wrapped in my last, long slumber. God bless ye!' he continued, wringing my hand. Pardon my taking leave of you thus abruptly; but I have much to prepare before sun-rise, and but a few short hours left to finish the labour in.'

"So we parted; and the next morning, at the prescribed hour, Lieutenant Gordon, of the Fifth regiment, was shot, a victim to

his duty."

"Marvellous!" exclaimed the Squire, raising his hands and looking quite confounded with what he heard.

"Have you anything more to say, Sir?" inquired Master Tom, impatiently.

"But little," returned Tobias Smith, again taking up the thread of his narrative. "Soon

after this melancholy affair, I was wounded severely in a skirmish, and rendered useless for service. I obtained leave to return home. Mrs. Gordon, who had remained in a state of stupor since the miserable fate of her husband,

can scarcely be said to have consented to accompany me to England; but she did so, and on her passage gave birth to a son. From this moment she improved and regained a much better state of mind and body; and, exercising all the tender duties of a young mother, by the time that we arrived at the end of our passage, she was in far more desirable health than myself. Indeed, such was the difference between us, that she could travel and I could not; and, therefore, upon our arrival, I besought her to discover Mr. Hardy immediately, unaccompanied by myself, for the purpose of conforming to the urgent and last request of her husband. She left me, as I believed, to effect this; but, shortly afterwards, I received a letter, stating that nothing earthly would induce her to meet Mr. Hardy-not even the solemn and imperative request of her sacrificed husband. That she had yielded to the most weighty part of the contents of the epistle, although it had cost her the torments of the condemned; but

VOL. II.

C

more she would not say, and bade adieu to me for ever.' This was the substance of the letter ; and, from that moment, until within a few days, I knew nothing, until I accidentally learned that

"Poor Mary had intrusted me with her son," interrupted John Hardy, hurling the handkerchief from his face, and, throwing his arms round Master Tom's neck, he smothered him with caresses.

"Marvellous, extraordinary, most wonderful!" exclaimed the Squire, almost bewildered with astonishment.

"But not less true, Sir, for all that," remarked Tobias Smith.

"Does no one know," gasped Master Tom, almost struggling to make himself heard, "what became of my mother?"

"No one, as it appears, that we are at present acquainted with," replied Tobias Smith.

"Never mind! never mind!" ejaculated

John Hardy, convulsed with excitement, "We

will find her out if alive, and if

perhaps

he would have added "dead;" but the word died upon his lips, and he could say nothing

more.

CHAPTER II

"Who are the violets now,

That strew the green lap of the new-come spring?":

A BRIGHT ray of sunshine flashed against the glazed panes of Job's dormitory, and, by dint of a struggle, squeezed itself through a crevice in the chequered curtains, drawn across the latticed casement, and streaked directly on the tip, point, or terminus of Mrs. Sykes's nasal organ. From either refraction or reflection, or, perhaps, the effect of the combined causes, the worthy dame awoke, suddenly and abruptly. Grave-even to severity-Mrs. Sykes turned her eyes to that quarter of the bed occupied