ng she is
the child of these people; I have always had grave doubts of that, and
Miss Gladden has often expressed the same."

"By Jove! I never thought of that! It seems likely enough, too. What
do you think, that she was stolen?"

"No," said Houston slowly, "that does not seem so probable as that she
may have been some child that they were hired to take."

"In that case," said Rutherford, "I should think the uncertainty
regarding her family and origin, would be almost as bad as the
certainty in the other case."

"It might seem so to some people," Houston replied, adding with a
smile, "especially to a Bostonian, who prided himself upon his 'blue
blood'."

"Oh," said Rutherford, coloring, "I'm not pursuing this inquiry on my
own account at all, I was only thinking of her prospects generally.
I'm not interested in that direction."

"In what direction are you interested, if I may ask?" said Houston,
experiencing, for the first time, a little twinge of jealousy.

"In the direction of the 'Hub,' my dear boy," Rutherford replied, with
another blush.

"Spoken like a true Bostonian!" said Houston approvingly.

"Yes, sir," continued Rutherford, "there's a little girl belongs back
there in Boston, that's more to me than all the ladies you can produce
in this part of the country, or any other, no matter how beautiful
they may be; and she's not bad looking either. Her parents took her to
Europe for a little trip this spring, and Boston seemed so lonesome,
that was the reason I came west."

"Good for you, Ned, you have my best wishes," said Houston, shaking
hands with his friend, "but really, you and Lyle had seemed so fond of
each other's society lately, that I thought perhaps it was to be your
destiny to rescue her from her unhappy fate."

"Well, as to each other's society," said Rutherford, very slowly, "of
late we have been restricted to that or none, for you and Miss Gladden
have been growing so unconscious of us, that we've had to console with
each other; but then, I understood how 'twas, for I've been there
myself, you know, and I'm ready to offer congratulations and all that
sort of thing, whenever they are in order."

Houston appeared very unconscious of Rutherford's meaning, as he
inquired, "How does Lyle herself regard your attentions? There must be
no trifling with her, I have too much regard for her myself, for
that."

"Miss Maverick is not a girl to be trifled with," replied Rutherford,
"I think a goo