"'Will you give her to me?' said my lady, as she observed the eyes of the lovely girl running over with tears. 'I want a person of her age, to attend upon me. I will pay her well, and have her educated according to her station.' "'Your ladyship may take her, if you have a fancy for her. She will be prouder of being your servant than she is of being my child.' "So my sweet little Alice was transplanted like a lovely wild flower into the Hall garden, and was soon lost to her early friends. "My mother wrote me all about her favourite's good fortune; but the news gave me little pleasure. From that hour I had a presentiment of that which in after years actually came to pass. "My uncle was in a good business in London, and he always invited me to spend my vacations with him. He had too large a family of his own, to help me in any other way; but he always contrived that my dear mother should meet me at his house during the holidays, and share with me his liberal hospitality. "After my term of scholarship expired, I was entered as a servitor at Cambridge, and studied hard to obtain my degree, and get into holy orders. "My mother was growing old, and her health was failing. I was anxious to give her a home, and release her from the fatiguing life in which she was engaged. "Seven years had passed away since Alice and I parted. My mother had long ceased to mention her in her letters; but her memory was as fresh in my heart as ever. "The hope of her becoming my wife, directly I was able to support her, had been the great object of my life. It had supplied me with the energy and perseverance, in which physically I had always been deficient. I returned to the home of my childhood, full of happy anticipations. I was no longer a boy, but a thoughtful, studious man, with no stain upon my reputation, having earned a high character both at school and during my college life. "Oh; well I remember the first time I saw Alice after my return to S----. She was in Lady Dorothy's carriage, seated beside her ladyship, with a beautiful infant in her lap. "I raised my hat as the equipage passed. She did not recognize me. I do not think she noticed me at all. The hot blood flushed my face. Mortified and cut to the heart, I hurried home. "My mother seemed to comprehend what had happened. "'You have seen Alice?' she said. "'Yes, but she did not see me.' "'It is as well,' she returned coldly. 'Alice is no longer a simple-hearted child. The false position in which she has been placed has made her proud and vain. It would have been better for her to have remained with her cross, disagreeable grandmother, than to have been tolerated by the high born and wealthy.' "I felt angry with my mother for speaking thus of Alice. I thought it harsh and unkind.