, and who, to come at once to the
point, was the original narrator of this story, was the sole offspring
of this happy union, and, as may be supposed, the pride and idol of
his parents. They watched over him with the most untiring affection,
and endeavored to instil into his young mind those firm and honorable
principles which rendered their own lives so lovely. But at the age of
ten years the hand of death deprived Arthur Sydney of his gentle
mother, and daily he missed her counsels and her embrace, and most
bitterly did he mourn for the footstep that was to come no more.

The loss of his wife was a stunning blow to Mr. Sydney. He never
married again, for he had loved the departed one too well to think for
an instant of supplying her place; and so four more years elapsed, and
his child continued to be the only object of his cares. But at the
termination of that period this good and just man was called to a
mansion beyond the skies, doubtless there to claim the crown of
immortality. And then Arthur was left alone in the wide world--a young
and almost broken-hearted orphan.

Upon searching into Mr. Sydney's affairs soon after his decease, to
the surprise of every one, instead of leaving his son in the
possession of an immense estate, there was not quite sufficient to
meet the demands of creditors. When Arthur Sydney became older, he
could not help suspecting that there was some mystery about this, for
strictly honest as he had ever known his father to be, he could not
believe that he would ever have swerved thus from the path of right.
What was in reality the cause of this deficiency, whether it was
owing, as his son afterward thought, to the craft and fraud of his
executors, can only be answered from the curtain of futurity.

The mansion where Arthur's early years had passed so happily, was now
sold, with all its effects, and the lonely orphan took up his abode
beneath the roof of an uncle. But, alas! it was not like the home he
had lost--the dear hearth of his sunny childhood. His relative, Mr.
Lindsay, was a far different being from his deceased parent, and
though, like the latter, he lived in splendor, he knew not how to
enjoy it. Devoid of that generosity of spirit which Mr. Sydney had
possessed, he was also of a morose, exacting, and passionate nature,
and his family, instead of hailing his presence with delight, shrunk
from him ever with indifference, and sometimes with trembling.
Governed by the law of fear in