away from his poor mother was a pang, and every shilling he should
spend would be a privation to her. Heaven only could tell by what thrift
and care and time she had laid by the few pounds he had carried away
to pay his journey! As his eye fell upon the tempting objects of the
shop-windows, every moment displaying something he would like to have
brought back to her,--that nice warm shawl, that pretty clock for her
mantelpiece, that little vase for her flowers; how he despised himself
for his poverty, and how meanly the thought of a condition that made him
a burden where he ought to have been a benefit! Nor was the thought the
less bitter that it reminded him of the wide space that separated him
from her he had dared to love! "It comes to this," cried he bitterly to
himself, "that I have no right to be here; no right to do anything, or
think of anything that I have done. Of the thousands that pass me, there
is not, perhaps, one the world has not more need of than of me! Is there
even one of all this mighty million that would have a kind word for me,
if they knew the heavy heart that was weighing me down?" At this minute
he suddenly thought of Dolly Stewart, the doctor's daughter, whose
address he had carefully taken down from his mother, at Mr. Alexander
M'Grader's, 4 Inverness Terrace, Richmond.

It would be a real pleasure to see Dolly's good-humored face, and hear
her merry voice, instead of those heavy looks and busy faces that addled
and confused him; and so, as much to fill up his time as to spare his
purse, he set out to walk to Richmond.

With whatever gloom and depression he began his journey, his spirits
rose as he gained the outskirts of the town, and rose higher and higher
as he felt the cheering breezes and the perfumed air that swept over the
rich meadows at either side of him. It was, besides, such a luxuriant
aspect of country as he had never before seen nor imagined,--fields
cultivated like gardens, trim hedgerows, ornamental trees, picturesque
villas on every hand. How beautiful it all seemed, and how happy! Was
not Dolly a lucky girl to have her lot thrown in such a paradise? How
enjoyable she must find it all!--she whose good spirits knew always
how "to take the most out of" whatever was pleasant How he pictured her
delight in a scene of such loveliness!

"That's Inverness Terrace, yonder," said a policeman of whom he inquired
the way,--"that range of small houses you see there;" and he pointed to
a