"As we said when we furnished that rusty pork to the army. But, really, wife, what you say is good commonsense; and I guess you'd better run over, after supper, and advice 'em to it. They won't think it intrudin', for they will see you mean well."

"I wish you wouldn't call your dinner your supper, Grizzle. If you live a thousand years you'll never have no style."

"You've got enough for both of us, Malvina."

"Goodness knows, I ought to have, for I try hard enough. But about goin' over. I don't feel as if I was called on to trouble myself after the way they've treated Sam."

"Oh, I don't lay up hard feelings, mother. You can go right along, as far as I'm concerned. Girls will be girls, Malvina. If Miss 'Lizabeth can't take a shine to our boy, that's no reason why we should quarrel with our neighbors. You go right along, and give 'em all the comfort you can."

"Did you give notice about our loss to the police to-day?"

"I did; but they don't think you'll ever see your jewelry again. It's so easy to conceal, and, if the stones are taken out of the settings, you couldn't identify 'em no more'n a ham from a heap on my third floor."

Susie Grizzle was busy with her almonds, but she looked up, with a curious, sharp glance, when her parents spoke about the missing valuables. She colored, fidgeted, opened her mouth to speak, and shut it again.

pantry, "has it ever come into your head that Mr. Dassel, himself, might have took 'em, to help pay his expenses to Europe?

"Griz-z-zle!

"I've been thinkin' about it, all day." "Then you'd better quit thinking about it, unless you want to get yourself took up for a label. You'd be in a pretty fix to get stuck for a label, and get into the Toombs. Oh, dear!" "Libel, my dear."

"Well, label or libel, which you choose; I s'pose it's libel, sure enough. Don't say that out loud again, without good reason. It scares me to think of it! As if we'd been nourishing a snake in our very bosoms, Grizzle, instead ov a live baron."

Grizzle had to smile.

Again Susie glanced up, and Sam, dropping his eyes, whistled softly to himself. He was beginning to see into some things.

"I never nourished him in my bosom, my love."

"Oh, Grizzle, how coarse you be? You ought to set a different example before your children. It's quite likely I only referred to it in a metaphoricative sense; and I'm sure you've always made as much of Baron Dassel as I have. You can't say you wa'n't proud to have a baron in the family; no you can't! I took him on the strength of the Camerons. They're not people to be taken in. If Mr. Dassel wasn't a born gentleman, I'll never believe in a human being again."

"I only hinted at the possibility, my dear. I don't want you to say nothin' about it. I went to Miss Bayles to-day, to ask her if she recollected distinctly that she and Susie put 'em back and locked the drawer. She says she does remember it. She placed the jewels just where they belonged, as ordered." "Of course, papa, it was just as I told you.”

66

"She quite started when I told her about Dassel's eloping with Cameron's daughter; it set her a-thinking of something, I know; and she says she's coming out to-morrow to see you about the

jewelry. I told her she needn't mind -we didn't blame her; but she seemed to want to come. So you may look for her. But say, if you're going over to t'other house, it's time you went."

"I'll take you over, mother,” said Sam, perhaps with a vague longing to do something friendly for Miss Cameron, and with a hope of getting a glimpse of her. "I won't go in; but you can ask her if there's any errands she'd like me to do while her father's away."

Mother and daughter shivered when the servant brought them word, in their chamber, that their neighbor, Mrs. Grizzle, wished to see them. It was so hard to hide their wounded hearts from the world-harder still to allow inquisitive eyes to scan those wounds.

"It might as well be to-night as tomorrow, or next week," spoke Lissa, the first to summon fortitude for the interview. "We cannot always shut ourselves up in this room, mother; and Mrs. Grizzle, if vulgar, is so really kindhearted."

So they went down, and the good lady shook them by the hand, and added a kiss on Lissa's pale cheek.

"I ought to get mad, and shake you, instead of kiss you," she said, with a tact for which no one would have given her credit, "for giving my Sam the mitten. Naughty girl! I'd made out the list for the biggest kind of infair; and I was goin' to get Jones to make a cake seven feet high, with an image of Hymen on top; and you've spoiled it all, and I've no daughter-in-law yet."

