d him passionately, and he would
take her away from her father before she even knew all that father had
done and suffered for her. When the revelation did come she would
perhaps be a wife and a mother, and then even that revelation would fall
comparatively flat.

Besides his exceptional grief, he felt the natural pang of a father at
the prospect of resigning her to a husband. Hard is the lot of parents;
and, above all, of a parent with one child whom he adores. Many other
creatures love their young tenderly, and their young leave them. But then
the infancy and youth of those creatures are so short. In a few months
the young shift for themselves, forgetting and forgotten. But with our
young the helpless periods of infancy and youth are so long. Parental
anxiety goes through so many trials and so various, and they all strike
roots into the parent's heart. Yet after twenty years of love and hope
and fear comes a handsome young fellow, a charming highwayman to a
parent's eye, and whisks her away after two months' courtship. Then, oh,
ye young, curb for a moment your blind egotism, and feel a little for the
parents who have felt so much for you! You rather like William Hope, so
let him help you to pity your own parents. See his sad face as he looks
at the love he is yet too unselfish to discourage. To save that tender
root, a sickly child, he transplanted it from his own garden, and still
tended it with loving care for many a year. Another gathers the flower.
He watched and tended and trembled over the tender nestling. The young
bird is trying her wings before his eyes; soon she will spread them, and
fly away to a newer nest and a younger bosom.

In this case, however, the young people had their troubles too, and their
pretty courtship was soon interrupted by an unwelcome and unexpected
visitor, who, as a rule, avoided that part, for the very reason that
Colonel Clifford frequented it. However, he came there to-day to speak to
Hope. Mr. Bartley, for he it was, would have caught the lovers if he had
come silently; but he was talking to a pitman as he came, and Mary's
quick ears heard his voice round the corner.

"Papa!" cried she. "Oh, don't let him see us! Hide!"

"Where?"

"Anywhere--in here--quick!" and she flew into Hope's workshop, which
indeed offered great facilities for hiding. However, to make sure, they
crouched behind the lathe and a huge plank of beautiful mahogany Hope was
very proud of.

As soon as they w