They were engaged, and all seemed fair before them; and Ralph even ventured to hint one day from intelligence which he declared he had received but a few hours before, that perhaps after all Lucy would have her money. He did this advisedly, for he knew it was very likely that the news would reach her in a day or two from another quarter. Sorrow was coming, however, as it generally does, from an unexpected source. The "aching" of her eyes, of which Lucy had complained as the result of excessive application to her needle, became more distressing, and on medical advice being obtained, the most alarming symptoms were discovered. With all the horrors of threatened blindness before her, Lucy was confined for several weeks to a darkened room; and months must elapse before there was any hope that under the most favorable circumstances she could apply herself to her ordinary occupation. During this time Jasper became a junior partner in the establishment to which he had belonged, and through his mother, his increased income contributed to the comforts and medical attendance of the poor sufferer. How could the poor destitute orphan refuse help from him who only asked to be called "her brother?" She did not refuse it, nay, she felt that she would rather be assisted by him than by her betrothed. How strange are the intricacies of human feeling!

During these months of suffering, the affairs of the bankrupt trustee had been thrown into chancery, and there was little hope now of a settlement of them for years. Poor Lucy little could she have thought that the day would come, and that soon, in which the loss of her money, months of suffering, partial blindness, and personal disfigurement, would appear to her like so many "blessings in disguise" that had combined to save her from a gulf of misery and ruin.

When the cure, so far as it could be effected, was complete, a white film still remained to mar the beauty and obscure the vision of one of those deep blue eyes, which had seemed like stars of light and love to poor Jasper Lawson. Moreover the oculists declared that the preservation of the other eye depended on the most careful abstaining from anything like straining the visual organs.

Only a few days had elapsed since this fiat went forth, and but once had Ralph Ashton seen Lucy since the bandages were removed, when she received a letter from him, dictated by that one virtue, which those who possess no other are ever ready to put prominently forward- Prudence. It pointed out some facts, which she really must have known before, and among them the great change in their future prospects her affliction had made; hinted very intelligibly at

the wisdom of a separation, and concluded by mentioning that unless she desired to see him he should refrain from calling again, and signing himself "ever her sincere friend!"

Lucy Freeling was for a while stunned by the blow; but though her young and susceptible heart had been caught and led astray, it was of a nature too fine to be broken by a mockeryfalsehood.

a

"Do not tell me not to weep," she exclaimed, a few days afterwards, as she sat between Mrs. Lawson and her son, with a hand in one of each; "I know you would comfort me as dearest mother and brother might. But do not tell me not to weep. It cannot be that man whom I have loved; and with these foolish tears there seems to pass away some dream, some folly—better this better this a thousand times than to have been his wife. I feel it so. Believe it. I do indeed." A sharp irrepressible cry escaped Jasper Lawson, and both his mother and Lucy turned towards him. One look was exchanged, and throwing himself passionately beside her, he twined his arm round her waist, and pressed her to his heart with an impulse that would not be stayed.

66

Lucy," he exclaimed, "there is one whose heart has been filled with thoughts of you for years; to whom you are the same in sickness

and in health; rich, or in poverty; with beauty perfect, or with beauty blemished; his heart does not feel the difference - it is yourself he loves, no conjured image of a youthful fancy. Mother, mother, did I not tell you this when hope was dead within me?"

Is there much wonder that Lucy's heart, released from the sway of a phantom love, clung now and forever to the Tried and the True?

FIRESIDE AFFECTIONS.

BY MARY LEMAN GILLIES.

THE man who sits down in a virtuous home, however humble, in which his own industry enables him to breathe the atmosphere of independence, and his wife's management to enjoy cleanliness and comfort, has a vast scope for the creation of happiness. The minds of his children, of his wife, his own mind, are so many microcosms, which only ask to be inquired into and developed, to reveal hoards of wealth, which may be coined into current enjoyment. We are ever too little sensible of the good immediately within our grasp; too ready to cavil at difficulties and to declare them impossibilities. A great man once said there were no such things, and as all proverbs have their foundation in practical truth, this idea may receive confirmation from the common phrase -"Where there is a will there is a way." It is certain that the difference between what zeal and energy will accomplish with small means, compared with what power, ill applied or feebly applied, will long leave unachieved, is most astounding. Few are those who have not to reproach themselves with su