may feel dependent
and lose the energy to move.'

'Oh! what a sorrow for papa! But I know that not to watch over him
would make it all the worse.'

They walked on gravely till, on the top of the hill, Tom exclaimed,
'They've mounted the flag on the Minster steeple already.'

'It went up yesterday for Harvey Anderson and Mrs. Pugh. There was a
proposal to join forces, and have a double wedding--so interesting, the
two school-fellows and two young friends. The Cheviot girls much
regretted it was not to be.'

'Cheviot girls! Heavens and earth! At home?'

'Not sleeping; but we shall have them all day to-morrow, for they
cannot get home the same day by set