"The first I see of her she was cuttin' through the streets on the dead run; but I mustn't stay here, gabbin', so good night, Miss Mason,--good night, Mary, hope you've got good news in that are letter." The moment he was gone, Mary ran up to her room, to read her letter, from which we give the following extract.
"You must have forgotten George Moreland, or you would have mentioned him to me.

I like him very much indeed, and yet I could not help feeling a little jealous, when he manifested so much interest in you.
Sometimes, Mary, I think that for a brother I am getting too selfish, and do not wish any one to like you except myself, but I surely need not feel so towards George, the best friend I have in Boston.

He is very kind, lending me books, and has even offered to use his influence in getting me a situation in one of the best law offices in the city." After reading this letter, Mary sat for a long time, thinking of George Moreland,--of the time when she first knew him,--of all that William Bender had been to her since,--and wondering, as girls sometimes will, which she liked the best.

Billy, unquestionably, had the strongest claim to her love, but could he have known how much satisfaction she felt in thinking that George still remembered and felt interested in her, he would have had some reason for fearing, as he occasionally did, that she would never be to him aught save a sister..