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me in love, the flowers spring up smiling at my feet, and every little child gives me a kindly glance.

verse.

"I loved Irene Dinneford, the first time I saw her; and when I thought that she was lost to me forever, I was fearful that thick gloom would once more shroud the uniCould I but have the assurance that she loves me with that absorbing passion with which I love her, I believe I should be a different being; the long pent-up emotions would gush forth, the ice around my heart would melt, and I should joy to weep once more.

"You wonder why I did not declare my love. I could not. I thought of my poverty, of those who were depending upon me for support, and I felt that I should I would not be rejected. I would rather dream on. darken so fair a heaven. I knew that a respectable young man had offered his hand to Agnes, and her father had persuaded her to reject him on account of his poverty. What could I expect?"

"He could not so persuade Irene," I remarked.

"I have often thought so, but I had not sufficient selfconfidence. You may judge, Henri, what were my feelings, when I learned that you were engaged to her. I cursed you, in the bitterness of my heart. Then I felt how unjust I was, and what mean thoughts were festering and cankering in my breast. I watched you closely, and I soon convinced myself that you did not love Irene with that intense devotion of which a nature like yours or mine

is capable. That your regard for her was what the world would call love, I had no doubt; but that it was not true conjugal affection, I was well persuaded. I speculated much as to what her feelings were for you;

felt there was more of respect than love.

but I ever

O, how

O,

ardently I wished that I could have been the one to have saved her, when her life was in peril! Then bitter thoughts would canker in my heart again, and I would curse my unhappy fate. I sometimes wished that you might prove to be a villain, seeking her ruin, and I might be made the instrument to save her from your hands! I acknowledge the meanness, the baseness and the depravity, of these thoughts; but they would spring up in my breast, like noxious weeds in a bed of flowers, -I could not keep them down. My mother has now almost entirely regained her health, and Mary is to be married in a few weeks. When I visit my mother, she looks so well, so contented and happy, I feel that my life has not been in vain. There is one bright spot. A retrospective glance is painful; but that one green spot is beautiful to the eyes of my ever weary spirit, even though it be enriched with tears that fall only from the heart!"

Give me your hand, Ernest," I said, greatly affected by this narrative, by which a bleeding heart was laid bare before "and forgive me for the words which I 19*

my eyes;

uttered just now, when half angry. I knew you not, or I should not have spoken as I did."

"I have as much reason to ask forgiveness as you.'

"I think not; for my object was to irritate you, and then cancel my wickedness by telling you good news. I

also suffered in my younger days, and should not be so passionate as I am. yet be happy."

keenly too, or I

Ernest, you will

"Thank you for the prophecy; but it seems almost impossible. My life has hitherto been so dark, so hopeless, it is difficult to persuade myself that the future shall be bright. But, were I convinced that Irene loved me, I should doubt no more."

"What if her parents should prove to be an obstacle in the way?"

"That would be a misfortune; but it would not destroy my felicity, for I should still have her love, and, with that, I would defy the darkest storms of adversity! I should no more be alone; but my heart, long estranged, would have something to cling to. They might separate

us,- the ocean might roll between

us,

-

but I should still

be conscious that I was not alone! Our spirits would meet, our thoughts leap over the wide ocean, as light leaps from star to star! I do not believe it possible to separate those who love ;-death cannot do it!"

"You are more eloquent than I supposed it possible for you to be. You remind me of rain, after a drouth;

when it once begins to fall, there is little cessation, until the earth is watered and the springs all full. I see that the ice is breaking up, and sweet spring is coming. But you have a curious theory in relation to lovers. According to your idea, they cannot be separated. Place oceans between you and those you love, and you would feel differently."

"Can you make the flowers look unlovely? Can you darken the eyes of the stars? Can Can you steal away the tints of the rainbow? Can you sever the chain that links humanity to its God? No! And you cannot separate the spirits of those whose beings are one. They bid defiance to time, space, eternity!"

Our conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of customers. Mr. Dinneford came soon after, and we did not resume it again.

IN the afternoon, I asked Mr. Dinneford if he would

He readily assented, and
It was a lovely day, and

take a walk on the Battery. thither we directed our steps. many had walked out to enjoy it, and breathe the fresh air, and let it beat full and strong against their cheeks, pale and sallow from long confinement in doors. The children, rolling their hoops and running and shouting, seemed the happiest of the happy.

As soon as I could summon sufficient courage, I broached the subject on my mind.

"I have invited you here," I said, "to speak on a subject which, under the circumstances, must be painful to us both."

"What can it be? Is the partnership business distasteful to you?"

"It is."

"Why so?"

"I don't like the mercantile business, and I have determined to leave it."

"You ought to have known that a month ago."