ow promise you to marry as soon as you wish."

"Thank you, my boy, that's kind of you; but I will say that you are a
comfort and a treasure to me, and I bless the day that brought you to my
arms. Well, then, look about you."

"No, sir, I leave it all to you; select the party, and I am willing to
obey you."

"My dear boy! Well, then, I'll talk the matter over with Mr Masterton
to-morrow," and the general shook me warmly by the hand.

The next day I picked up Harcourt, and proceeded to Park Street. A note
from him had informed them of our intended visit, and other visitors had
been denied. "All has been explained, Cecilia," said I, after the first
greeting: "I was very wrong, and very foolish."

"And made me very miserable. I little thought that you, Japhet, would
have made me cry so much; but I forgive you for it, as I would a
thousand times as much more. Now sit down and tell us all that has
happened since you left us."

"Not yet, my dear Cecilia. You, as well as I, owe a reparation to poor
Harcourt, whom, I think, you have treated cruelly. You were about to
answer a question of vital moment when I broke in upon you, and you have
since kept him in a state of cruel suspense for more than three weeks,
refusing him an answer until he brought me into your presence. An hour
of such suspense must be dreadful, and before we sit down, I wish
everyone should feel comfortable and happy."

"It was not altogether to stimulate Mr Harcourt to bring you back,
which induced me to refuse to answer his question, Japhet. I considered
that your return had rendered it necessary that it should be deferred
until I saw you. I have not forgotten, Japhet, and never forget, what I
was when you rescued me; and when I think what I might have been had you
not saved me, I shudder at the bare idea. I have not forgotten how you
risked, and nearly lost your life in Ireland for my sake--neither has my
mother. We are beholden to you for all our present happiness, and I am
eternally indebted to you for rescuing me from ignorance, poverty, and
perhaps vice. You have been more, much more, than a father to me--more,
much more, than a brother. I am, as it were, a creature of your own
fashioning, and I owe to you that which I never can repay. When, then,
you returned so unexpectedly, Japhet, I felt that you had a paramount
right in my disposal, and I was glad that I had not replied to Mr
Harcourt, as I wished first for your sanction and a