y an aunt, she was the pride of the
village, the joy of her widowed mother's heart, and the apple of her
brother's eye. It was a beautiful thing to see, Walter, the strong love
of those two--the exultant pride of the brother in his sister's
loveliness--in her accomplishments, for she knew many things our country
folks were unacquainted with. The deep affection of the sister--oh, it
was a happy and a handsome picture, that mother, sister and brother. She
took more pleasure in the society of your daughter than in any other of
the village girls, and they were much together. Ellen taught her what
she had learned, and thus it came about that her brother first noticed
and finally loved her. And she loved him in return. A handsomer or more
fitting pair never trod the sod together. You would have approved the
match. Your father gave his consent--he had long mourned you as
dead--and they were to have been married when she became 20 years of
age. It yet wanted two years of this time when our lord returned from
abroad. He soon visited the house of his old playfellow, and was struck
with the beauty of Ellen Hunter--but he too well knew the character of
Horace Hunter to openly show it. The first step he took was to dismiss
your father from the stewardship, under pretence of his being too old,
and settling a pension on him. He did not wish the good old man near
him--it was a living reproach on his bad deeds.'

'On the infamous practices of his race,' said the seaman sternly; 'bad
father and bad son--but proceed.'

'He installed this man Lambert in your father's place--a cold, unfeeling
man--a money-worshiper, and suspected of being only too willing an
instrument in furthering his master's infamous designs. Lambert
sedulously cultivated an intimacy with the Hunters--condoled with the
mother, ingratiated himself with the young man, and affected unbounded
friendship. Ellen, however, with the true instinct of a pure and
innocent girl, shrank from his companionship; innocence will ever shrink
with innate consciousness from baseness. He persuaded Hunter to rent a
farm in addition to his own, and lent him money to speculate largely in
breeding fancy sheep. The speculation failed--the agent pressed for
payment. His master came forward and paid the amount. Thus he appeared
as a benefactor, and Ellen's gratitude soon ripened into love; but her
brother was in the way. He went to Erith to make some purchases for his
mother and sister, and was k