ss there."

"Is your--is your mother with him?" asked Mr. Gracewood, with some
embarrassment.

"She is."

I was not a little puzzled by what I heard. My good friend spoke of the
mother of Ella, and I knew that she was his daughter. The mother,
therefore, was his wife, as I reasoned out the problem; but I could not
understand how he happened to be living in the backwoods, away from her
and his child. Mr. Gracewood was silent for a time, and I began to
realize that there was something unpleasant in his family relations,
though the matter was incomprehensible to me.

"I suppose your mother does not speak very kindly of me," said the
father, at last, with considerable emotion.

"I never heard her speak an unkind word of you, father," replied Ella,
promptly; and at the same time her eyes filled with tears.

"I am glad to hear that."

"It is true, father," added the daughter, wiping the tears from her
eyes.

"Don't cry, Ella; all may yet be well. Perhaps I was to blame, in
part."

"You will see mother when she comes back in the steamer--won't you,
father?" pleaded she.

"She may not wish to see me."

"I know she will be glad to see you."

Mr. Gracewood was moody and agitated again. I saw that he was
struggling with his feelings, and I hoped that the gentle words of his
daughter would lead to a reconciliation. She seemed like an angel of
peace to me, as she threw oil upon the troubled waters. But I felt like
an intruder in such a scene, and I left the Castle on the pretence of
attending to the horses. I did not return, feeling that I was not
needed in such an interview. I made up a bed in the block house, and
was about to turn in, when Mr. Gracewood joined me. He told me he had
attended to all the wants of his daughter, and that she would sleep in
the Castle.

"I know you were astonished at what you heard, Phil Farringford," said
he, as we lay down in the block house.

"I was, sir, and I felt very bad when your daughter wept."

"I am afraid, from what Ella says, that I am quite as much to blame as
her mother. Indeed, I had begun to think before that the fault was not
all on her side. When my father died, he left a handsome fortune, which
was divided between my brother and myself. I was educated at one of the
best colleges in the west, and intended to study the profession of law;
but the death of my father placed sufficient wealth in my possession to
enable me to live in luxury without any exertion. I was m