And now you may wake your mother, my dear; for I want to take a little nap, and I can't close my eyes while that good soul is snoring so intolerably; but not a word about our little arrangement, Mary Anne, till you and your mother are alone." And hereupon the Captain spread a handkerchief over his face and subsided into a gentle slumber.

The little scene had fatigued him; though it had been so quietly enacted, that Mrs.Kepp had slept on undisturbed by the brief fragment of domestic drama performed within a few yards of her uneasy arm-chair.

Her daughter awoke her presently, and she resumed her needlework, while Mary Anne made some tea for the beloved sleeper.

The cups and saucers made more noise to-night than they were wont to make in the girl's careful hands.

The fluttering of her heart seemed to communicate itself to the tips of her fingers, and the jingling of the crockery-ware betrayed the intensity of her emotion.