at our leisure.

Once over the river, we sat down on the trunk of an ancient tree, long since converted into a fine slab of "brown front," and I gave up a late search for fossils in the far dearer chance. of penetrating a live heart, and listening to a love story whose tides swept round the globe. Thank God for the living power which now and then bursts through conventional fetters, melts strange hearts into one, and gives to those grown cold in disappointment and isolation a passing glimpse at least of the great central fires of Life and Motion ! Just as my eyes overflowed and my heart softened, a little ragged child, with fagots in her arms, came along the sandy track of the brown quarry, and, lifting her great shy eyes to the elegant dress of my companion, stopped short and said softly, "How pretty!"

"Yes, indeed," I responded, and was going to bring the child, that she might touch the soft velvet, and see the shimmer of the lustrous silvery silk, when I caught sight of Mrs. Burton, Mrs. Munson, and Miss Roberts hurrying in troubled agitation towards the town. It was quite clear that the strength of threescore and ten had been overtaxed by the effort to keep up with younger explorers ; and so I hurried towards the hotel also, advising Mrs. Munson to rest until the very moment of

return.

I meant to keep her in sight, for I was less a

stranger than any of her party; but other matters occupied me, and I saw her only when she started, a long hour too soon for the depot, in the hope that a slow walk would prevent utter exhaustion.

As for our party, starting later, we were invited to rest in Professor Gardiner's fine old house, where we were all needlessly startled by the whistle of an approaching freight train, and finally stood in the darkness on the platform a full hour.

In the midst of this, when no one could see another's face, I heard the weary voice of Mrs. Munson, and succeeded in piloting her to the little ticket-office, so crowded that nothing less than her white face and fainting body could have secured a seat. Her party had lost its way, had doubled or trebled its distance, and reached the point of departure long after the rest of us.

I left her there with her friends and a glass of water, and returned to the outer air.

Of the horrors of that hour of waiting, when three hundred people stood crowded together on the narrow plank, I need say nothing to any one who has ever arrived at Middletown by night. When the train came rushing up, the reason of the delay was apparent.

It was freighted with a large excursion party of a ruder kind, from a more remote point, and into the cracks of its huddled hundreds the already "molten metal" of our party was to be poured!

Naturally enough, those of us who had our wits about us crowded towards the car.

Suddenly, a strong voice made itself heard. "Gentlemen, stand back! Don't you see there are no seats for you? Let the ladies come first;" and the diminished pressure made it certain that a strong arm seconded the strong voice, that the crowd sifted under it, the women passing on, the men kept back. While I waited below, the voice of Mrs. Burton rang back from the platform like a bell.

"Oh, sir! protect my friend! She is old and very tired. They will hurt her, if they press on her;" and then I felt rather than saw in the dim air, how the man who had been speaking put his cane between his legs, both hands behind the shoulders of poor Mrs. Munson, and gave her a steady lift upwards. This done, we both followed her. Mrs. Munson passed into the third seat from the door, and began to rearrange her disordered dress. I stood near.

The man, sheltered by the obscurity, found an odd seat near the door by a lady whose expressive tones soon indicated Miss Roberts. With her he kept up some geological discussion, which so interested Mrs. Munson, that, leaning backward, she said to a gentleman who sat opposite,

ee Will you change seats with me, sir? I should like to hear what my friend is saying."

The change was made in a moment.

There was

a rustle, a cough, and then I heard Miss Roberts say,

"But I must introduce you to my friend;" and then it appeared, that, in strict conformity to her frank Western habit, Miss Roberts did not know the name of the gentleman to whom she was talking.

She turned, "Will you give me your name, sir, if you please?"

I cannot tell why at that moment there was such utter silence in the car. The coarse factory folk we had fallen among could have had no sympathy with what was coming; but I heard the answer clearly,

"William Wharton!"

Mrs. Munson sprang to her feet. "What? what did you say? William ?" she gasped out, and, rising also, he answered in the same excited tones,

"Yes, William, William Wharton."

Still the same breathless silence, but an unsavory crowd pressing closer and closer toward our

corner.

"And do you know who I am?" Mrs. Munson cried; and, as they stood opposite, she fell upon his bosom, and the stalwart form of my "unknown" came into the shifting light, his white beard mingled with her black laces, and his strong arms held her fast.

For a moment the whole car was in confusion.

Nothing could be heard. Mrs. Munson lay ex

hausted and half fainting.

I heard dimly the

ee

words "my sister," and then Mrs. Burton's voice. Who are you? Who are you Who are you?" every word accompanied by a rapid and violent attempt to shake the strong arms loose.

"You are insulting my friend, sir. Let her go. She has no brother."

But she might as well have assaulted the strong shaft on Bunker Hill. The closely folded arms did not relax, the deaf ear did not hear till the storm of emotion had passed, and the two old people sank into their seats.

Only dimly did anybody understand.

"She has found somebody," said a man in the crowd, and raised a stunning "three times three;" but the parties themselves neither cared nor heard. Memory had gone backward to the days when the little girl sipped her milk from the boy's porringer, toasted apples before the dripping brands, held the shagbarks to the Christmas blaze, or shyly mended the well-worn socks which the tired feet threw off after a hot summer tramp to the old farm.

I had

Now both stood alone at the end of life. Mrs. Munson had found "somebody," but whom? found my unknown, whence came he? night I answered neither question.

That