ore for dinner, Wilkins
called him back, and gave him some money to deposit in the bank, which
he had to pass on his way to the restaurant.

"We are so busy to-day," remarked the head-clerk, as he gave it to him,
"it is just now impossible for me to leave before the bank closes, and
you can do this as well as myself."

Arthur bowed, and viewed the bills with a glow of proud pleasure in his
breast, at the trust reposed in him, and started away. Guly left his
place an instant, and stepped quickly to the door, prompted by a feeling
for which he could not account, to look after him; and stood gazing upon
his brother's receding figure until lost to sight in the stream of busy
life, which flowed through the narrow street.

As he resumed his station, a light and exquisitely beautiful female form
glided in at the door, and stopped at Guly's counter. As he bent
forward to inquire her wishes, she threw aside the veil, which concealed
her features, and revealed to the boy's bewildered gaze the most
dazzling, beautiful face he had ever beheld.

She was quite young; apparently had just entered upon her fifteenth
year, an age which in the North would be considered only as the dividing
step between childhood and girlhood, but which in the South, where woman
is much more rapidly developed, is probably the most charming season of
female beauty, when the half-burst blossom retains all the purity,
freshness, and fragrance of the tender bud. She was slight and delicate
in figure, yet beautifully rounded and proportioned; bearing, in every
movement, that charming child-like grace, which is so frequently lost
when the child merges into the woman. Her complexion was that of a
brunette--but beautifully clear; and her cheeks, with their rich color,
might well bear that exquisite comparison of somebody's--a rose-leaf
laid on ivory. Her hair was of a rich chestnut brown, and having been
cut off during severe illness, was now left to its own free grace, and
hung in short close curls about her full pure brow.

Her eyes were of the same hue as her hair, large and full, and replete
with that dewy, tender expression, when she lifted the long lashes from
them, which sends the glance into the depths of the heart. Her mouth
was small, and the full lips, like to a "cleft pomegranate," disclosed
her polished and regular teeth.

Guly's eye took in the exquisite picture before him at a glance, and the
words which were on his lips when he first bent for