M. or N. Similia similibus curantur.""

fit to show the rest of his person to voyagers on the river. Dick would then have recognised an old college friend, would have landed to greet him w

r weak and thin, his manner diffident, awkward, almost ungainly, but that its thorough courtesy and good-nature were so obvious and unaffected. In general society people passed him over as a shy, harmless, unmeaning little man; but those who really knew h

man, and Dick a "fast" one, had been still more firmly soldered by a long vacation spent together in Norway, and a "thrilling tableau," as Dick called it, to which their e

lly engrossed by the sketch of a mountain, Dick Stanmore equally absorbed in fishing a pool. Scarce twenty yards apart, neither was conscious, for the moment, of the other's existence; Simon, indeed, being in spirit some seven thousand fee

struggling for dear life in the pool. Stanmore could swim, of course, but it takes a good swimmer to hold his own in fisherman's boots, encumbered, moreover, with sundry paraphernalia of his art. Simon was a very mild performer in the water, but he had coolness, presence of mind, and inflexible tenacity of purpose. To these qualities the friends owed it that they ever reached the shore a

ntercourse. How many intimacies, how many attachments outlast a twelvemonth's break? There are certain things people go on caring for, but I fear they are more intimately connected with self in daily life than either

that lived. When he left Oxford, he devoted himself to the profession of painting with such success as rendered

xertion from its votaries. The ideal to which he strains can never be reached, for his very successes keep buil

elms, not entirely averting his looks from that graceful girl, who ran into the house to the oarsman's discomfiture, and missing her more than might

pping short in the act of dusting a china tea-cup, with a very clean cambric handkerchief, she observed, in a faltering voice, "Simon, dear, I feel so nervous I know I shall never get through with it. Where's your Aunt Jemima?" Even while she spoke there appeared at

mbly Miss Jemima Perkins assumed the lead. Both commands being promptly obeyed, she pu

all the same. I've no secrets from either of you; but as the head of the family I don't mean to shirk responsibility, and my opinion is,

ven hair, that popped saucily

o a day-dream. Was he thinking what a picture it would make, o

ated, "my opinion

antly, "what do you mean,

Mr. Algernon used to come here twice every quarter, usedn't he? Never missed the day, did he?

nah s

hs since we've had a scrap of his handwriting. Is that girl to remain here, dependent on the bounty of a struggling artist and two old maids? My opini

ually leading to the inevitable catastrophe, broke down altogether, wh

ter, gulping sadly at her syllables: "you know you did

gathered an expression of resolve, through wh

her spectacles. Resuming her dignit

take charge of the child twenty years ago--and a sweet pretty babe she was--I perfectly understood there must be a mystery connected with her birth. As head of the family, I imparted my suspicions to neither of you, and I kept my conjectures and my disapproval to myself. This seemed only fair to my correspondent, only fair to the child. When I learned Mr. Bruce's death, it came upon me like a shot, that he was the Mr. Algernon who used to visit

ereat her sister glared austerely, and resu

friendless so long as we are all above ground. I am perfectly willing to--

her dress, looking rou

annah, leave off crying this minute, and tell us wha

t a position described by her sister as "embarrassing" was quite beyond her powers, and she could only repeat feebly, "I'll give her half my m

audible whisper, she had "more than half a mind to send th

It seems to me there is no question of feeling or sentiment or prejudice in the matter. It is

it hard, and flattened his nose with a grim kiss.

to our feelings, Susannah, we are sure to be injudicious, sometimes even unjust. But duty is a never-failing guide, and--O! my dears, to part with that darling would be to take the very heart out of my breast; and, Simon, I'm so glad you agree with me;

from a sense of dignity, would drop on the half-worn house-linen, and that in the solitude of her storeroom she would

ephew a very tearful embrace, she sobbed out incoherent congrat

make no sort of difference in our treatment of her, of course, but we must take great care not to let anything betray

n was so transparent that Si

such a model for my Fairy Queen, I should like to know? It ought to be a great picture--a great picture, Aunt Susannah, if I can only work it out. And where should I be if she left me in the lurch? No--no; we won't forget the bundle of sticks. I'll to the maul-stick, and you and Aunt Jemima shall be as cross as two sticks; and as for Nina, with her bright eyes, and her pleasan

graceful beauty, Simon Perkins felt, not for the first time, that if she were to leave the cottage, she would carry away with her all that made it a dear and h

y raven hair; but Mr. Bruce's elder and unacknowledged daughter had this advantage over the younger, that about her there was a sweetness, a freshness, a quiet gaiety, and a bonhomie such as spring only from kindliness of disposition and pure unselfishness of heart. Had she been an ugly girl, though she might ha