brave fellow nearer than myself.
He rushed out of our smoke to make a prisoner, and he never came back.
He lies just over the hillock."

Dunwoodie went to the spot and found an aged stranger. He lay on his
back, his eyes closed as if in slumber, and his hands pressed on his
breast contained something that glittered like silver.

The subject of his care was a tin box, through which the bullet had
pierced to find a way to his heart, and the dying moments of the old man
must have been passed in drawing it from his bosom.

Dunwoodie opened it, and found a paper on which he read:

"Circumstances of political importance, which involve the lives and
fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what this paper reveals.
Harvey Birch has for years been a faithful and unrequited servant of his
country. Though man does not, may God reward him for his conduct! GEO.
WASHINGTON."

It was the spy of the neutral ground, who died as he had lived, devoted
to his country.

* * * * *

MRS. CRAIK

John Halifax, Gentleman

Dinah Maria Mulock, whose fame as a novelist rests entirely
on "John Halifax, Gentleman," was born at Stoke-upon-Trent,
England, on April 20, 1826. She was thirty-one when "John
Halifax" came out, and immediately found herself one of the
most popular novelists, her story having a great vogue
throughout the English-speaking world, and being translated
into half a dozen languages, including Greek and Russian. In
1864 Miss Mulock married George Lillie Craik, and until her
death, on October 12, 1887, she actively engaged herself in
literary work. In all, forty-six works stand to her credit,
but none show unusual literary power. Even "John Halifax"
leaves much to be desired, and its great popularity arises,
perhaps, from its sentimental interest. The character of the
hero, conceived on the most conventional lines, has at least
the charm that comes from the contemplation of a strong and
upright man, and although many better stories have not enjoyed
one tithe of its popularity, "John Halifax, Gentleman" still
deserves to be read as a wholesome and profitable story.

_I.--The Tanner's Apprentice_

"Get out o' Mr. Fletcher's road, you idle, lounging, little----"

"Vagabond" was no doubt what Sally Watkins, the old nurse of Phineas
Fletcher, was going to say, but she had changed her mind