had said what he had in jest or to draw miss out and i expected him to say as much when she was gone and we two were sitting before the fire but he merely asked me what i thought of her she is very clever is she not i asked clever she brings everything to a said and it as she has sharpened her own face and figure these years past she has worn herself away by constant she is all edge what a remarkable that is upon her lip i said s face fell and he paused a moment why the fact is he returned � i did that by an unfortunate accident no i was a young boy and she exasperated me and i threw a hammer at her a promising young angel i must have been i was deeply sorry to have touched on such a painful theme but that was useless now of david she has borne the mark ever since as you see said and she bear it to her grave if she ever rests in one � though i can hardly believe she will ever rest anywhere she was the child of a sort of cousin of my father s he died one day my mother who was then a widow brought her here to be company to her she has a couple of thousand pounds of her own and the interest of it every year to add to the principal there s the history of miss for you and i have no doubt she loves you like a brother said i retorted looking at the fire some brothers are not loved over much and some love � but help yourself we drink the of the field in compliment to you and the lilies of the valley that toil not neither do they spin in compliment to me � the more shame for me a moody smile that had his features cleared off as he said this merrily and he was his own frank winning self again i could not help glancing at the with a painful interest when we went in to tea it was not long before i observed that it was the most susceptible part of her face and that when she turned pale that mark altered first and became a dull lead colored streak out to its full extent like a mark in invisible ink brought to the fire there was a little between her and about a cast of the at � when i thought her for one moment in a storm of rage and then i saw it start forth like the old writing on the wall it was no matter of wonder to me to find mrs devoted to her son she seemed to be able to speak or think about nothing else she showed me his picture as an infant in a with some of his baby hair in it she showed me his picture as he had been when i first knew him and she wore at her breast his picture as he was now all the letters he had ever written to her she kept in a cabinet near her own chair by the fire and she would have read me some of them and i should have been very glad to hear them too if he had not interposed and her out of the design it was at mr s my son tells me that you first became acquainted said mrs as she and i were talking at one table while they played at another indeed i recollect his speaking at that time of a pupil younger than himself who had taken his fancy there but your name as you may suppose has not lived in my memory he was very generous and noble to me in those days i assure you ma am said i and i stood in need of such a friend should have been quite crushed without him he is always generous and noble said mrs proudly i to this with all my heart god knows she knew i did for the of her manner already towards me except when she spoke in praise of him and then her air was always lofty it was not a fit school generally for my son said she far from it but there were particular circumstances to be considered at the time of more importance even than that selection my son s high spirit made it desirable that he should be placed with some man who felt its superiority and would be content to bow himself before it and we found such a man there the personal history and experience i knew that knowing the fellow and yet i did not despise him the more for it but thought it a quality in him � if lie could be allowed any grace for not resisting one so irresistible as my son s great capacity was tempted on there by a feeling of voluntary and conscious pride the fond lady went on to say he would have risen against all but he found himself the monarch of the place and he determined to be worthy of his station it was like himself i echoed with all my heart and that it was like himself so my son took of his own will and on no to the course in which he can always when it is his pleasure every she pursued my son me mr that you were quite devoted to him and that when you met yesterday you made yourself known to him with tears of joy i should be an affected woman if i made any pretence of being surprised by my son s inspiring such emotions but i cannot be indifferent to any one who is so sensible of his merit and i am very glad to see you here and can assure you that he feels an unusual 