d me, when I was wounded,
through the orchard at Melazzo on his back, and though struck with a
bullet himself, never owned he was hit till he fell on the grass beside
me,--a grand fellow that, mother, though he never learned to read." And
there was a something of irony in his voice as he said this, that showed
how the pains of learning still rankled in his mind.

"And you never met the Lyles? How strange!" exclaimed she.

"Yes, I met Alice; at least," said he, stooping down to settle the log
on the fire, "I saw her the last evening I was at Naples."

"Tell me all about it"

"There 's no all. I met her, we talked together for half an hour or so,
and we parted; there's the whole of it."

"She had heard, I suppose, of your good fortune?"

"Yes, Skeff had told them the story and, I take it, made the most of our
wealth; not that rich people like the Lyles would be much impressed by
our fortune."

"That may be true, Tony, but rich folk have a sympathy with other
rich folk, and they 're not very wrong in liking those whose condition
resembles their own. What did Alice say? Did she give you some good
advice as to your mode of life?"

"Yes, plenty of that; she rather likes advice-giving."

"She was always a good friend of yours, Tony. I mind well when she used
to come here to hear your letters read to her. She ever made the same
remark: 'Tony is a fine true-hearted boy; and when he's moulded and
shaped a bit by the pressure of the world, he 'll grow to be a fine
true-hearted man.'"

"It was very gracious of her, no doubt," said he, with a sharp, short
tone; "and she was good enough to contribute a little to that self-same
'pressure' she hoped so much from."

His mother looked at him to explain his words, but he turned his head
away and was silent.

"Tell me something about home, mother. How are the Stewarts? Where is
Dolly?"

"They are well, and Dolly is here; and a dear good girl she is.
Ah, Tony! if you knew all the comfort she has been to me in your
absence,--coming here through sleet and snow and storm, and nursing me
like a daughter."

"I liked her better till I learned how she had treated that good-hearted
fellow Sam M'Gruder. Do you know how she has behaved to him?"

"I know it all. I read her letters, every one of them."

"And can you mean that you defend her conduct?'"

"I mean that if she were to marry a man she did not love, and were
dishonest enough not to tell him so, I 'd not attempt to defend