almost say, for this——Poor Walter, poor
Walter, what would he do! All his whole
life was bound up in her, in her his every
thought centred. How would he—wait
though! She was not so sure of what she
was saying! Who was this Lady Caroline
Somebody, of whom he wrote so
strongly? Two or three times he had
mentioned her in his letters. Marian recollected
having smiled at Walter's first description
of this great lady, who, though he tried to
disguise it, had evidently been struck with
him; but now she seized on the idea with
quite a different object in view. Suppose
she should carry out what she had in her
mind, it would be expedient for her to show
to the world, to such portion of the world
as chose to be inquisitive or indignant about
her proceedings, that all shame, so far as
breaking off the original engagement was
concerned, did not rest with her, that
Walter himself had not kept faith with——
She broke off the thread of her thought
abruptly, she could not battle with herself,
she knew how vain and ridiculous the
accusation would be, how the object of it
would shake it from him with scorn; but it
had a certain semblance of truth and
likelihood, and it would do to bring forward, in
case any such defence were ever needed.

"Well, missy," said Mr. Creswell, looking
up from the papers on which he was
engaged, "you see I've been compelled to
send for my assistant; I couldn't get on
without her."

"Your assistant is only too glad to come
when she finds she can be of use to you,
sir. Has the pass-book come from the
bank, and did you get those returns you
asked for from the Wharfdale Company?"

"What a memory you have, child! I
declare I had forgotten what had stopped
our work the other morning. I remembered
only that you would have gone on
until you dropped, but for want of material.
Yes, they are both here."

"I see! and the totals both approximate
to the sums you mentioned. There will
be no difficulty now in preparing the rough
balance-sheet. Shall I begin that at
once?"

"No, no, missy! that is too large an
undertaking for you. I'll have that done
down at the oflice. I'm only too thankful
to you for the assistance you've rendered
me in getting the items into order, and in
checking matters which I could not
possibly have submitted to an uninterested
person, and which I'm—well, I'm afraid I
must say it—too old to go into myself!"

"Since you praise me, I have a right to
claim a reward, and I demand to be allowed
to carry out my work to the end. I
shall be proud of it, proud to think that,
when next these accounts are gone through,
you will be able to look at mine, and
see that they do no discredit to your book-
keeping pupil."

There was a slight change in Mr. Creswell's
voice as he said, "My child, I don't
suppose this task will occur again in my
lifetime. It would have stood over well
until my poor boy came of age, had it
pleased God to spare him. I have only
done it now from a renewal of the old
stocktaking habit, a desire to see how my
worldly affairs stood before——" But the
voice broke, and the sentence was left
unfinished.

"But surely, sir, it must be a source of
pride, and of pleasure too, to you, being, as
you have often pointed out to me, the
architect of your own fortunes, to have this
convincing proof of their stability, and your
success?"

"Success! my dear child! pride! pleasure!
Ah, missy, a man must have lived
but a small life, if towards the end of it, he
looks for pride and pleasure in the amount
of his balance at his bankers, or for his.
success in having heaped up more money
than his fellows!"

"No! not in that entirely, of course!
but in having carried out the main idea of
his life and——"

"The main idea of my life! that was in
existence but a very little while, missy!
The main idea of my life was to make my
poor Bessy a good husband, and afterwards
—when the boy was born—to leave him a
good and honoured name. Both those hopes
are extinguished now, Marian. The first
went years ago, the last—you know when.
And this," pointing with his pen to the
bank book in front of him—"this has no
power to fill their place."

Both were silent for some minutes, then
Marian said, "You have shown me how
silly I was to speak as I spoke just now."

"My child, you spoke as a child. As one
who has never known—who, please God,
never will know, the vanity of such
resources as those in time of trouble."

"I spoke as one who has known sorrow,
Mr. Creswell, but who also has known, and
who never can too gratefully acknowledge,
the kindness of friends who were willing
and able to help her. I think, I am sure,
it will be a source of satisfaction to you to
remember that your position enabled you