a dangerous companion for a youth like Harry, who was easily led into error; and though he was not afraid of Kelly's influence on his own character, be resolved to have as little to do with him as possible.

"I should think Mr. Kelly is respectably connected, is he not, Frank?" asked Mrs. Hamer, by way of introducing the subject.

"I believe so, mother.'

"I cannot imagine why you dislike him, Frank; his manners are highly polished, and his mind appears cultivated."

"I think he is gay, mother: I could not make a companion of him."

"Indeed! I should not have thought it. Well, if he is at all dissipated, that settles the question. I wish I had not invited him here. I am very glad, dear Frank, that you are so cautious in the choice of your friends."

Little did the proud mother think that there was a link connecting her son even with dissipated characters -a link which she herself had helped to form, that would be able to draw him into close companionship with the man from whom he now shrank with dislike! Could she have foreseen the fatal power of the chain that was even now encircling him, how would she have agonized to rend its links asunder!

CHAPTER XIII.

WILLIAM LISTER'S NEWS.

Then shall we meet, and, heart to heart,
Lament that fate such friends should sever
And I shall say-" We must not part;"
And thou wilt answer-" Never, never!"

CRABBE..

(T was the close of February, about a month after the celebration of Frank's birthday.

It was Saturday evening, and Mrs. Hamer always enjoyed more of Frank's society on that evening than any other of the week. He made a point of devoting it to her, and usually they had no other company. Mrs. Hamer had that morning received William's message from "The Cottage," and was curious to know what important matter he could have to consult her about. It was nearly eight o'clock when a light tap was heard at the parlour door, and Mary entered, her face glowing brightly from excitement, or from the cold night air;-perhaps both. She looked happier, too, than Frank had seen her for some time past. For, since the night of the party, Mary had often appeared

To do him jus

dejected, and he well knew the cause. tice, however, he thought Mary quite unwarranted in being sad on his account. He believed her fears to be merely imaginary; and though there was in truth an acceleration in his progress towards the path so dreaded by his beloved, he was utterly unconscious of it, and felt secure in his own strength and ability to resist temptation.

Mary's greeting startled Frank and his mother in

the midst of their talk.

"Can you bear good news, dear Mrs. Hamer,miraculously good news, I may say ?"

She had not even bid good evening before thus opening her errand.

"What is it, love ?" asked Mrs. Hamer, astonishment depicted in her face. "What can have brought

you out so late this evening?

"William is with me."

Have you come alone?"

"William!" exclaimed Frank and Mrs. Hamer together; "where is he ?"

"I didn't wish to take you by surprise, and have left him in the hall. He has arrived earlier than we expected, and thought it better to see you at once."

"In fact," said William, who now made his appearance. "I thought pleasant news ought not to be deferred, and could not rest till I had told you."

Mrs. Hamer and Frank shook hands heartily with

William, and when they had made him and Mary sit down, Mrs. Hamer said:

"I'm quite puzzled, William, with your message to me. It seems too serious for a mere joke, and yet I can hardly suppose it is anything else. Perhaps," she added laughingly, "I have some interest in the young lady who is, I suspect, the cause of your coming home

now?"

"You could not have guessed better, my dear Mrs. Hamer it is even so. : The young lady,' who has hitherto, perhaps, been only an imaginary person to you has a claim upon your affection equal to that of my young friend here." And William laid his hand on Frank's shoulder.

Mrs. Hamer regarded him stedfastly for a moment; then, as a quivering ray of hope flashed through her mind, she turned deadly pale, and said, almost in a whisper :

"Has some miracle been wrought to keep my child from death? Can such joy as that be in store for

me ?"

She gazed in William's face as though life itself depended on his answer.

"Have you any means of verifying your daughter's identity?" William asked, deeply agitated.

"Thank heaven, I have. I cannot well be deceived. But, dearest friend, tell me all; let me know what reason there is to hope that my lost darling is restored to

me.

I can bear it ;-yes, even the excessive joy the certainty will bring." But even as she spoke, she sank back in her chair, overpowered by the violence of her emotions.

Frank sat speechless, his eyes now fixed upon William, now turned upon his mother in blank amazement. Mary sat next him, and, mechanically taking her hand in his, he waited for his mother's agitation to subside, that William might tell his strange story.

"Go on, William, I ara ready," she said at last, faintly, and still leaning back in her seat, while one hand shaded her eyes.

The facts

I need not follow William in his recital. are already before the reader. Nor will I attempt to describe the feelings with which his auditors listened to his tale. Regarding him even now as, in a great measure, the restorer of her child, Mrs. Hamer looked upon William, in her gratitude, with a feeling amounting to reverence; and implicitly relying on his wisdom, and his conviction of the truth of Robert Turner's story, she scarcely allowed a doubt of the identity of his "Susan" with her own long-lost Laura to darken the sunshine of unexpected happiness that was streaming upon her.

"And now tell me," said William, "on what you place your hope of making sure that this young lady is your own child.”

"The result of an accident that was at the time it