ideal of earthly bliss.

"Well, Terry," she responded, taking care that there should be
sympathy, not ridicule, in her tone; "if that is your ambition, the way
is open to you to try to accomplish it. My grandfather began as a
little office-boy, and he had more than one carriage of his own before
he died."

The look that Terry gave Miss Drummond on hearing these words made her
blush a little in her turn; it was such a curious blending of
bewilderment and joy. That this radiant creature, who seemed almost as
far removed from him as an angel of heaven, should have had a
grandfather who was a mere office-boy, was a surprising revelation to
him. At the same time, what a vista of hope it opened up! If old Mr.
Drummond, whom he remembered seeing years before, had worked his way up
so well, could not others do it also?

Not knowing just what to say, Terry kept silence, and the situation was
presently relieved by the appearance of Mr. Drummond. As Miss Drummond
gathered up the reins, she gave the boy another of her lovely smiles.

"Thank you very much, Terry," she said; "and you'll think over what
I've been saying to you, won't you?"

Terry pulled off his ragged cap in token of promise to do so, and the
light carriage whirled away, leaving him with thoughts such as had
never stirred his brain before. Of course he knew that men had made
their way up from humble beginnings to high positions, but the fact had
hitherto never been so closely brought home to him; and it was while
under the excitement of this idea that he so astonished his mother as
related above.

CHAPTER II.

THE WAY OPENS.

The seed thus sown by Miss Drummond began to take root at once. Terry
now gave more thought to getting a chance to make a start in life than
he did to having a good time. And here, as it happened, fortune
favoured him in a most unusual way. On the Saturday morning of the
week after the talk which had set him thinking, he was sitting at the
end of the Long Wharf watching a big steamer making her way slowly up
the harbour. It being the noon hour, the wharf hands were all away at
dinner, and the place was almost deserted.

Suddenly he was startled out of his reverie by the sound of hoofs
beating with alarming rapidity upon the resounding planks, and turning
round he saw what caused him to spring to his feet with every nerve and
muscle athrill. Thundering down the wharf in blind and reckless flight
came Miss Drummond's po