ve?" asked Philip.

"I will ask Mrs Stewart, and get you introduced to them," said his
friend. "You will not find them where there are balls or common
gaieties going on, I suspect."

"That makes it still more probable," thought Philip. He made very few
notes that evening of the lecture he had attended.

There was to be a private missionary meeting at Mrs Stewart's house,
and Philip and his brother received an invitation. There were many of
his Toronto acquaintances in the room, the rest were strangers. He
looked round the different rooms in vain for Mary Ashton, for she it
was, once his affianced wife, whom he expected to meet. Two young
ladies answered somewhat the description his friend had given him, still
he did not like to ask if a Miss Ashton was present, lest his hopes
should be rudely dashed to the ground. The speakers had not arrived,
and people were moving about from room to room. He tried to compose his
feelings by talking to his acquaintance on the subject of the mission
about to be advocated. While he was talking Harry came to him, and,
touching his elbow, said, "Phil, I have just been introduced to a very
nice person, who, curious enough, has our name. I do not know if she
knew mine, but I saw her afterwards watching me round the room, and I
want you to find out who she can be. She may be a cousin of the
fiftieth degree, perhaps, and I should like to find some relations out
here."

Philip did not stop to hear more, but hurrying into the room his brother
mentioned, he satisfied himself that Mary Ashton was really there. She
discovered him. He advanced, and saw by the pleased expression of her
countenance that he might venture to take a seat by her side.
Explanation quickly followed. He told her how he had come out to
Canada, and how successful he and his family had been in establishing a
home for themselves in the wilderness.

"I have a very different tale to tell," she said with a sigh, and her
countenance grew sad. "My home is broken up. The wealth my poor father
so suddenly acquired has been dissipated and lost. Without the
necessary experience for business, or, perhaps, I should say wanting the
calculating craft of the successful speculator, he suffered himself to
be involved in transactions of an extensive nature, which he was led to
believe would double his wealth. They proved to be the fraudulent
schemes of sharpers, planned for their own profit and my father's ruin.
It was in