"Oh, hope it is for the best, Mrs. Grizzle. All your son will have to do will be to ask some worthier girl than I. He cannot be long in finding one who will treat him as he deserves."

"I'm afraid Sam won't get over it so easy as all that, Miss Lissa. You may not believe it, but I'm afraid he'll have a fit of sickness; he's so cast down. La, I didn't think you was a flirt, my dear! But nobody can tell what these girls will do, Mrs. Cameron; which reminds me to speak of your Milla and our Mr. Dassel. I don't think there was any thing so dreadful in they're runnin' off.

Headstrong, that's all. I allers sus pected Dassel had an iron will,-soft and strong, soft and strong. If I was in your place, I wouldn't make a fuss about it. It's too late, now, to prevent the marriage; and this settin' the police after them don't look well. I should be afeard it would get into the papers. Why don't you jest let on that the wed din' was very private on account of your daughter's health, and they've gone abroad on their bridal-tour? "

Mrs. Cameron breathed easier. When Mrs. Grizzle sent for her she had but little doubt that she had come to accuse Mr. Dassel of taking her diamonds. To find this not so, but that no such suspicion had entered her mind, was a great relief. The view which Mrs. Grizzle took of the affair was the sensible one. It is true, she did not know of Milla's legacy, nor of the construction the family put upon Mr. Dassel's motive in inducing her to leave her home, taking her fortune with her; therefore, she could not understand the depth of their trouble, their terrible anxiety for the happiness of their darling. To her, as to others, it looked like a love-match, and as such would be approved more than condemned. After all, disgrace is one of the most frightful misfortunes which can befall a family; and if Louis were, indeed, innocent of any indictable wrong, even if selfish and guilty of duplicity, he might be faithful to Milla; and their old repose might, some time, settle back upon them.

All this drifted through Mrs. Cameron's mind as she listened. She felt truly grateful to her rude but tender-hearted visitor, and did not refuse to talk about the circumstances of the flight, Mrs. Grizzle even laughing at the slyness of Mr. Dassel in making for himself so good an opportunity for eloping. Lissa recalled the meaning look she had noticed interchanged between the lovers when Miss Bulbous first gave the invitation to the soirée; she saw how Milla had made the party an excuse for obtaining her casket of jewels, the absence of which had, no doubt, hitherto been the main obstacle to the final consum

mation of their wishes. It seemed incredible that her sister, whose soul had Deen of such translucent innocence, could act with duplicity. It proved the power of another's influence.

Mrs. Grizzle, perhaps better than one who had more delicacy in approaching the subject, proved herself quite a comforter. Mrs. Cameron determined to take her advice, and say nothing of the marriage having been a secret one; though it would be difficult to prevent rumors, as Miss Bulbous, at least, must be suspicious of the true state of the case. As to their other harrowing fears, those must be borne in silence.

The next day Mr. Cameron returned home, worn and weary, without any tidings whatever of the fugitives. It seemed strange that a party, so likely to attract attention, could not be traced. Dassel, always of very marked and distinguished personal appearance; his wife, with her long, fair curls and slight deformity; and Sabrina, her tall and dignified colored attendant, made up a group not to be overlooked. Yet, the only trace obtained of them was, that they took the half-past nine express into the city, and entered a carriage at the Thirty-second Street station.

His wife was more cheerful than he had hoped to find her. "She has gone," she said, “and we must be as happy as we can without her. I will pray to my heavenly Father, night and day, for her welfare. Perhaps He will be more merciful to her than she has been to herself. We must not shut out the sunshine from our home, because our poor lily has gone from it."

He kissed his wife with an ineffable relief at finding her thus brave.

Yet, how much easier it proved to make a resolution than to keep it! As the days rolled on, every nook and corner of her home was so haunted by that sweet presence which had vanished, that a ghost scemed ever at the mother's side. Suspense, that worst of corroding mental poisons, ate into her hope and patience, until, at times, she cried out, in the solitude of her chamber, “If she were dead, I should be less unhappy!"

