have met."- The quality of the wine seemed greatly to his fancy, for, on replacing the glass upon the table, he gave his lips a smack, that resounded through the room; and taking up the bottle, held it between himself and the light for a moment, in silent contemplation of its clear and brilliant colour.

"I think, we have never met before, sir," replied Harper, with a slight smile on his features, as he observed the movements of the other; but appearing satisfied with his scrutiny, he turned to Sarah Wharton, who sat next him, and remarked, with much suavity

"You doubtless find your present abode solitary, after being accustomed to the gaieties of the city."

"Oh! excessively so," said Sarah hastily, "I do wish with my father, that this cruel war was at an end, that we might return to our friends once more."

"And you, Miss Frances, do you long as ardently for peace as your sister?" "On many accounts, I certainly do,"

returned the maid, venturing to steal a timid glance at her interrogator; and, meeting the same benevolent expression of feeling as before, she continued, as her own face lighted into one of its animated and lovely smiles of intelligence, "but, not at the expence of the rights of my countrymen."

"Rights," repeated her sister, impatiently; "whose rights can be stronger than those of a sovereign? and what duty is clearer, than to obey those who have a natural right to command ?"

"None, certainly," said Frances, laughing with great pleasantry; and taking the hand of her sister affectionately within both of her own, she added, with a smile directed towards Harper

"I gave you to understand, that my sister and myself differed in our political opinions-but we have an impartial umpire in my father, who loves his own countrymen, and loves the British, so sides with neither."

"Yes," said Mr. Wharton, in a little alarm, eyeing first one guest, and then the other; "I have near friends in both armies ; and I dread a victory by either, as a source of misfortune to myself."

"I take it, you have little reason to apprehend much from the Yankees in that way," cried the guest at the table, abruptly, as he coolly helped himself to another glass, from the bottle he had admired.

"His majesty may have more experienced troops than the continentals,” answered the host, fearfully, " but the Americans have met with distinguished success."

Harper disregarded the observations of both; and, rising, desired to be shewn to his place of rest. A small boy was directed to guide him to his room; and, wishing a courteous good-night to the whole party, the traveller withdrew. The knife and fork fell from the hands of the unwelcome intruder, as the door closed on the retreat

ing figure of Harper; he rose slowly from his seat;-listening attentively, he approached the door of the room-opened it-seemed to attend to the retreating footsteps of the other—and, amidst the panic and astonishment of his companions, closed it again. In an instant, the red wig, which concealed his black locks-the large patch, which hid half his face from observationthe stoop, which had made him appear fifty years of age, disappeared.

66

My father!-my dear father"—cried the now handsome young man; "and you, my dearest sisters and aunt-have 1 at last met you again ?"

"Heaven bless you-my Henry-my son," exclaimed the astonished, but delighted, parent; while both his sisters sunk on his shoulders, dissolved in tears."

The faithful old black, who had been reared from infancy in the house of his present master, and who, as if in mockery of his degraded state, had been complimented with the name of Cæsar, was the only other witness of this unexpected dis

covery of the son of Mr. Wharton. After receiving the extended hand of his young master, and imprinting on it a kiss, and leaving on it a tear, Cæsar withdrew. The boy did not re-enter the room; and the black himself, after some time, returned, as the young British Captain exclaimed— "But who is this Mr. Harper ?-is he likely to betray me ?"

"No-no-no-Massa Harry," cried the African, shaking his head confidently, "I been to see-Massa Harper on his knees-pray to God-no gentleman who pray to God, tell of good son, come to see old father-Skinner do that-no christian."

This poor opinion of the Skinners was not confined to Mr.-Cæsar Thompson, as he called himself-but Cæsar Wharton as he was styled, by the little world to which he was known. The convenience, and perhaps the necessities, of the leaders of the American arms, in the neighbourhood of New York, had induced them to employ certain subordinate agents, of ex