ou. If,
indeed, by any means, you became a soldier, then I am indeed proud."

"Alas! Lucy--Miss Dashwood, I would say--how has my career fulfilled the
promise that gave it birth? For you, and you only, to gain your
affection, I became a soldier. And now, and now----"

"And now," said she, while her eyes beamed upon me with a very flood of
tenderness, "is it nothing that I have glowed with pride at triumphs I
could read of, but dared not share in? I have thought of you. I have
dreamed, I have prayed for you."

"Alas! Lucy, but not loved me."

Her hand, which had fallen upon mine, trembled violently. I pressed my
lips upon it, but she moved it not. I dared to look up; her head was
turned away, but her heaving bosom betrayed emotion.

Our eyes met--I cannot say what it was--but in a moment the whole
current of my thoughts was changed. Her look was bent upon me, beaming
with softness and affection; her hand gently pressed my own, and her
lips murmured my name.

The door burst open at this moment, and Sir George Dashwood appeared.
Lucy turned one fleeting look upon her father, and fell fainting into my
arms.

"God bless you, my boy!" said the old general as he hurriedly wiped a
tear from his eye. "I am now indeed a happy father."

* * * * *

Tom Burke of "Ours"

In 1840 Charles Lever, on an invitation from Sir John
Crompton, Secretary to the British Embassy in Belgium, forsook
Ireland for Brussels, where for a time he followed his
profession of medicine. Two years later an offer of the
editorship of the "Dublin University Magazine" recalled him to
Ireland, when he definitely abandoned a medical career and
settled down to literature permanently. The first fruit of
that appointment was "Tom Burke of Ours," published, after
running serially in the magazine, in 1844. It is more serious
in tone than any of his preceding works; in it the author
utilises the rich colouring gained from his long residence in
France, and the book is less remarkable for the complex, if
vigorous, story it contains than for its graphic and exciting
pictures of men and events in the campaigns of Napoleon Many
of its episodes are conceived in the true spirit of romance.

_I.--The Boy Rebel_

"Be advised by me," said De Meudon earnestly; "do not embark with these
Irish rebels in their enterprise! They have none. Their only da