pleasant to reflect that this change was the means of infusing much brightness into his sombretinted life. The drives by the seashore in the little donkey-drawn wagonette were an endless source of delight to him. He liked to see the waves rolling up, and to watch other more favoured children digging in the sands and erecting all sorts of sand-castles and wondrous fortifications, meant to repel the advances of the tide; and when the water did at last surround them, he would clap his tiny hands with glee, and laugh to see how pleased the little builders were, even though their work had all been destroyed. Not one envious thought seemed to have place in his mind. The apparent improvement wrought by change of air and scene turned out to be only temporary, and the inherited corruption ran its full course, so that the poor little chap literally rotted away when not quite eight years of age. His unfailing patience and sweetness were something to be wondered at. A little brother, still younger, had died in the same hospital shortly before, and Frankie always looked forward to joining him. For this dear boy, death had no terrors, and the tiny crucifix-brought to him by the Romanist Sisters, and which always hung round his neckseemed as a veritable anchor of hope, and he would clasp it between his hands when in the worst paroxysms of agony. During little Frankie's illness, a grand event took place in the children's ward, being neither more nor less than a tea-party of their very own, over which the presiding genius was a flaxenhaired damsel of some seven summers. A lady had given her a complete children's tea-service; and the lady superintendent not only arranged for her to have real tea and sugar and milk, but also provided a mild kind of feast in the shape of cakes and jam. Some of the cakes were made in the form of animals, plants, and buildings. Fanny was still confined to bed; but this was no hindrance, as she was able to sit up and pour out the tea, all the paraphernalia being placed on the sliding-board which goes across the children's cribs and serves the purpose of a table to hold toys or food. And very important Miss Fanny looked when she was thus installed in office. Just then, a happy thought struck the lady superintendent. Little Frankie must have some tea sent to him. He was at that time in one of the men's wards, having been placed there for the sake of greater quietness, as his leg had been amputated, and he was too weak to bear the noise of his child companions. He had at first appeared to get well over the shock, and to a certain extent make some progress; but there he stopped, and his condition was such as to cause great anxiety, for there seemed no possibility of rousing him out of the semi-lethargic state in which he had for days been lying. The men were all very kind, and made him quite into a pet, those who were up devoting themselves to his amusement, but all to no purpose; it seemed as if the springs of life were loosened, and that he must die from sheer want of motivepower to keep the vital machinery at work. This tea-party, happily, had the effect of rousing him. The novelty of the performance was amusing; and doubtless he felt himself to be very important when cup after cup of tea was brought, in such wee cups that even his poor wasted hands could hold them. What mattered it that the tea was nearly all milk, with the faintest suspicion of the cheering herb! To him it was as real as the little Marchioness's 'make-believe' lemonade ! Then, too, those wonderful cakes, in all sorts of curious shapes-they were surely quite different from anything he had seen before. The kindly men around took care to keep up his newly aroused interest by little jokes as to his eating a whole church or a big lion; while as for tea, they could only drink one cup apiece, and Frankie had taken eleven! Yes; that tea-party was a great success, and radiant with many-tinted hues reflected from the magic kaleidoscope of youth. But it is time to end these reminiscences. In the bracing moral atmosphere of working-class Lancashire life, there are many lessons well worth the learning; much, too, serving to explain what is, after all, not quite an idle boast: 'What Lancashire thinks to-day, England thinks to-morrow.' These hard-headed north-country people have somehow a knack of getting at the very heart of things; and with this is conjoined a habit of dogged perseverance, which helps to consolidate their theories into firmly established facts. THE QUANDONG'S SECRET. 