Jessie Graham

grateful shade of the majestic elms, others wending their way to the hotel, while others still are hastening to the Center Church to h

se presence he had hoped to catch his inspiration. But he looked in vain. Two figures alone met his view,-one a bent and gray-haired old man leaning on his

n, who had come many miles to hear the speech his boy was to make. In the looks of the latter there was that which kindled a thrill of enthusiasm in Walter's frame, and when at last he opened his lips, and the tide of eloquence burst forth, the audience hung upon his words

before Walter could reply he saw approaching them the stranger who had so leisurely inspected

ate you upon having be

r that his visitor was William Bellenger,

s mental rejoinder, as he saw the wondrous amount of hair his cousin had b

l, and was soon conversing familiarly with Walter of the different people they both knew, mentioning incidentally Mr. Graham, the wealthy New York banker, whom he had met in Europe, for Mr. Graham had remained abroad six years. From him William had heard the warmest eulogies of Walter Marshall, and there had been kindled in his bosom a

he house was shut up and the family were in the country, the servant said, who answered William's ring, but the sharp eyes of

here. Carry her my card a

ned that Jessie was in Deerwood, and would probably attend the commencement exercises at Yale, as a boy of some kind, whom Mr. Graham had taken up, was to be graduated at that time. To New Haven, then, he went, examining the books at every hotel, and scanning the faces of those he

s daughter Jessie is in

was in Europe, except when she was away at school," and Walter felt his pulses quicken, for he remem

essie had lived at Deerwood, but he s

t in you," and the eyes, not wholly unlike Walter's, save that they had in them

my grandfather says that Ellen was not abl

nds," returned William, and the slight sneer whic

love her as a sister, for such she has been to me, while M

errupted William, who had from the first suspected as muc

oning it abroad that a stranger's money had made him what he was. Deacon Marshall, on the co

ation, and an old man's blessing on h

ilious bow, which brought the hot blood to Walter's cheek. "D

here he married his wife, and as I promised to go with him in cas

r brightened, and Walter felt a strong

on seeing Miss Graham, and shall, accordingly, go to Deerwood. She will need a gallant in you

n he felt for him. Ay, more, for he read, too, or thought he did, that the beautiful Jessie Graham, whose father was worth a million, had a warm plac

ked, and taking his extended hand, Walter

l her myself all

her bow, and stroking the little for

e's got to cross my path or yourn, mebby both," and the deacon resumed his post by the window, watching the passers-by, while Walter hurriedly paced the floor with a vague, un

ood, and the long afternoons when Ellen would be too languid to go out, and William and Jessie free to go alone, he longed for his grandfather to give up his favorite project and go back with him to Deerwood. But when he saw how the old man was set upon the visit, wondering if he should know