"Can I then speak to you for a few minutes?" rejoined the stranger.

"In course, my lady," returned Mike, fully impressed that one was addressing him. "Perhaps-" the earth-stopper hesitated ; per

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haps," repeated he, you wouldn't object to take a seat at the fire. I can soon make a blaze, although it looks a little dull just now."

"I feel much obliged by your kind offer," added the stranger; "for I am far from well, and the evening's very cold and damp."

With as much politeness as he was possessed of, Mike ushered the stranger into his dwelling, and wiping the well-polished log which served him for a seat, expressed a " hope that the lady would make herself as comfortable as his poor means would permit of.”

"You do not recollect me?" said she, inquiringly, drawing aside her deep fall of crape which, hitherto, had secreted her fea

tures.

The earth-stopper glanced at the wan and

deeply-marked countenance with a scrutinizing

look.

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No, ma'am," replied he, "I can't say that I do."

"And yet," she rejoined, "this is not our first meeting."

This sorely puzzled the earth-stopper, for it had not fallen to his lot to meet with many ladies in the course of his life; not so many, at least, but that he could easily reckon them up in his memory.

"Perhaps, ma'am," responded Mike, diving his hands into the pockets of his trousers, and lifting his shoulders to his ears, you take me for somebody else. And yet," continued he, exhibiting every tooth in his head, "it wouldn't be easy to do that either."

"No," returned the lady, in a mournful tone, "I am not mistaken. So long as my poor brain could retain a thought, it would be impossible not to think of the day and hour that we met and parted-once, 'twas only

once," she added, dropping her face between her hands and stifling a choking sob.

Quickly as a meteor's flash the truth darted into the murky brain of Mike Crouch. It almost stunned him, while he stuttered, "you, you-'twas you that gave me-”

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My child," interrupted the stranger, deeply affected. "My own pretty child."

The earth-stopper could not give utterance to a thousand questions which crowded in a moment upon his tongue. Speech, for the nonce, being denied him, he gave vent to his inexpressible feelings in a long, loud, and shrill whistle.

"I suppose, ma'am," he at length managed to stammer," that you're aware you've been sought after, like a needle in a stack o' hay for years past. I might almost say," added Mike, "from the morning you gave me the hamper containing Master Tom, till this very moment."

"Not until lately," replied the stranger.

"Nor indeed," she added with a sigh, "had

I an opportunity of so doing.'

"Have you been, or has anybody been, to the Hall to inform 'em of your turning up in this way, my lady?" asked Mike, with almost painful anxiety.

"No," returned she, "I wished to learn a few particulars concerning several matters previous to my letting anybody there know of my arrival. And in the belief that you could render them, and would conform to my wishes in the way that I desire the information to be conveyed, I first came here to seek your aid."

"What a pippin o' luck!" ejaculated Mike, clasping his hands energetically, and turning

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up his eyes. I'm a made man from this

very night."

"How so?" inquired the lady.

"The reward, ma'am," replied Mike, "just for taking the news of your being here, will be more than I shall spend during the est

of my life, if I do nothing, smoke like a chimney, and drink like a fish."

"Still be not too hasty," rejoined she. "I hope that you will observe my directions with strictness, and not be led away with imprudent haste from selfish motives."

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Obey orders if ye break owners, ma'am, is my rule," returned Mike. "If my blood," continued he, "be a little flushed at the unexpectedness of the windfall, don't be alarmed but I'll go by your directions, let 'em be what they may."

"From your sincerity of manner, I am satisfied your intentions are honest," added she, "and that I may rest satisfied of your fulfilling them. And now tell me, were you not my boy's early companion?"

"Yes, my lady," replied Mike. "We used to rove about, as soon as he could toddle, and before that time when nursing-dry nursing, ma'am, at Dame Woodley's-I used to sit on the threshold o' the cottage door, and