These hasty conclusions--ah, me! To how much evil do they lead!" "And you were talking thus, when Mrs.Lee found you ?" "Yes, sir." "What did she say ?" "I can hardly tell what she said, I was so frightened.

But I know she spoke angrily to him and to me, and threatened to see you." Mr.Lofton sighed deeply, then added, as if the remark were casual-- "And that is the last you have seen of him." "No, sir; I met him a little while ago, as he was hurrying away from your house." "You did!" Mr.Lofton started at Jenny's unexpected reply.
"Yes, sir." "Did he speak to you ?" "Yes; he stopped and caught hold of my hand, saying, 'God bless you, Jenny! We may never meet again.

They have driven me away, because they thought I meant to harm you.' But he said nothing wrong was in his heart, and asked me to pray for him, as he would need my prayers." At this part of her narrative, Jenny wept bitterly, and her auditor's eyes became dim also.
Satisfied that Jenny's story was true in every particular, Mr.
Lofton spoke kindly to her and sent her home.
A week after Mark Clifford left Fairview, word came that he had enlisted in the United States' service and gone to sea as a common sailor; accompanying this intelligence was an indignant avowal of his father that he would have nothing more to do with him.

To old Mr.Lofton this was a serious blow.

In Mark he had hoped to see realized some of his ambitious desires.