my heart caged up for long in a place like this. If we had the climate of India or Iceland it would be an improvement; men would be compelled then to take either the heat or the cold into their consideration, and the result would be that we should feel either extreme less than we are now made to experience the unpleasantness of both."

The faded-looking woman in the rusty black dress and widow's cap glanced proudly up into the handsome face by her side, and thought, as many a foolish mother with a son she has just cause to glory in has thought before her, how wisely many things would be ordered could he take the helm of their management.

"You were going to tell me of your adventure when this question of the heat arose," she said, to remind him of the point he had strayed from.

Charlie Goldering had fulfilled the desire of his youth-he had sought and pursued his fortunes upon the wide blue sea. After many years' apprenticeship, and having been more than once round the world, he had attained that position he had once said would be something to gain, and was, at the time we are writing of, captain of a passenger-boat sailing between Edinburgh and Bordeaux, in the Dundrossie Steam-Packet Company's service.

In the last run to port he had encountered a roughish gale that had damaged his vessel sufficiently to cause a delay for necessary repairs to be undergone, and during the performance of such he found that he should have liberty and leisure to spend a few weeks at home in the society of his mother, brothers, and sisters. "Nothing much of an adventure," he returned, "and yet, perhaps, it will interest you as the actors in it interested me. In the course of my journeys to and fro between France and Scotland, I met with so many and so great a variety of people that, once parted, I should hardly recognise any of them were I to meet them again. When we were about to depart from Bordeaux, however, this last time, there came on board two gentlemen attended by a valet with luggage, who, for some unaccountable reason, attracted my attention. One was a tall, dark man, with a not very prepossessing countenance; the other was shorter, slighter, with a fair face I should have set down as that of a mere boy but for the pale moustache and beard that adorned it. I hardly know what there was in their appearance that attracted my attention, certainly there was nothing outwardly; it might have been a presentiment of something to follow-you know we sailors are superstitious."

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed a third voice; and some one came forth from the back kitchen-door-a girl, or rather woman, who came down the garden-path to join her mother and brother with that exclamation upon her thin lips. A grey woman,

who appeared to have nothing in accordance with the sunshine that deluged all the earth so gloriously; a woman in a grey, much-worn dress, a grey face, grey eyes, and dull, lustreless hair, who ought, as far as her years were concerned, to have been a merry, lighthearted girl, this is Jane Goldering, the sister of that sailor, with his handsome face and stalwart frame, and the sister, too, of that sunnyhearted little Trottie, who went out from their midst long years ago, and has, by this time, ceased to remember her brothers and sisters. Jane Goldering is a loveless, unloving woman-a woman whose unhappy disposition made her imagine herself the perpetual recipient of injuries from anyone and everyone with whom she was brought into contact; and yet, to a certain extent, a good woman, a woman who strove to do her duty, mistaken as her conception was of that duty; she observed the letter of the law, but she missed the light, and grace, and beauty, the spirit that is the life of the Gospel; she was one of the disagreeably good who repulse rather than attract.

Out of the warmth of his own heart, rather than from any affection she inspired, Charley was invariably kind and thoughtful for her; he put out his hand and drew her towards them now, including her in the conversation.

"Is school over, Jane?"

"I should think so; it's ten minutes past four at least. I've been kept in to hear returned lessons, which it isn't likely either of you'd perceive, being more agreeably employed."

As it was one of Jane's specialities to imagine herself neglected nnless the most scrupulous regard were paid to her, so was it another to let no opportunity slip of reminding others of this fancied or real neglect practised against herself, or of any other shortcoming brought beneath her notice. Whether or no she did it systematically to enforce upon them the virtue of humility, I know not. She carried an invisible rasp about with her always, ready for immediate application whenever opportunity offered; you could not be in her presence long without feeling its roughness upon some tender portion of your heart.

Mrs. Goldering was proof against it now, but she clasped her hands more tightly over her son's arm as she calmly replied, "Yes, I was listening to Charley's adventures. Go on, my son."

Charley considerately gave Jane a slight sketch of what he had already told his mother, and then continued-"I had the curiosity to examine the books where the names of all passengers are entered, and look for the names of these lastly arrived. I soon learned to distinguish them. The fair-haired man, who was the younger of the two, was, by name and title, Robert, Baron Haig; the other was his friend, Ernest De l'Orme. They were upon deck until late

that evening, but I had no occasion to address either or they me until early morning, when the storm in its fury was upon us, and the Travailleur was breasting it gallantly with creaking timbers; then in a lull I found Lord Haig at my elbow. We fraternised someway, as people will do in moments of danger, and at intervals through the grey morning's dawn upon the boiling waters I communicated to him my tactics, and found myself accepting suggestions from him, for he appeared as thoroughly at home upon the briny ocean as I was; nay, I suspect his experience in the navigation of that particular coast to be somewhat superior to mine, and I accepted his co-operation. I learned afterwards that his knowledge had been gained in many a cruise with his yacht off the shores upon which there was danger of our being driven. His friend kept his cabin; he was a bad sailor, Lord Haig informed me; indeed, I saw nothing of him until the third day, when the winds had ceased to blow, and the storm was abated; then he staggered upon deck a very ghost of his former self. We were driven considerably out of our course, and while I made haste to remedy the havoc made by the storm, and ascertain exactly our damages in order to decide whether we should proceed to our destination, or put into some nearer port, Lord Haig and his friend hung over the vessel's side conversing; now and then a glance from under Mr. De l'Orme's dark brows, or a quicker flash from his Lordship's bright eyes in my direction made me imagine that I was the subject of their conversation. I suppose I have my share of the leaven of curiosity in my nature, mother," he said, looking laughingly down into her face; "anyway, I was seized with a desire to know what they were saying about me, and took the first opportunity I had of passing close to them."

