"He went--like a good fellow as he is--and I shut myself up in my room, knowing well enough that I had done right, but feeling sorry in my heart for poor Babylon all the same. So I sat down by the window and had a good cry all to myself. "In half an hour James called me to his master's room. He was white as marble, and tears stood in his eyes. He took my two hands in his, pressed them hard, then, leaning one elbow on the table, covered his face with his hand. I saw great tears drop through his fingers; they broke my heart. The first thing I knew, down I had fallen on my two knees, and was kissing his other hand as if he had been my dear mistress who is dead and gone. That night I told him everything about Miss Jessie, and all your goodness. Oh! how he thanked me! Miss Hyde, don't ever want to see a man cry; it's enough to break one's heart! "The next morning Mrs. Dennison and her servant had left the hotel. In three days I shall be on my way home. Do be glad to see Lottie; for she feels like a bird far away from its nest, and has been, ever since she left the Ridge. "Your old friend till death, LOTTIE." CHAPTER LXXVII. ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. After reading this letter, I told Jessie everything. She had no heart to read the journal in my possession, and its worst points--those which related to her mother's death--I kept from her in common mercy. Of course, all that she did learn was a relief to her. She knew that her father would soon be at home again, and that no cause of estrangement now existed between them. This removed the only shadow now falling upon her young life. That very day she began preparations for her father's return; and when young Bosworth came, there was a joyous consultation between them about the best way of receiving him. I saw them looking toward me and whispering mysteriously. Were they consulting about the propriety of my residence in the house after they left it? The thought fell upon me with a shock of such pain as I pray God may never be repeated. Let what will come, my fate seems to be one of utter loneliness. But I am glad to see these young people so happy: never, I do think, was love more complete than that which exists between them now. It scarcely seemed possible for a letter to reach us from Europe, when Lottie herself rushed in upon us with an exquisite French bonnet on her head, and a dress that trailed sumptuously behind her little figure. In she came, darting through the room like an arrow, and was in my arms, bathing my face with tears and smothering me with kisses, before I was quite aware of her presence. When Jessie came in with Mr. Bosworth, who had been walking with her in the garden, Lottie sprang upon her like a pet spaniel, clung to her neck, her waist, and at last fell to the floor in an outburst of gladness, and embraced her knees, crying, laughing, and murmuring words of tender endearment, in which some rather curious French was mingled.