'It is but little, I know; but the days of loneliness and desertion are gone by.'

'Only you must not wish me to forget him,' said Miriam. Soon, perhaps, I may feel what now I know, that it was better for him to go. That living death was terrible, and Mr. Elton said that I must not hope for more than a partial return of consciousness.'

'You shall tell me all another time,' said Leonard. 'Now I want you to lie still and think of nothing.'

It was a vain request. A few moments' silence brought the relief of tears, and the story of George's illness followed, related with the fond faithfulness with which we ever cling to the memory of all that concerned those whom we have loved and lost. And in Leonard's full and perfect sympathy, Miriam's aching heart found solace, and she was led on to trust more fully to that higher Love which had not left her desolate in the hour of utmost need.

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CHAPTER XXIX.

Quale i fioretti, dal notturno gielo
Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l Sol gl' imbianca,
Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo.

DANTE'S INFERNO.

EONARD left town that year the very day the

Courts rose at the expiration of the Lent Term, but though his impatience was greater and his finances more prosperous than on former gccasions, he chose to walk from the station at which visitors to Duck Dub and the Mains left the railway. He felt now that every shilling saved brought him nearer to the object of all his hopes; and his present style of living provoked the remark among his friends, that Leonard Wray was always in extremes, and promised now to be as much too near as he had formerly been extravagant.'

‘And after all,' he thought, as he strode across the country with vigorous haste, 'that three-legged animal at the station could scarcely emulate my pace, and I shall be there almost as soon as if I had taken the gig. I wonder how she is lookingless woe-begone, I hope, than when we parted.'

It was not a sad face, but tearful only from shy and fluttering happiness, which Miriam turned to

meet her lover's greeting. So bright, and yet so bashful, the illusion of love was scarcely needed to enhance the beauty on which Leonard gazed with joyful admiration.

'It is like my first coming back,' he said, after a few moments' happy silence.

Only so much better,' whispered Miriam, hiding her face on his breast.

'Where is Uncle Ralph,-not that I want him, you know?' Leonard asked presently.

'So he discreetly guessed. He said he should probably dine at the Mains.'

'He is the most praiseworthy of men,' said Leonard with enthusiasm. And you are beginning to understand him better, Miriam ?'

'Yes: I wish that I had begun sooner. His kindness makes me sorry and ashamed, and if I look pale, or seem out of spirits, he is in such distress. If I had let him,' Miriam added, blushing a little, he would have written two or three times to ask you to come down for Saturday and Sunday.'

And you were cruel enough not to let him? But you were quite right, my dearest the journey would have made a great hole in my savings, and the balancing of my accounts for the last quarter was so satisfactory that even Uncle John thinks that we may prudently set up house in another year, or in the long vacation at furthest. That is far enough off too.'

'Not at all too far,' said Miriam ; 'I should not be old, nor wise enough before that.'

You are quite as old as any one need to be

now,

seventeen and a half,' answered Leonard.

'And I should not like you to be wiser, lest wisdom should teach you the folly of loving me.' And Miriam's answering smile expressed her conviction that no wisdom could teach her that lesson.

That afternoon's talk was very discursive, and Leonard's next question was whether she had seen much of the Mordaunts since they returned.

'Yes. I have not been strong enough to walk to the Mains, but some of them have been over every day, Susan several times.'

'I missed Susan,' said Leonard; 'she used to show me Uncle Ralph's letters when there was anything complimentary about you in them,which was not seldom, let me tell you,—and her interest in all our plans is so genuine, not like my uncle, who is always throwing cold water on what he considers youthful enthusiasm, while Aunt Helen irritates me still more by saying and perhaps thinking, just what will please me. She used to impose upon me, but now I have discovered that impulsive manner is a mistake. I like greater refinement and repose, even what might be thought an almost repelling coldness.'

'Exactly,' said Miriam with a smile; 'but it is unnecessary, however ingenious, to wrest all that is said into a personal application. We were talking about Susan.'

'Yes; I was going to tell you, that although I missed her, I was very glad when they decided, on her account, to leave town before Easter. The thought of going into society made her miserable.'

'Ailie says she has been better since they came

down here, but she still looks worn and out of spirits.'

'Her story is a mystery, for she is not naturally sensitive to the world's opinion, and the possibility of censure ought not to affect her so much. I sometimes wonder whether, if she did not quite know her own mind in accepting Merton, she knew it any better in rejecting him. And now, since we have arrived at conjecture, I presume you will allow the subject is exhausted.'

'And what then?' asked Miriam.

'Why, I suppose I may talk of what I like best, and you know what that is. There was a question I longed to ask, but in those few days we were together in London, I did not think you were fit to bear it. And even now I am afraid of vexing you.' 'You cannot vex me,' said Miriam.

Then I want to know how it was that you refused to let me help you when you were starving, or almost starving, as I learned for myself at those miserable lodgings. Was it not from too cruel a pride ?'

'No, I think not,' said Miriam. I acted on the instinct of the moment, and a woman's instinct is generally right. You must remember that I knew nothing of Uncle Ralph, since I had not seen the advertisement, and the shopman only mentioned your visit, so that I fancied you were seeking me without his knowledge or approval. And since I had promised to give you up, and intended to keep my promise, any sense of obligation would have been humiliating and disgraceful.'

'I dare say you are right; it is at least mag

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