passed from Eton to Cambridge, presenting himself at Blakely Hall only during the vacation seasons. George Dale, in the meantime, had grown up into a fine young man, handsome in person and intelligent in mind. Mrs Blakely, if she had ever even thought of it, had not found it agreeable to her feelings to make him a common servant. She had placed him in the office of her steward or overseer, and thus supplied him with a respectable occupation, which engaged all his hours excepting those which he still devoted to the promotion of Harriet's amusements, and the gratification of her tastes with respect to the feathered creation. The only disturbance of the peaceful routine of existence at Blakely Hall, occurred when Frank came to spend his vacations there. On one of these occasions, he brought with him a friend of his own age, son of a gentleman of property residing at no great distance. This young collegian was evidently struck with the appearance of Harriet Blakely, who had, indeed, become a lovely young woman. George Dale felt a bitter, and at first an inexplicable pang, as he beheld the place which he had so long held at the bridle-rein of the young lady, taken up by this smart and handsome pupil of the Cambridge Alma; and though he could not help fancying that the change was not pleasing to Harriet herself, he took himself secretly to task upon the subject, and made a firm resolution to crush in its infancy a feeling of whose existence he had previously been unaware. For its presumption and folly he rated himself most severely.

Harriet, of course, shewed her brother her aviary, with its increasing stores. Harriet, my dear,' said Frank, ‘I am surprised that you have never attempted to tame the wood-pigeon.'

'No, indeed,' was her reply; 'I have never yet thought of it; but this is the very season, and George here'George was standing beside them at the time-' is so careful of them when young, that we never lose any of our little favourites, and it is really no cruelty for us to take them away?

6

'There is a nest of wood-pigeons at this moment,' said George, upon the single old pine-tree at the north edge of the park. It will be an easy matter to procure a pair of young birds for Miss Harriet.'

Harriet looked down, and was thoughtful a moment. 'No,' said she at length, 'I do not think that we could ever tame them. George, you need not take any trouble about it. That tree-I think I know it-is a branchless and dangerous one.'

No farther conversation passed upon the subject, as the college chum of Frank then came and joined his friend and friend's sister, and the whole three set off on an excursion. George followed them with his eyes as long as they were visible. 'Miss Harriet does wish to have these birds, and she shall have them,' thought he to himself, as he slowly turned away from the spot.

Early on the ensuing morning, George Dale was at the spot frequented by wood-pigeons; and what was the result of that visit was discovered by another person shortly afterwards. Harriet Blakely, whether from the consciousness that she had never expressed a wish which George did not attempt to gratify, or from some other motive, directed her steps, on that very morning, to the same spot. As she approached it, a young wood-pigeon crept across the path, almost at her feet. A flutter of pleased surprise agitated her breast, as she hastened to lift, but with tender hands, the poor little creature. 'How fortunate!' thought she; there will be no occasion now for taking any risk about these birds.' She little knew at what cost the young bird had been brought down from its nest; but she soon learned the truth. Approaching the tree, she saw with horror the form of George Dale stretched apparently lifeless at the foot of its trunk, with a thick but rotten branch by his side, telling too plainly the story of his fall. The young lady rushed in an agony of alarm to his side. All was forgotten by her at that moment but the spectacle before her. Feelings, long concealed, almost unrecognised by herself, found then instantaneous vent. George! dear,

dear George!' exclaimed she, raising his head, and pressing her lips repeatedly to his pale brow: 'O Heaven, he has killed himself to serve me!-to gratify a trifling wish of mine! I shall die also-I cannot live after him! George, dear George, speak to me!'

In this manner did the young lady express the wild and agonised feelings with which she beheld the condition of the companion of her childhood. Erelong, he regained his senses, for he had but swooned through pain, his shoulder being dislocated by his fall; and he recovered in time to become fully aware of the secret of Harriet's heart, disclosed in the moments of her distress. At first, he felt as if he could have borne all the pain of his accident, and have again shut his eyes, to hear her voice and her expressions a little longer; but his better nature regained the ascendancy, and even in that moment he called to mind his own station and hers. He roused himself, to assure her that his hurt was comparatively slight, and that if he could but get a little assistance, he would be able to walk home. At first, she would have had him to lean upon her own arm for support, but at length, directed by him, she went to the nearest cottage for other assistance. She soon returned with two or three of the cottagers, but it was with a quieter step, and with a cheek coloured by reflection on the events of the past half-hour.