'STEWARD,' exclaimed the chief-officer of the American barque Decatur, lying just then in Table Bay, into which she had put on her long voyage to Australia, for the purpose of obtaining water and fresh provisions 'the skipper's sent word off that there's two passengers coming on board for Melbourne; so look spry and get those after-berths ready, or I guess the "old man "'ll straighten you up when he does come along.' Soon afterwards, the 'old man' and his passengers put in an appearance in the barque's cutter; the anchor, short since sunrise, was hove up to the cat-heads, topsails sheeted home, and, dipping the 'stars and bars' to the surrounding shipping, the Decatur again, after her brief rest, set forth on her ocean travel. John Leslie and Francis Drury had been perfect strangers to each other all their lives long till within the last few hours; and now, with the frank confidence begotten of youth and health, each knew more of the other, his failures and successes, than perhaps, under ordinary circumstances, he would have learned in a twelvemonth. Both were comparatively young men; Drury, Australian born, a native of Victoria, and one of those roving spirits one meets with sometimes, who seem to have, and care to have, no permanent place on earth's surface, the wandergeist having entered into their very souls, and taken full possession thereof. The kind of man whom we are not surprised at hearing of, to-day, upon the banks of the Fly River; in a few months more in the interior of Tibet; again on the track of Stanley, or with Gordon in Khartoum. So it had been with Francis Drury, ever seeking after fortune in the wild places of the world; in quest, so often in vain, of a phantasmal Eldorado-lured on, ever on, by visions of what the unknown contained. Ghauts wild and rocky had re-echoed the report of his rifle; his footsteps had fallen lightly on the pavements of the ruined cities of Montezuma, sombre and stately as the primeval forest which hid them; and his skiff had cleft the bright Southern rivers that Waterton loved so well to explore, but gone farther than ever the naturalist, adventurous and daring as he too was, had ever been. At length, as he laughingly told his friend, fortune had, on the diamond fields of Klipdrift, smiled upon him, with a measured smile, 'twas true, but still a smile; and now, after an absence of some years, he had taken the opportune chance of a passage in the Decatur, and was off home to see his mother and sister, from whom he had not heard for nearly two years. Leslie was rather a contrast to the other, being as quiet and thoughtful as Drury was full of life and spirits, and had been trying his hand at sheep-farming in Cape Colony, but with rather scanty results; in fact, having sunk most of his original capital, he was now taking with him to Australia very little but his African experience. A strong friendship between these two was the result of but a few days' intimacy, during which time, however, as they were the only passengers, they naturally saw a great deal of each other; so it came to pass that Leslie heard all about his friend's sister, golden-haired Margaret Drury; and often, as in the middle watches he paced the deck alone, he conjured up visions to himself, smiling the while, of what this girl, of whom her brother spoke so lovingly and proudly, and in whom he had such steadfast faith as a woman amongst women, could be like. The Decatur was now, with a strong westerly wind behind her, fast approaching the latitude of that miserable mid-oceanic rock known as the Island of St Paul, when suddenly a serious mishap occurred. The ship was 'running heavy' under her fore and main topsails and a fore topmast staysail, the breeze having increased to a stiff gale, which had brought up a very heavy sea; when somehow-for these things, even at a Board of Trade inquiry, seldom do get clearly explainedone of the two men at the wheel, or both of them perhaps, let the vessel 'broach-to,' paying the penalty of their carelessness by taking their departure from her for ever, in company with binnacle, skylights, hencoops, &c., and a huge wave which swept the Decatur fore and aft, from her taffrail to the heel of her bowsprit, washing at the same time poor Francis Drury, who happened to be standing under the break of the poop, up and down amongst loose spars, underneath the iron-bound windlass, dashing him pitilessly against wood and iron, here, there, and everywhere, like a broken reed; till when at last, dragged by Leslie out of the rolling, seething water on the maindeck, the roving, eager spirit seemed at last to have found rest; and his friend, as he smoothed the long fair hair from off the blood-stained forehead, mourned for him as for a younger brother. The unfortunate man was speedily ascertained to be nothing but a mass of fractures and terrible bruises, such as no human frame under any circumstances could have survived; and well the sufferer knew it; for in a brief interval of consciousness, in a moment's respite from awful agony, he managed to draw something from around his neck, which handing to his friend in the semi-darkness of the little cabin, whilst above them the gale roared and shrieked, officers and men shouted and swore, and the timbers of the old Decatur groaned and creaked like sentient things he whispered, so low that the other had to bend down close to the poor disfigured face to hear it, 'For Mother and Maggie; I was going to tell you about-it, and-Good-bye!' and then with one convulsive shudder, and with the darkblue eyes still gazing imploringly up into those of his friend, his spirit took its flight. The gale has abated, the courses are clewed up, topsails