so formed for confidence, love, and a communion that
time can never dissolve and eternity will but render more secure and
unbroken?"

"And she whom you love so well--are you sure----" asked Mr. Phillips,
speaking with a visible effort, and faltering ere he had completed his
sentence.

"No," answered Willie, anticipating the question. "I know what you would
ask. I am _not_ sure. I have no reason to indulge the hopes I have been
dwelling upon so fondly; but I do not regret having spoken with such
candour; for, should she grieve my heart by her coldness, I should still
be proud to have loved her. Until this time, since I gained my native
land, I have been shackled with duties which, sacred as they were, have
chafed a spirit longing for freedom to follow its own impulses. In this
visit to you, sir, I have fulfilled the last obligation imposed upon me
by my excellent friend, and to-morrow I shall be at liberty to go where
my duty alone prevented me from at once hastening."

He offered his hand to Mr. Amory, who grasped it with a cordiality very
different from the feeble greeting he had given him on his entrance,
"Good-bye," said he, "You carry with you my best wishes for a success
which you seem to have so much at heart; but some day or other I feel
sure you will be reminded of all I have said to you this evening."

"Strange man!" thought Willie, as he walked towards his hotel. "How
warmly he shook my hand at parting! and how affectionately he bade me
farewell, notwithstanding the cold reception he gave me, and the
pertinacity with which I rejected his opinions and repelled his advice!"

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE LONG LOOKED-FOR RETURNED.

"Miss Gertrude," said Mrs. Prime, opening the parlour-door, putting her
head cautiously in, looking round, and then advancing with a stealthy
pace--"my! how busy you are! Lor's sakes alive, if you an't rippin' up
them great curtains of Mrs. Graham's for the wash! I wouldn't be
botherin' with 'em, Miss Gertrude; she won't be here this fortnight, and
Mrs. Ellis will have time enough."

"Oh, I have nothing else to do, Mrs. Prime; it's no trouble." Then,
looking up pleasantly at the old cook, she added, "It seems very cosy
for us all to be at home--doesn't it?"

"It seems beautiful!" answered Mrs. Prime; "and I can't help thinking
how nice it would be if we could all live on jist as we are now, without
no more intrusions."

Gertrude smiled and said, "Everything looks as it used t