is
visit, that there was something on his mind which he had come to
communicate; and as she was not of that class who take pleasure in keeping
others in suspense, especially when she was liable to be a
fellow-sufferer, she drew an easy chair to the fire, and taking a seat in
another, said: 'Sit down, Harry. Now, what is it? what ails you?'

'What ails me?' exclaimed her visitor, turning his round joyous
countenance to her; 'look at me. Don't you see what a boy I've grown; how
the wrinkles have gone from my cheeks, and how clear and bright my eye is!
Look at me, from top to toe. See how jolly I am, and hear how loud and
lusty my laugh is: Ha! ha! ha!'

The lady _did_ look at him; and _did_ observe all the peculiarities to
which he called her attention; and _did_ listen to his loud ringing laugh;
and then, not knowing what to make of him, drew away.

'Aha! widow, you're frightened at finding yourself alone with such a gay
fellow!' said he, laughing still more merrily. 'Well, well, don't be
alarmed, for I'm not in the least dangerous; and to tell the truth, I am
so overjoyed to-day that I may be indulged in a little foolery. But I'll
keep you no longer in suspense. You recollect little Annie, the little
child who fled to my house for protection?'

'Yes; well?'

'And you remember too, how often I told you that that poor starved,
cast-off little thing looked to me like one born for a better destiny, and
like one who had seen brighter times; and how often you ridiculed me, when
I spoke of the faint recollections which still flitted through her mind of
sunnier hours; and how you said that they were merely dreams, and that I
was almost as great a child as she was, to attach any weight to them;
though you admitted--I'll give you credit for that--you _did_ admit that
she was a beautiful, good little thing, and worthy to belong to the best
in the land. And when I said that Providence never would have sent such a
frail being as that into the world as a beggar's brat, you told me, on the
contrary, that HE _might_ have cast the lot of that child, frail, feeble,
sickly as she was, amid the very outcasts of the earth for wise purposes,
which we never could fathom; and that I had no right to reason in that way
on the subject, or to comment on HIS doings. And there, widow,' added he
solemnly, 'you were right, and I was very wrong. But I was correct in my
surmises as to the child. She _was_ born for a brighter destiny, even than
my h