thrown aback, and the starry flag flies half-mast high, as they 'commit his body to the deep, to be turned into corruption; looking for the resurrection of the body, when the sea shall give up her dead.' A sudden, shooting plunge into the sparkling water, and Francis Drury's place on earth will know him no more. Gone is the gallant spirit, stilled the eager heart for ever, and Leslie's tears fall thick and heavy-no one there deeming them shame to his manhood-as the bellying canvas urges the ship swiftly onward on her course. Only a Quandong stone, of rather unusual size, covered with little silver knobs or studs, and to one end of which was attached a stout silver chain. Leslie, as he turned it over and over in his hand, thinking sadly enough of its late owner, wondered much what he had been about to communicate when Death so relentlessly stepped in. The value of the thing as an ornament was but a trifle, and, try as he might, Leslie could find no indication that there was aught but met the eye: a simple Australian wild-peach stone converted into a trifle, rather ugly than otherwise, as is the case with so many so-called curios. Still, as his friend's last thought and charge, it was sacred in his sight; and putting it carefully away, he determined on landing at Melbourne, now so near, to make it his first care to find out Drury's mother and his sister. 'Drury, Drury! Let me see! Yes; of course. Mother and daughter, brother too sometimes; rather a wild young fellow; always on the go' somewhere or other, you know. Yes; they used to live here; but they've been gone this long time; and where to, is more than I can tell you; or I think anybody else about here either.' So spake the present tenant of Acacia Cottage, St Kilda,' in response to Leslie's inquiries at the address, to obtain which he had overhauled the effects of the dead man, finding it at the commencement of a two-year-old letter from his mother, directed to 'Algoa Bay;' finding, besides, some receipts of diamonds sold at Cape Town, and a letter of credit on a Melbourne bank for five hundred pounds; probably, so Leslie thought to himself, that measured smile' of which the poor fellow had laughingly spoken to him in the earlier days of their brief companionship. The above was the sum-total of the information he could ever-after many persistent efforts, including a fruitless trip to Hobart-obtain of the family or their whereabouts; so, depositing the five hundred pounds at one of the principal banking institutions, and inserting an advertisement in the Age and Argus, Leslie having but little spare cash, and his own fortune lying still in deepest shadow, reluctantly, for a time at least, as he promised himself, abandoned the quest. and repassed him with many a quizzical glance at the loose attire, in such striking contrast to the British fashion of the day. alone most likely to the end.' He had not been in his room many minutes before there came a knock at the door; and, scarcely waiting for answer, in darted a very red-faced, very stout, and apparently very flurried old gentleman, who, setting his gold eyeglasses firmly on his nose, at once began: 'Er— ah, Mr Leslie, I believe? Got your number from the porter, you see-great rascal, by the way, that porter; always looks as if he wanted something, you know-then the visitors' book, and so. Yes; it's all right so far. There's the thing now!'-glancing at the old Quandong stone which still hung at Leslie's watch-chain. 'I'-he went on-that is, my name is Raby, Colonel Raby, and- Dear me, yes; must apologise, ought to have done that at first, for intrusion, and all that kind of thing; but really, you see And here the old gentleman paused, fairly for want of breath, his purple cheeks expanding and contracting, whilst, instead of words, he emitted a series of little puffs; and John, whilst asking him to take a seat, entertained rather strong doubts of his visitor's sanity. Truth to tell, Leslie was beginning to long for the far-spreading plains of his Australian home once more; his was a quiet thoughtful nature, unfitted for the gay scenes in which he had lately found himself a passive actor, and he was-save for one sister, married years ago, and now with her husband in Bermuda-alone in the world; and he thinks rather sadly, perhaps, as he walks slowly back through the crowd of fashionKaloola was one of the prettiest pastoral home-ables to the Imperial, where he is staying: 'And steads in the north-western district of Victoria; and its owner, as one evening he sat in the broad veranda, and saw on every side, far as the eye could reach, land and stock all calling him master, felt that the years that had passed since the old Decatur dropped her anchor in Port Phillip had not passed away altogether in vain; and although ominous wrinkles began to appear about the corners of John Leslie's eyes, and gray hairs about his temples, the man's heart was fresh and unseared as when, on a certain day twelve long years ago, he had shed bitter tears over the ocean grave of his friend. Vainly throughout these latter years had he endeavoured to find