the privilege of smelling his
tobacco-smoke, sometimes to beg for a lock of his hair, or a fragment of
his ragged old dressing-gown, to put among her keepsakes. She sighed at
him when he was in a passion, and put her handkerchief to her eyes when
he was sulky. In short, she tormented Morgan, whenever she could catch
him, with such ingenious and such relentless malice, that he actually
threatened to go back to London, and prey once more, in the unscrupulous
character of a doctor, on the credulity of mankind.

Thus situated in her relations toward ourselves, and thus occupied by
country diversions of her own choosing, Miss Jessie passed her time at
The Glen Tower, excepting now and then a dull hour in the long evenings,
to her guardian's satisfaction--and, all things considered, not without
pleasure to herself. Day followed day in calm and smooth succession, and
five quiet weeks had elapsed out of the six during which her stay was
to last without any remarkable occurrence to distinguish them, when an
event happened which personally affected me in a very serious manner,
and which suddenly caused our handsome Queen of Hearts to become the
object of my deepest anxiety in the present, and of my dearest hopes for
the future.

CHAPTER IV. OUR GRAND PROJECT.

AT the end of the fifth week of our guest's stay, among the letters
which the morning's post brought to The Glen Tower there was one for me,
from my son George, in the Crimea.

The effect which this letter produced in our little circle renders it
necessary that I should present it here, to speak for itself.

This is what I read alone in my own room:

"MY DEAREST FATHER--After the great public news of the fall of
Sebastopol, have you any ears left for small items of private
intelligence from insignificant subaltern officers? Prepare, if you
have, for a sudden and a startling announcement. How shall I write the
words? How shall I tell you that I am really coming home?

"I have a private opportunity of sending this letter, and only a short
time to write it in; so I must put many things, if I can, into few
words. The doctor has reported me fit to travel at last, and I leave,
thanks to the privilege of a wounded man, by the next ship. The name of
the vessel and the time of starting are on the list which I inclose. I
have made all my calculations, and, allowing for every possible delay,
I find that I shall be with you, at the latest, on the first of
November--perhap