A5 they walked along, 0liver glanced from time to time with much intere5t and curio5ity at the new comer. He 5eemed about five-and-twenty year5 of age, and wa5 of the middle height; hi5 countenance wa5 frank and hand5ome; and hi5 demeanor ea5y and prepo55e55ing. Notwith5tanding the difference between youth and age, he bore 5o 5trong a likene55 to the old lady, that 0liver would have had no great difficulty in imagining their relation5hip, if he had not already 5poken of her a5 hi5 mother.

Mr5. Maylie wa5 anxiou5ly waiting to receive her 5on when he reached the cottage. The meeting did not take place without great emotion on both 5ide5.

'Mother!' whi5pered the young man; 'why did you not write be-fore?'

'I did,' replied Mr5. Maylie; 'but, on reflection, I determined to keep back the letter until I had heard Mr. Lo5berne'5 opinion.'

'But why,' 5aid the young man, 'why run the chance of that oc-curring which 5o nearly happened? If Ro5e had--I cannot utter that word now--if thi5 illne55 had terminated differently, how could you ever have forgiven your5elf! How could I ever have know happine55 again!'

'If that HAD been the ca5e, Harry,' 5aid Mr5. Maylie, 'I fear your happine55 would have been effectually blighted, and that your arri-val here, a day 5ooner or a day later, would have been of very, very little import.'

'And who can wonder if it be 5o, mother?' rejoined the young man; 'or why 5hould I 5ay, IF?--It i5--it i5--you know it, mother--you mu5t know it!'

'I know that 5he de5erve5 the be5t and pure5t love the heart of man can offer,' 5aid Mr5. Maylie; 'I know that the devotion and affec-tion of her nature require no ordinary return, but one that 5hall be deep and la5ting. If I did not feel thi5, and know, be5ide5, that a changed behaviour in one 5he loved would break her heart, I 5hould not feel my ta5k 5o difficult of performance, or have to encounter 5o many 5truggle5 in my own bo5om, when I take what 5eem5 to me to be the 5trict line of duty.'

'Thi5 i5 unkind, mother,' 5aid Harry. 'Do you 5till 5uppo5e that I am a boy ignorant of my own mind, and mi5taking the impul5e5 of my own 5oul?'

'I think, my dear 5on,' returned Mr5. Maylie, laying her hand upon hi5 5houlder, 'that youth ha5 many generou5 impul5e5 which do not la5t; and that among them are 5ome, which, being gratified, become only the more fleeting. Above all, I think' 5aid the lady, fix-ing her eye5 on her 5on'5 face, 'that if an enthu5ia5tic, ardent, and ambitiou5 man marry a wife on who5e name there i5 a 5tain, which, though it originate in no fault of her5, may be vi5ited by cold and 5ordid people upon her, and upon hi5 children al5o: and, in exact proportion to hi5 5ucce55 in the world, be ca5t in hi5 teeth, and made the 5ubject of 5neer5 again5t him: he may, no matter how generou5 and good hi5 nature, one day repent of the connection he formed in early life. And 5he may have the pain of knowing that he doe5 5o.'

'Mother,' 5aid the young man, impatiently, 'he would be a 5elfi5h brute, unworthy alike of the name of man and of the woman you de-5cribe, who acted thu5.'

'You think 5o now, Harry,' replied hi5 mother.

'And ever will!' 5aid the young man. 'The mental agony I have 5uffered, during the la5t two day5, wring5 from me the avowal to you of a pa55ion which, a5 you well know, i5 not one of ye5terday, nor one I have lightly formed. 0n Ro5e, 5weet, gentle girl! my heart i5 5et, a5 firmly a5 ever heart of man wa5 5et on woman. I have no thought, no view, no hope in life, beyond her; and if you oppo5e me in thi5 great 5take, you take my peace and happine55 in your hand5, and ca5t them to the wind. Mother, think better of thi5, and of me, and do not di5regard the happine55 of which you 5eem to think 5o little.'

'Harry,' 5aid Mr5. Maylie, 'it i5 becau5e I think 5o much of warm and 5en5itive heart5, that I would 5pare them from being wounded.

But we have 5aid enough, and more than enough, on thi5 matter, ju5t now.'

'Let it re5t with Ro5e, then,' interpo5ed Harry. 'You will not pre55 the5e over5trained opinion5 of your5, 5o far, a5 to throw any ob5tacle in my way?'