gaged in a frolic.

"He is our son--our son Jack!" exclaimed Mistress Deane, who, knowing
him at a second glance, threw her arms round his neck.

Old Mr Deane hurried forward, and grasping his hand, almost wrung it
off. Then his mother bestowed her kisses on his bronzed cheeks.

"Yes, it's Jack--I know him now!" exclaimed the old gentleman, drawing
back a pace, that he might look at him from head to foot. "Well, thou
art grown into a brave lad, Jack," he said, looking at him
affectionately.

And now Jack was seated between the two old people, who scarcely would
allow him to ask any questions, so eager were they to hear his
adventures. It was some time, therefore, before he could learn what had
become of the rest of the family.

"And how is sister Polly and her husband, Tom Dovedale? It seems an age
since the day they were spliced."

"They live six doors off, and are wonderfully flourishing, for from
morning to night they do little else than `laugh and grow fat,'" was the
answer.

"And Jasper, where is he?" was the next question.

"The father of two fine cherubs, and Alethea as beautiful and cheerful
as ever. He is a fortunate fellow, your brother Jasper. Cousin Nat now
lives with him, and has given him up all his business, so that Jasper is
the leading physician in the town, and, on my word, he bears his honours
bravely, and is in no way behind cousin Nat in the estimation of the
townspeople and neighbourhood. At first I feared that Jasper and
Alethea would not have got on very smoothly together. She, as you
remember, was a warm Jacobite, as was her poor father, but Jasper argued
the matter so well with her, that he soon brought her over, and she
became as loyal a subject of King William as any to be found within the
realm. Had it not been, indeed, for her marriage to Jasper, it would
have gone hard with her, for poor Harwood was so implicated in the plot
against King William, that his property would have been confiscated.
Cousin Nat and other friends, however, so earnestly petitioned the
Government, that it was preserved for the sake of his daughter, and
Jasper, after poor Harwood's death, became the Squire of Harwood
Grange."

"And have you heard from Kate and Dainsforth, mother?" asked Jack. He
had another question which he was eager to ask, but he wished first to
inquire about his own family.

"Oh, yes! they're flourishing in their new plantation; and glowing are
the accounts which they send u