some traces of the Drurys. The deposit in the Bank of Australasia had remained untouched, and had by now swollen to a very respectable sum indeed. Advertisements in nearly every metropolitan and provincial newspaper were equally without result; even 'private inquiry' agents, employed at no small cost, confessed themselves at fault. Many a hard fight with fortune had John Leslie encountered before he achieved success; but through it all, good times and bad, he had never forgotten the dying bequest left to him on that dark and stormy morning in the Southern Ocean; and now, as rising and going to his desk he took out the Quandong stone, and turning it over and over, as though trying once again to finish those last dying words left unfinished so many years ago, his thoughts fled back along memory's unforgotten vale, and a strong presentiment seemed to impel him not to leave the trinket behind, for the successful squatter was on the eve of a trip to the Old Country,' and this was his last day at Kaloola; so, detaching the stone from its chain, he screwed it securely to his watchguard, and in a few hours more had bidden adieu to Kaloola for some time to come. It was evening on the Marine Parade at Brighton, and a crowd of fashionably dressed people were walking up and down, or sitting listening to the music of the band. Amongst these latter was our old friend John Leslie, who had been in England some three or four months, and who now seemed absorbed in the sweet strains of Urich's Good-night, my Love, with which the musicians were closing their evening's selection; but in reality his thoughts were far away across the ocean, in the land of his adoption; and few dreamed that the sunbrowned, long-bearded, middle-aged gentleman, clothed more in accordance with ideas of comfort than of fashion, and who sat there so quietly every evening, could, had it so pleased him, have bought up half the gay loungers who passed 'Now,' said he at length, when he perceived signs that the colonel was about to recommence, 'kindly let me know in what way I can be of use to you.' 'Bother take the women!' ejaculated the visitor, as he recovered his breath again. But you see, Mr Leslie, it was all through my niece. She caught sight of that thing-funny-looking thing, too-on your chain whilst we were on the Parade this evening, and nearly fainted away—she did, sir, I do assure you, in Mrs Raby's arms, too, sir; and if I had not got a cup of water from the drinking fountain, and poured it over her head, there would most likely have been a bit of a scene, sir, and thenWe are staying in this house, you know. We saw you come in just behind us; and so-of course it's all nonsense, but the fact is ' 'Excuse me,' interrupted Leslie, who was growing impatient; but may I ask the name of the lady-your niece, I mean?? 'My niece, sir,' replied the colonel, rather ruffled at being cut short, is known as Miss Margaret Drury; and if you will only have the kindness to convince her as to the utter absurdity of an idea which she somehow entertains that that affair, charm, trinket, or whatever you may call it, once belonged to a brother of hers, I shall be extremely obliged to you, for really-relapsing again-when the women once get hold of a fad of the kind, a man's peace is clean gone, sir, I do assure you.' 'I am not quite sure,' remarked Leslie, smiling, Journal 'that in this case at least it will turn out to be a "fad." How I became possessed of this stone, which I have every reason to believe once belonged to her brother, and which, through long years, I have held in trust for her and her mother, is quite capable of explanation, sad though the story may be. So, sir, I shall be very pleased to wait on Miss Drury as soon as may be convenient to her.' A tall, dark-robed figure, beyond the first bloom of maidenhood, but still passing fair to look upon, rose on Leslie's entrance; and he recognised at a glance the long golden hair, and calm eyes of deepest blue, of poor Drury's oftrepeated description. Many a sob escaped his auditor as he feelingly related his sad story. 'Poor Francie,' she said at last-'poor, dear Francie! And this is the old Quandong locket I gave him as a parting gift, when he left for those terrible diamond fields! A lock of my hair was in it. But how strange it seems that through all these years you have never discovered the secret of opening it. See!' and with a push on one of the stud-heads and a twist on another, a short, stout silver pin drew out, and one half of the nut slipped off, disclosing to the astonished gaze of the pair, nestling in a thick lock of golden threads finer than the finest silk, a beautiful diamond, uncut, but still, even to the unpractised eyes of Leslie, of great value. This, then, was the secret of the Quandong stone, kept so faithfully for so long a time. This was what that dying friend and brother had tried, but tried in vain, with his last breath to disclose. It was little wonder that Leslie's inquiries and advertisements had been ineffectual, for about the time Drury had received his last letter from home, the bank in which was the