Yet she hardly expected a letter until time should elapse sufficient to permit a missive to return from across the ocean, All the family had made up their minds that Mr. and Mrs. Dassel had fled to Europe. Still, the mail was never brought in that Mr. Cameron did not involuntarily start, eagerly grasp the package, and run his eyes over it, looking for a letter from them.

He caused the marriage to be published in the papers, answering the surprised inquiries of friends with an assumed gayety.

It was Elizabeth, more than any one, who bore the weight of a terrible and treble anxiety. She expected a letter from Robbie, which she longed and yet dreaded to receive. If the news in that letter should be good, then the shadow would clear away from heart and conscience; if not happy, she could at least be thankful and at peace. If the news should be what she feared, what grief and shame would not descend upon her head? grief and shame which she had resolved to bear alone, until some unhappy chance should make all known to her parents and to the world.

-Meanwhile, what of Abel Bellows, whom such an ill wind had blown into the Tombs? The poor artist was thinking of him when she fell into such a reverie, after Grizzle's communication of Mr. Dassel's disappearance. The two men were, somehow, so associated in her mind, that one could not be mentioned without summoning the image of the other, which was owing to the keen interest she took in Abel's affairs and the fact that Mr. Dassel had been his

accuser.

"So, that is the gate of escape which he has left open," she murmured to herself, after Grizzle had left her. "I must stop, on my way home, and inform Abel of the good news. His deliverance is nearer at hand than he thinks."

And as she paused, at sunset, in the dreary shadow of the Tombs, she knew that she would have occasion for but few more visits. Her message left the prisoner playing with a sunbeam which

stole through the bars; and when she reached the tenement-house and went up the stairs with her light, quick step, she brought the sunbeam of a most joyful smile into the wo-begone presence of Mrs. Bellows. She boarded, now, with that lugubrious woman, preferring this to taking her meals out or to cooking them for herself. It was pleasant to reflect that her board-bill was the means of filling all these hungry child-mouths with good, wholesome food, of keeping the coal crackling and the kettle singing. She had stoutly proved her friendship in these trying days. That dreadful note of a hundred dollars she had paid off, leaving the furniture of the little household free; she had squared the rent-account also; no danger of the children being turned out in the cold; their bed was their own, and their roof was paid for, for the present; likewise the feelings and pride of the mother were saved, in that her marriage-portion was not taken from her. It would not have been possible for Miss Bayles to have done all this, had not her good fairy brought her that bewildering piece of good fortune, the portraits of the Grizzle family. When she had first counted the crisp, handsome greenbacks, to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars, she had seen them transformed, in her mind's eye, into a black silk dress for Sundays, a set of furs to keep out the winter-wind on her early morning and late twilight journeys; with a reserve still left for wetweather days. But another call had been made for her precious treasure, and she had not been deaf to that call. A merino had taken the place of the silk, and the furs were dispensed with altogether; but there was so much warmth in the young artist's heart, that she scarcely seemed to miss them.

Now, as she came into the warm room, which held an appetizing odor of roasted potatoes and broiled steak, her dark eyes laughed and her cheeks had bright red roses in them. Bayles was growing actually pretty. She had been too pale and too sad; but her expression had changed; she had

Miss

come back to what she had a right të be-a handsome and lively young wo

man.

"I thought you'd lighted the other lamp," said Mrs. Bellows, looking about her; "but I guess its only your eyes, after all. I don't see how you can come home in such spirits, after a hard day's work. I should think you'd be tuckered out."

"Not I! I'm tired, I don't deny that. But, somehow, the world is bright, and I can't help feeling happy. How have you flourished to-day, Mrs. Bellows?"

"Oh, don't ask me. I s'pose I might have had some peace of mind and body to-day, knowin' them debts was paid, for which I'm sure I shall be grateful to my dyin' day,--with a good fire, and something to eat. But that tooth's been troublin' me ag'in. And some of the boys hooted at Matthew on the street,-and I've been kind of downhearted, to tell the truth. There ain't much but trouble in this world, Miss Bayles."

