The Heir Of Bendersleigh;

Harriet Marshall , with a wild cry , flies across the room , and is locked in the arms of him , who , indeed , has possession of her heart . Mr . Augustus Eaker is dumb-founded . He is indeed humiliated . Eor an instant , however , his drowning hope grasps at the straw . "It ' s a trick , " he cries , " I should like to see the proofs of such a trick as this—I can see through it , but it won't do . "

" Here they are ! here they are ! " cries old Gabriel Hunter , rushing forward with a box in his hand . He had been almost bursting with the secret , which for five and twenty years he had calmly and religiously kept , and for once in his life he felt impulsive in the matter of legal documents . " Here they are \ " he said , and took some papers from the box .

" A few words will soon explain this romance of your history , said Mr . Grainger , "Tour father ; Mr . Eaker , left his native country five and twenty years ago for the East Indies—he left behind him a wife and infant , who were to follow him . Tour father and myself were playmates , as boys . When we grew to man ' s estate , we together entered that fraternity whose holy motto is " Brotherly love , relief , and truth . "

Together , side by side we gained our several degrees , and when he left these shores , as he gave me that grip of brotherhood which characterizes our Order , I made him a solemn promise to see to the future of his infant son . I little thought tiow strangely that promise would be forced upon me , and how still more strangely it would be worked out . He arrived at his destination in the East , and

immediately sent for his wife and child . A passage was taken for them , but on the night of their embarkation the vessel was lost in a tempest , at the very mouth of yonder river . Nearly all en board the illfated vessel were lost , but not all . The mother perished , but the infant was mysteriously preserved . The next day , a vessel sailed for the East , and the intelligence was conveyed to Mr . Eaker of his loss . I

need not detail how the infant so mysteriously preserved came to me , suffice it to say , that he , with one man was rescued by a merchantman which sailed the same day as the ill-fated ship , and the infant was conveyed to the West Indies . In the course of a twelve-month he was brought to me by the individual who had conveyed him thither , and by that time intelligence had reached me of the marriage again ,

of Mr . Eaker , in the East Indies . I took the boy under my charge , and brought him up to man ' s estate , and there he stands now ; " and Mr . Grainger pointed to Henry Elliotson .

Old Gabriel Hunter rushed up to Henry , and seizing his hand convulsively , exclaimed , " Oh ! Mr . Henry , many and many ' s the time that I have wished to tell you of this secret , but no , no , no ; I was true to the trust that Mr . Grainger reposed in me . " Aye , that he was" replied Mr . Grainger ; and the two old men shook each other warmly by tlie hand ,- and we do beleive that- the eyes ol both were moist . " Ancl now , " said Mr . Grainger , " I think we may proceed to the execution of these settlements . "