usted with duties which the firm had never
before placed in the hands of any clerk; and, at the end of his third
year, the period of which I now write, he had been told that on the
retirement of the senior partner he would be taken into the concern.

I must, for the purposes of my story, relate some of the principal
incidents, which in the three years that have elapsed, have helped to make
up the true life of Howard.

In the first place, his friend, Martin Venables, has been his constant
companion. Growing weary of school-life, and longing to plunge, as he had
said, into the great stream of life, he had happened to mention his wish,
on his visit to Mr. Morton, and that gentleman, having taken a great
interest in Martin, had been successful in procuring for him a good
government appointment, in an office where he found scope for honest
labor, with vistas of future promotion, dependent upon his own exertions,
and he was as happy as the day was long in his new sphere of work.

He took up his abode near to Howard, and scarcely an evening passed,
except when he was at the Mortons, which they did not spend together.
Madeleine was still at Ashley House "on a visit," but with a few
intervals, it had lasted for three years, and Martin was a frequent
visitor there, especially after Mr. Morton's return from Italy. A strong
friendship had sprung up between the two, and Mr. Morton certainly looked
forward as eagerly to the visits as did Martin.

And Howard, too, was a visitor at Ashley House.

At first, there was a great prejudice against Howard in the Morton family.
Ethel could not bear to hear his name, for it was painfully associated in
her mind with poor Digby's death.

But after a time, through the quiet influence of Madeleine's conversations
about Howard and Martin's evident affection for him, this prejudice died
away, and Martin was invited to bring his friend to Ashley House.

Acquaintance ripened into a true and earnest friendship, and, under the
influence of the young people, Mr. Morton found sources of happiness which
he never had dreamed life could yield to him; and even Mrs. Morton had so
far thrown off her listlessness, as to be able to take an interest in
their plans and purposes.

It was a lovely summer evening, toward the end of July, that the party of
friends were all together upon the lawn; they had drawn the garden chairs
up, and, after the game of croquet in which Madeleine and Howard had
succeeded in be