"Your temperament is not so sanguine as mine," responded the young lady, "and for that you are not to blame. Toddle, you little sinner, come here, and see what I have for you!"

The next moment Toddle was in her lap, eating an apple, while she "trotted him to Boston," to the tune of

"There's a better time coming, boys,
Wait a little longer!"

In fact, Miss Bayles fairly bubbled over with good spirits, despite the fact that work was limited, and she had been given the morrow for a holiday. She needed the day very much, as she had two important visits to make, one of which, as we know, was to Rose Villa, which would take considerable time.

How true it is that when one end of the balance goes up the other must go down! Here was this tender-hearted woman about to bring great distress and misery upon one innocent family; but that family was unknown to her, and scarcely entered into her thoughts, while she knew, to a certainty, that she

was about to relieve another innocent family of great distress and misery.

As soon as breakfast was over the next morning, Miss Bayles set out on her expedition to Rose Villa, arriving there at about ten o'clock.

66 Oh, is it you?" said Sam, who had heard her ring and peeped out of his mother's sitting-room, to see who it was. "Why, how you have fleshed-up this fall! You look more as you used to, down on Greenwich-street."

The young artist blushed, which still more improved her looks. She did not tell Sam that he had improved equally in losing flesh and color; but she thought it, and as she followed him down the hall, she watched his not unhandsome figure, with an interest of which he did not dream.

"Here's Miss Bayles, ma, bright as a pink."

"I declare, you do look good this frosty mornin'. Take off your bunnit and cloak, and set down on this sofy, 'side of me. You know Sam's got the mitten again; you give it to him, a good while ago, and now Miss Cameron's give it again, so he's one for each hand now. I don't see what I'm to do for a daughter-in-law. Most women that don't want 'em has more than suits their taste."

The girl cast a look about the room, warmed to a summer-warmth; bright with velvet carpets, pictures, large windows; luxurious with easy-chairs, and flossy mats, into which her slender feet might sink until hidden; cast a look into the dimpled, motherly face beside her; and a shy, swift look at the young man standing in the arch of the baywindow. It all looked pleasant in contrast with the tenement-house. She was weary with the battle which a solitary woman ever must fight, who is poor, and must provide for her own wants, against the frowns, the jeers, the competition of strong men. She had that affection for Mrs. Grizzle which springs from long association; she was blest with memories of her dear father, and those days of happiness when he was alive; her deficiencies of education and

refinement appeared to the artist more like faults and less like crimes than ever before. The young girl had cast away all this comfort and friendship for a path of thorns and a loveless life. Perhaps she had been too particular? However that might be, it was too late tc rescind her resolutions. Sam Grizzle looked higher now; and she sighed.

"What's that for, my dear? You looked so happy when you come in, 1 didn't believe you could get up a sigh. should say it weighed about four pound, by the way you riz it.”

I

Mrs. Grizzle was good at guessing weights, for she had handled the scales and measures a great deal, in days gone by.

"It was walking up the hill from the station, I think; it makes me draw a long breath. But about your jewels, Mrs. Grizzle. I could not rest until I came to see if I was exonerated from any carelessness."

"Was the drawer locked?"

"Yes; and whoever took 'em unlocked it, and locked it up again, with a key of their own. There's one comfort, Miss Bayles-you've got 'em all right in the portrait, for I don't expect Grizzle will buy me any more right away. He thinks it too much money to run so much risk a-keepin'."

"Mr. Dassel has gone off, without notice?"

"Yes, he and Milla Cameron made a runaway love-match of it."

"Poor child!" said Miss Bayles, softly. "It was the deformed one?" "Yes; and a sweet, pretty creature she was."

"She was, indeed! I have seen her several times, you remember, at this house. I never saw another face of such peculiar, soft, child-like beauty. It's a terrible pity that she has intrusted her fate to Mr. Dassel. To tell you the truth, I have no confidence in him.