in the right place, as we country people say
and no one could be near him long without
learning to love him.

A quiet war went on for some time between
my father and him. Neither of them would
yield; but Neville at length settled the question
by running away, and entering himself
as cabin boy on board a ship sailing from
Liverpool for Antigua. We received a letter
from him, dated the day the vessel was to
sail, informing us of what he had done. I
think my father now regretted that he had
not yielded in time, and obtained for Neville
a more creditable position to start from.

There were only Helen and I now left at
home; she assisting my mother in domestic
matters, and I, as I grew up, gradually
assuming the position of assistant to my father
in the school.

And so some years glided quietly away.
Philip and Ruth came over every Christmas
and midsummer, and Neville also, for a few
weeks, at the conclusion of each voyage. The
latter expressed himself perfectly satisfied
with the career he had chosen; and said that
in a few years he should be made captain,
and that his ambition would then be
satisfied.

The friendship between Doctor Graile's
household and ours seemed only to ripen
with time. It is true that Mrs. Graile was
too cold and reserved to win anything
warmer than distant regard from the most
impulsive of individuals; but what was
deficient in her was amply atoned for by the
doctor. My father and he seemed necessary
to each other's happiness. In winter they
played at chess together; in summer they
opposed each other on the bowling-green;
and few evenings in the year were passed by
them apart. And there was fair Olive, who
was the golden link between the two houses,
—a wayward little beauty, with long, flaxen
ringlets, and the merriest laugh in the world .
Very accomplished, too, she was generally
considered to be; for she had passed some
years at an eminent boarding-school. And
then her taste in dress was so good! A
flower, a ribbon, a bit of lace that no one else
would care about, became, in her plastic
fingers, a thing of beauty, and added another
charm where none seemed wanting  before.
I believe everybody loved her and admired
her, she was so fresh and fair—except,
perhaps, ancient Miss Grooby, who lived near
the toll-bar, and who was heard to declare,
on one occasion, that Miss Olive's beauty was
all outside, and that she was nothing more
than a little cold-hearted, empty-headed flirt.

"A spiteful old thing!" said Olive, when
they told her." Everybody knows that she
never had any beauty, either of heart or face."

CHAPTER THE FOURTH.

IT was a proud day for all of us when
Philip obtained his diploma. My father left
his breakfast half-finished, the morning he
received the news; and hurried off to Doctor
Graile's to communicate the joyful intelligence,
carrying the open letter in his hand.
A friend of my father, an eminent London
surgeon, offered to take Philip as an assistant,
till an eligible opening could be found
for him to commence practice on his own
account; so my cousin came down to spend a
few weeks with us, before going to his new
home. It was some time since we had seen
him last, and he seemed to have grown
suddenly into a man.  We were all proud of him,
my mother especially so; and on Sunday
when we went to church, she quitted my
father's side, and walked down the aisle leaning
on Philip's arm, her dear face beaming
with love and pride; but when the minister
prayed for those who travel by land and
by water, there came a moisture into her
eyes, and we knew that she was thinking of
Neville.

It was during this visit of Philip that I
first suspected that the intimacy between
him and Olive Graile was becoming one of
a tenderer nature than mere friendship would
warrant. It was not anything which Philip
said that led me to think so, for he was not
a person to talk about such things, even to
those most intimate with him; but being
about this time possessed by a mania for
spinning verses, and seeking my inspiration
in solitude, I, several times during my evening
rambles, met Philip and Olive walking
arm in arm through the meadows by the
river side. Besides which, the rogue spent
half his time at Doctor Graile's, under
pretence of keeping up his knowledge, and
obtaining information which would be
useful to him in his profession. I dare say
my father took it all for granted, and never
suspected anything beyond what was implied
by Philip's words; but whether or not my
mother and Helen knew of his growing
attachment, I cannot say. If they were aware
of it, they never mentioned it; and as
Philip did not speak of it, I kept my counsel,
and was silent like the rest. Once or twice
I was on the point of questioning Philip, for
I had all a boy's curiosity on the subject;
but then you see he was not a person to be
questioned with impunity. He had a quiet,
haughty way of putting down the slightest
impertinence—a word and a look merely, but
far more effective than the noisiest
demonstrations of others. Then again, he was a man,
while I was still a mere boy, imbued with such
a boyish admiration of him, that I determined,
when I should become a man, to imitate my
cousin as much as possible: and, indeed, I made
a beginning at once by training my hair, with
much painful labour, to follow the fashion of
his, and by tying my cravat in the same way
that his was tied. Whenever I thought
about Philip's love affairs, which, after his
departure, was not often, for I was busy
about that time writing an epic poem in