gone when the chloroformed man awoke, and the bright sun
pushed through the shutters upon his feverish face. Slowly and with
great effort he groped his way back to consciousness, and with a thrill
of fear reached out his hand for his little bird, and to reassure
himself that what was flooding furiously into his mind was untrue, and
was but some horrible nightmare that her dear touch would drive away.
But the place where she had lain was as cold and empty as her own
heartless heart; and as he faintly called, "Lilly! oh, Lilly!" the very
realistic voice of Mother Blake was heard in the hall, and her very
realistic fists banging away against the door.

"Say, Bland, are ye all dead in there? Lord! it's broad noon!"

All dead? No; but far better so, as the Rev. Mr. Bland with a mighty
effort sprang from the bed and saw the gas-light struggling with the
sunlight, the dead ashes in the fireplace, and himself in the great
mirror, a dishonored, despoiled, deserted roue, drugged, robbed and
defied by the simple maiden from the log farm-house by the pleasant
river.

The same evening two persons on wonderfully different missions drifted
into the depot and transfer-house at Detroit, and mingled with the great
throng that the east and the west continually throw together at this
point. One was a handsome, apparently self-possessed young lady, who
attended to her baggage personally, and moved about among the crowds
with apparent unconcern; though, closely watched, her face would have
shown anxiety and restlessness. The other was a gaunt, though solidly
built young fellow, whose clothes, although of good material, had the
appearance of having been thrown at him and caught with considerable
uncertainty upon his bony angles. He wandered about in a dejected way,
looking hither and thither as if forever searching for some one whose
discovery had become improbable, but who should not escape if an honest
search by an honest, simple fellow as he seemed to be, could avail
anything. By one of those unexplainable coincidences, or fatuities, as
some are pleased to term them, these two persons--the one desirous of
avoiding a crowd, and the other anxious to ascertain whom every throng
contained--approached the ticket-office from different directions at the
same moment.

He at the gent's window heard her at the ladies' window say to the
agent, "Yes, to Buffalo, if you please;" and he jumped as though he had
been lifted by an explosion. He peered