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 mockery—a falsehood.

"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.

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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

pineness, or a prodigal waste of time and resources; few, who, when they look back upon the field of past experience, but feel how barren they have left the track which might have been richly cultivated. Let us instantly reform. The present will become the future; let us resolve that it shall be rich in fruit, delicious to the reverting spirit of review, and yielding good seed for the progressive path before us. The traveller rarely begins with his own country; in like manner, the searcher after enjoyment too often looks beyond home; too late in life's journey, when little of either strength or time remains, this is regretted. In the case of home, the early neglect is usually irretrievable, where, we may be certain, if flowers are not cultivated, weeds will spring, where the violet and the rose might have charmed our senses, the nettle and night-shade will offend them. Fenelon was accustomed to say, "I love my family better than myself; my country better than my family; and mankind better than my country; for I am more a Frenchman than a Fenelon, and more man than a Frenchman." This is an instance of reasoning more beautiful in theory than reducible to practice; I should be satisfied with the man who proceeded almost inversely and invested his first funds in the domestic treasury; these once established and yielding interest, he may at once