Each morning May rose with the hopes that a letter would come from Harry, and not till the postman had passed did her fond heart grow sick again with hope deferred. The usual hour of his coming had arrived, and as she heard his step on the gravel walk she hastened out to meet him. He held a letter in his hand. It was directed to Miss Pemberton. She gazed at the handwriting. "Yes, yes it is from him, he is alive," she exclaimed, with an hysterical cry as she sprang up the steps, and flew into the drawing-room. Fortunately Miss Jane made her appearance with the required sum to pay the postman. "Read, read," cried May, standing trembling in every limb as she gave the letter to Miss Jane, who, tearing it open, handed one to her, directed "to my beloved Maiden May." Her eyes swimming with tears of joy, she could with difficulty decipher the words. Yet she saw that Harry was alive and well, and in England. "He would be at Downside the next day, or in two days at furthest. He had met with many adventures. He knew that she must have been anxious at his not writing, but it had been impossible. He had been wrecked, and lived long on a desert island, and finally made his escape on board a slow sailing merchantman, which, after running many risks of capture, had safely reached England. What he considered the best news he had to communicate was the discovery not only of the person who would serve as the missing link by which his friend, Captain Headland, hoped to trace his father; but of that father himself, who was thoroughly prepared to acknowledge his friend as his long lost son. There is some mystery about him," he added, "but he is so evidently a man of refinement and education, that I am sure there is nothing of which my friend will have cause to be ashamed; I suspect, indeed, that he is a man of title, or the heir to a title, which he, perhaps, may have reason to think will be disputed. I am delighted, too, to find that the _Thisbe_ has been ordered home, and her arrival is every day looked for, so that I hope Headland's long cherished wish will be accomplished, and he will find that he belongs to a family to which even my father cannot object. And I trust, too, dearest, that this happy event will soften my father's heart, and that he will no longer object to our union." Much more Harry said to the same effect. May, indeed, had full reason to believe that he loved her as devotedly as ever. CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT. SAVED FROM THE WRECK.