widow's modest capital failed, and mother and daughter were suddenly plunged into poverty dire and complete. In this strait they wrote to Colonel Raby, Mrs Drury's brother, who, to do him justice, behaved nobly, bringing them from Australia to England, and accepting them as part and parcel of his home without the slightest delay. Mrs Drury had now been dead some years; and though letter after letter had been addressed to Francis Drury at the Cape, they had invariably returned with the discouraging indorsement, 'Not to be found.' The Rabys, it seemed, save for a brief interval yearly, lived a very retired kind of life on the Yorkshire wolds; still, Margaret Drury had caused many and persistent inquiries to be made as to the fate of her brother, but, till that eventful evening on the Marine Parade, without being able to obtain the slightest clue. As perhaps the reader has already divined, John Leslie was, after all, not fated to go through life's pilgrimage alone. In fair Margaret Drury he found a loving companion and devoted wife; and as, through the years of good and evil hap, The red light fell about their knees, At beautiful Kaloola, Mr and Mrs Leslie still live happily, and the old Quandong stone, with its occupant still undisturbed, is treasured amongst their most precious relics. KNOWE CROFT. A CUMBERLAND IDYL. IV. THE recovery of Miss May from the effects of her accident was slow, but satisfactory. For some days she lay in a state of semi-stupor; and afterwards, when full consciousness returned, her feelings were more like those of one in a dream, than in waking life. She was aware of the gentle, mother-like assiduity for her comfort of an elderly lady, who seemed to be always at hand to attend to her wants; and in that visionary stage of convalescence in which at times the patient can scarcely distinguish between dreams and realities, she was fain to believe it but a dream that she had been an orphan from infancy, for here was her own dear mother tending her again with watchful care. The other figure, that glided round her bed with noiseless footsteps, she could not make out at all. With dreamy eyes she could see it was that of a blue-eyed, flaxen-haired girl, of her own age, or younger. She had an intuition, too, that her name was Ruth; and she liked to hear her speak, for her voice was low and musical, and so full of sympathy for her. But further thought cost too much effort, so she was fain to lie in a state of dreamy comfort. Strength of mind and body came back, however, gradually but surely; and at last the doctor granted permission, one afternoon, that she might leave her room and join the family at tea in the parlour. By this time Mrs Martindale, Ruth, and she were great friends; and she which she came to be in her present condition. had learnt from them the circumstances under Her recollection was a blank from the time that she was struck down by the runaway horse. She had indeed a dim remembrance of seeing some one apparently spring out of the ground and seize the horse's bridle simultanethan this she could recollect nothing. So it ously with the blow she received; but further her that afternoon in the cosy parlour, redolent was as a perfect stranger that Joe appeared to of rose-leaves and lavender, and in which the first fire of autumn had been lighted for her comfort. How grateful she felt for all this kindness, bestowed upon her, an utter strangera playactress too, one of a class whom country folks look upon still as a species of social pariah. And how prettily, and with what emotion, she expressed that gratitude, two prethanked Joe for the life he had preserved to her. cious little tears gemming her eyes as she that afternoon and evening by such a commonJoe would have considered it sacrilege to call place term as pleasant. It was heavenly! And who but he knew how to place Miss May's easy-chair just at the very angle where she could enjoy all the comfort of the fire without being inconvenienced by its glare? And who but he could arrange the cushions in the easiest so did John Leslie more nearly realise what a rare position to support her dainty head? prize he had won. Why, nobody; and Ruth made the discovery that e Joe had missed his vocation in life, which should have been that of a nurse. Then after tea, when Joe and his mother had retired for a while, Ruth thought that her new friend was now sufficiently strong to become the recipient of her confidences touching her engagement to Dick; and this seemed to cement their friendship still more; so that with one thing and another, before bedtime they were like a little family party, instead of the strangers they had been only a few weeks before. Days went by, and Phyllis-she was Phyllis now-was able to go about the house, and began to talk of the time drawing near when she must no longer trespass on their kind hospitality. But Mrs Martindale would not hear of this, and declared she should not leave Knowecroft until she was perfectly strong; for where could she have such a chance of speedy recovery as in the clear bracing air and restful atmosphere of Linthwaite ? The truth was, the winsome ways of the young girl had so twined her round the good old lady's heart, that she was loth to think of the time when they must part with her. Many a time did she bewail to herself that the lot of such a sweet bit lassie should be cast among them playactors!' She had gathered from Phyllis that she was an orphan; and had often wished that she had been sent to them sooner, to be trained up in good, solid, sensible country ways, instead of the nonsense of playacting. After a while, Phyllis was sufficiently strong to go into the dairy and watch Ruth making up the butter, which she always did with her own hands; and one day she surprised that young person by saying to her: 'Let me help you, Ruthie; I think can do it your way now, after seeing you.' "Why, Phyllis, replied Ruth, 'what can you know about making butter? Those little hands of yours were never made for such work as this.' Oh, weren't they, though?' rejoined Phyllis, laughing. But they were! Why, you dear delicious little Ruthie, they have put up pounds and pounds and pounds of butter many a time! See! she continued, turning up her sleeves, and setting to work in orthodox fashion, seizing a handful of butter, and rolling it and patting it and moulding it as deftly as the astonished Ruth could have done it herself. 'Does that look as if I were doing this work for the first time?' dear! So I was glad when Mr Nelson, who was my father's dearest friend, looked me up, and proposed that I should try how I would like to be an actress. I made my first appearance in Carlisle only the week before I came here, so you see I am a long way off the top of the tree yet.' She But Ruth could not wait to hear more. was off like a bird to find her mother and tell her the news. She found that good lady pouring out Joe's tea; and rushing in, she broke into a merry laugh, and cried: Mother! Phyllis is a ready-made farmer's wife, and not a bit of an actress after all!' Whatever other effect this declaration had, it quite took away Joe's appetite; a state of things which under other circumstances would have aroused maternal anxiety; but now his mother was too much interested in this wonderful intelligence to notice it. And before they could question Ruth further, she was off again, and in another minute had Phyllis among them, to tell her story for herself. Candour compels us to admit that this discovery of their charming guest being a possible candidate for matrimony in their domestic circle gave the good mother a slight twinge of jealousy on Joe's behalf. For what mother can look in the face for the first time the possibility that even a part of her only son's affection towards herself may be diverted into another channel? But she was too sensible a woman to brood over such thoughts; for after all, if Joe did get such an idea into his head, where would he find a sweeter and better little wife than Phyllis? Her heart melted towards the desolate girl, who had never known a mother's love and care; and she kissed the young face, where the roses were again blooming, with such tenderness as called up the tears once more into the orphan's eyes. But they did not remain there long, for she had to satisfy Mrs Martindale's curiosity concerning the art and mystery of butter-making as practised in Salop; and Ruth was too full of rejoicing at her discovery to leave room for any but merry hearts in her company. And here was such a glorious chance for doing a bit of that matchmaking which all women, and particularly women who are newly matched themselves, so dearly love. So Ruth firmly made up her mind that she would have Phyllis for her sister; and Joe on his part determined that it should not be his fault if she had not. And Phyllis? Well, Phyllis had not been asked for her opinion on that delicate subject as yet, and so it would hardly be fair in us to divulge her feelings. Mrs Martindale in her mind fully resolved that there should be no more playacting for Miss Phyllis May. Ruth was going to leave her, and she should take Ruth's place in the household. If Joe took it into his head to marry her, well and good; but if not, there would soon be plenty of eligible suitors for her hand, and anything was better than to let her go back among them playactor folk.' 'Have I never told you?' replied Phyllis. 'My dear old uncle and aunt, with whom I have lived nearly all my life, had a farm in Shropshire, and I always used to help with the dairywork. You know my father was an actor; my mother died when I was only three years old, and my father before I was five; so, as uncle and aunt had no children of their own, they adopted me. Poor uncle died twelve months ago last Christmas; and when everything was settled, it was found that there was little or no money left, so I had to set to work to make my own living. Aunt did not live long after him; and now I have It must not be supposed that Phyllis had no relations left. Well, I tried a situation as been deserted by her actor-friends all this time. governess first; but it was miserable, Ruthie, | On the contrary, Mr Nelson had managed to pay V. |