got on so well together-it is just as brilliant a chance of settling yourself in life as any one of us girls ever have had. Her father, the old earl, adores her; she is the only child, and her fortune will be immense; and, as I always told you, Dick, you are a very good-looking fellow, and when you have mastered one or two minor points of etiquette that I will presently tell you of, I see no reason why you should not be good enough for anybody."

CHAPTER VIII.

Hey, ninnie, nonnie! But love be bonnie
A little while, while it is new;
But when it's auld, it grows more cauld,
And fades awa' like morning dew."

IME flies; it seems yesterday that Hetty was married, yet I went today to see her as she lay on her white couch with another tiny

Hetty on her arm, and returning home I noticed with wonder that the old cherry-tree was again in bloom.

As she held the little creature against her breast I wondered if beneath all its frivolities a mother's heart was beating there, and

thought I traced in her beautiful face something of that solemn, wistful look that motherhood they say always brings-as though the Divine breath, kindling the young life, had in passing touched the mother also, and made her sacred.

I looked at Ullathorne, too, as he stood beside them; there was something new, hopeful in his face-hitherto I could not but blame him, for did he try, with all his heart and soul did he try, to make the best of that mistake in life which with eyes wide open he had committed?

I left them, trusting that those baby hands might yet bring the hearts of father and mother together, but alas! with returning health the old Hetty arises, the little child, gift of God, like any soulless toy, is laid aside. The old frown comes back to Ullathorne's brow, the weariness to his voice. If nowadays,

not knowing, I should chance to meet him, I should esteem him as neither more nor less than one of those idlers upon whom the waste of life is regretted by none more keenly than himself.

He has never crossed our threshold since his marriage day, but we are constantly together, the love between us growing deeper and deeper, nothing broken by the secret that lies between us, till sometimes I say to myself, conscience-stricken, that it is small marvel he has so little to give to Hetty.

If only they would disagree sometimes—but

There is

there are no contests between them. simply a total lack of appreciation on her part, an incapacity on his to move or reach her, that completely stultify any notion of warfare. Bell and Cynthia observe nothing amiss; I should soon hear of it if they did, for I see them often enough, they having taken me in

hand, and stood sponsor for me, so to speak, at the fount of fashion.

They have given up tormenting me on the subject of marriage, being satisfied in the belief that my heart has accompanied Florizel to Cannes, whither she went three months ago with the old man, as the sole remaining chance of extending his life a few years.

And time goes on, and lo! one fine day a white petal flutters down on the dusty page from which I am reading, and I look up to discover how Nature through the cherry-tree gives warning of another dead and gone year. And what have I gained in it? A profound knowledge of my own ignorance—what is knowledge but the consciousness of ignorance -the germ of the feeling of Michael Angelo with his go-cart, and the motto "Still I learn?"

I have not amassed one penny; I am not one step nearer Sieviking. I falter and stumble