ry was alone in the old hall, in the silent night, now
darker than before, for a cloud had come over the moon.

She groped her way to the door, unlocked it, and passed into the
withdrawing room. At the further end she saw some one coming, she
could not see who it was, by the dim starlight, so she asked: "Roger,
is that you?"

"No, Mary," answered a glad, tremulous voice, "it is not Roger--it is
I--George!"

With a wild, joyful cry, the Lady Mary sprang forward, and was clasped
in her husband's arms.

And _this_ was not a dream.

Captain Hamilton had been severely wounded, and taken captive by the
Afghans. They had kept him a close prisoner in the mountains, not even
permitting him to write a letter to any one, for two years. He had at
last been discovered, liberated, and sent home to recover his health,
which had suffered somewhat in his hardship and confinement.

On arriving at Hampton Court, whither he had been directed from London,
he had been told by old Roger where his wife probably was, as he could
not find her in her apartments, and was on his way to the hall, when he
met her, as we have seen.

The next time that the Lady Mary visited that old hall, to walk in the
moonlight, or muse in her favorite window-seat, it was observed that
she did not go alone.

Windsor Castle

KING JAMES OF SCOTLAND AND
THE LADY JANE BEAUFORT.

One of the pleasantest excursions which a traveller can make from
London is to Windsor, with its parks and grounds so wonderfully
luxuriant and beautiful, and so vast in extent, and its royal old
castle--certainly one of the noblest sights in all England.

This is finely situated on the Thames; it overlooks a rich and lovely
country, and is seen from great distances--a grand, crowning object in
the landscape.

I visited Windsor with a party of Americans, some of whom I had never
seen before, and have not met since; but I always think of them with
kindly interest, because I shared with them so great a pleasure. I
wonder if they remember it as well as I do!

'Twas on a bright, but not unpleasantly warm day in midsummer, when the
parks and gardens were in all the glory of their greenness and bloom,
when fountains sparkled in the sun and birds warbled in the shade, and
the sky above was clear and blue enough to make up for all the clouds
and fogs I had seen since I came to England.

We went directly from the station to the Castle, a grand mass of
ancient and modern bui