Jane heard without attending to what he was saying; the substance of his communication had not much interest for her, but if she really and truly loved anybody or anything in this wide world it was her brother Charley, and his handsome, animated face absorbed her attention; nevertheless, she heard what he was saying, and could recal it perfectly afterwards when she had an interest in doing so.

Mrs. Goldering listened, but still for Charley's sake; she did not imagine for an instant that this incident on board ship could have any real personal interest for her.

"I heard Lord Haig say, 'The likeness is quite extraordinary.' "The likeness?" asked Hester Goldering in those careless tones it is possible to use regardlessly when we are all unconscious of the chasm that the very next instant may be yawning at our feet; by such an invisible abyss Hester Goldering stood, and knew it not. "Did he suppose you resembled some person of his acquaintance?"

"I suppose so, mother. Mr. De l'Orme replied, Miss Trevor would be highly flattered did she hear you make such a comparison.' Lord Haig laughed; 'allowing for the difference in sex and position of course,' said he; 'only notice——” ”

But here Charley Goldering was interrupted in his narrative by an exclamation from his sister Jane-" Mother is ill, she is fainting." And Charley, looking down, saw something very like agony upon his mother's white face, ere the eyelids drooped and the drawn lips settled themselves into a chill unconsciousness.

The captain lifted her in his strong arms and carried her into the house; Jane following him quietly, without any fuss, brought smelling salts and brandy, and administered them with the celerity of an experienced hand, while the brave sailor could only look on in helplessness and dismay. It was an unspeakable relief to him when at length his mother opened her eyes and parted the closelylocked lips; he wheeled her chair up to the open window and widened the aperture by throwing up the sash as far as it would go.

"Do you feel better now, mother dear?"

Yes, better, thank you; you were speaking of some-some fancied resemblance when-I was

"Overcome by the heat and fainted; yes, yes, mother, but we won't recur to that now. I had nigh finished my story; nothing remained to speak of but the kindness of Lord Haig. It's owing to the confounded closeness of these rooms in which you live, they are not fit for human beings. Jane, mother would like her tea."

Slowly, like an automaton, or as a person walking in her sleep, Jane Goldering went forth from the little front parlour into the still smaller kitchen at the back of the house. The fire was smouldering, all the blaze had died out, but the steam was puffing forth in volumes from the spout of the tea-kettle suspended upon the hanger; Jane neglected this reminder of the duty she had come to fulfil, and forgot her brother's suggestion while she stood slowly drumming her fingers upon the table beneath the window and gazing forth meditatively down the length of the narrow strip of garden to the blue sky beyond, but seeing nothing over which her glance roamed.

For years she had resented, in her own mind, her mother's close observance of the secret that related to little Trottie; she had given hints for its divulgence, she had almost demanded it as a right, but her mother's determination was opposed to her desire ; she would not divulge it under any consideration. Lately Jane had desisted from all attempts to surprise or persuade confidence, she had buried the burning desire in her own breast, collecting such scanty pieces of information as were in any way, even the most

remote, connected with it, and adding them to the secret purpose that grew and flourished upon such meagre bits of food. She knew that little Trottie had been given up for adoption in some great family where her days were passed in ease and happiness. Jane was wont to think of such a position as the height of happiness, she never remembered that all positions, whether low or exalted, have their duties and their crosses as well as their pleasures and enjoyments. Whenever her own life seemed especially hard and joyless, when she wearied of her daily round of tasks, and longed for rest and variety, as even the cheerfullest workers will do at times, which Jane was not, her thoughts flew to little Trottie until feelings that were harsh and cruel sprang up in her breast against her. She envied her her removal from the many worries that had been their portion at home, she grudged her the comforts she had not, and longed sometimes with a passionate and wicked longing that she could drag little Trottie from her luxurious home and compel her to perform the daily drudgery that had been her portion for so long. By every means in her power she had striven to discover the key to this great secret, to find out the name of the family of which Trottie was now a member; it would lead to so much could she only discover this. As we have seen, the name of little Martha Goldering's adopted parents was only known to the Rev. James Paston and Mrs. Goldering, and by them, according to agreement, it had been faithfully kept. Ten minutes, or twenty at most, ago, Jane had stood by her brother's side at the bottom of the garden, all unconscious how near she was to the possession of that key she had sought so diligently for years. She recalled it now, her own hesitation when school was over as to whether she should join her mother and brother in the garden, or await their coming in; the impulse that had decided her movements at last, she in ignorance of what it was leading her to. And it might have been otherwise; the merest chance would have turned her, was it Providence, fate that impelled her out of

her ear;

How careless she had stood there, too, by the garden wall, hardly listening to what Charley was saying, thinking of a dozen things besides; how regardlessly even that name, the key whose possession she had so thirsted for, had fallen upon she would not have known it even but for that rapid change in her mother's face its utterance caused, and then it came back to her; it was not the mere change produced by faintness and heat; a spasm of pain had shot across her mother's face, there had been a heart stab, and this had produced the faintness; Jane noticed the effects of the pain, and had begun to question the cause, rapidly, as ideas do suggest themselves to our minds at times, before she observed that her mother was losing consciousness; then