George Dale was carried home, and for some time afterwards was confined through the consequences of his accident. While he was in these circumstances, the Blakelys were very kind to him, as indeed all of them had ever been. It was at that period, too, that from conversations with Frank and others who visited his sick couch, he learned something which interested him deeply. The young gentleman who had visited Blakely Hall with Frank, having gone home and received his father's sanction, returned to the Hall, and proposed for the hand of Harriet. To the surprise, and also to the regret of her mother and brother, who thought the match an excellent one, the suitor being of good character, and heir to an

extensive estate, Harriet gave him a decided refusal, and, in place of any satisfactory explanation, made matters worse by begging her brother and Mrs Blakely never again to entertain any thoughts of marriage for her in future. When George Dale heard of this, and listened to the confidential regrets of Frank upon the subject, a struggle took place in his bosom. After what had passed on the morning of his accident, he could not but feel and believe that Harriet loved himself. The thought excited a mixture of emotions, but the mental contention within ended in a firm resolve to sacrifice everything for the peace of the family to which he owed so much. He determined to quit Blakely Hall; and, as he could not quit it without giving a reason, he resolved to explain the true cause to Frank, only hinting at that as a suspicion, which he himself was almost inclined to think a certainty.

As soon as he had recovered from his illness, he sought an interview with Frank, and made his intended communication. Young Blakely was much affected by the disinterested integrity of his early playmate. Would to

Heaven, George,' said he, 'that you were her equal in station, or anything near to it! I could not desire her happiness to be in better hands. But as it is, the thing is out of the question. You have done rightly, and nobly!' Nothing but my simple duty- nothing but what gratitude commanded me to do,' said George.

'But you shall not lose by it,' continued Frank: "if I, if my friends, have the slightest influence in the world, you shall not lose by your conduct.'

Frank Blakely did not forget his promise. He exerted himself so earnestly with the member for the county, that a situation in one of the public offices was procured for George Dale, and, to enter on it, he quitted Blakely Hall. For the next five years, his career was a most prosperous one, and deservedly so; for his industry was unremitting, and his talents of no mean order. At the end of the period mentioned, the steps which he had ascended one by one had brought him into possession of a very handsome income, and given him a respectable and gentlemanly

station in the world. During the interval following his departure from Blakely Hall, he had heard nothing of its inmates, excepting that Mrs Blakely, his kind patroness, had died. In what condition Harriet was, whether single or wedded, he had not learned. But he himself had not forgotten the past, and it was therefore with an anxious and fluttering heart that he perused a letter, which at length came to him from Frank Blakely, inviting him to visit the Hall as a guest and friend. The note was brief, and entered into no particulars. George lost as little time as possible in accepting the invitation, and speedily followed up that acceptance by presenting himself at the gates of the well-known abode of his youth.

He was received in the first instance by Frank alone, and the latter entered at once into a conversation most interesting to his guest.

'My dear George, Harriet is yet unmarried. She has refused all offers since you left us, in so decided a way, that I have at last become convinced that she either resolutely prefers the unmarried state, or still clings to the remembrance of yourself. The subject is a delicate one, and I have had no explanations with her; but I must tell you, that she constantly expresses a wish to remain single, and, as she is quite cheerful, though not very gay, she may in this speak the truth. But you are now in a respectable position in life, and were you even in one less so, I could not see my only sister's chance of earthly happiness, if it does depend on a union with you, thrown away. I learned that you were still unmarried, and now you have my full sanction in addressing Harriet, if you choose it. But be not too confident: I tell you again that she ever expresses a wish to remain single.'

George thanked his young patron most warmly, and confessed that the feelings which had made his former position most trying, were still predominant in his breast. 'But be not too confident,' repeated Frank with a smile, as George concluded his avowal.

George and Harriet were left to themselves for some