Brothers.

yourself under the tuition of Mr . Grimley , he will instruct you as to your duties . Good morning . " And the editor of the Daily Telephone actually shook hands with Mr . John Cumberland .

» * * * # Everything about "The Hut" at Hampton was bold . It was a pretty little place at the back of the Priory , immediately opposite Tagg ' s Island boathouse , half-a-mile

round by the road from the bridge ; and the "hardy annuals" creeping round the bay window and over the porch up the front of the cottage , never pretended to hide the name of the place , or that of its occupant , which was boldly blazoned on a brass plate under the knocker of the

front door . MR . JOHN CUMBERLAND .

was the name on the plate , and evidently Mr . John Cumberland was not ashamed of it . It was seven o ' clock , and the inhabitants of " The Hut" were boldly taking dinner . The parlour was small and neatly furnished , and round the little table decked with

china , which certainly had not been purchased from Osiers ' but for all that serviceable and clean , sat Jack Cumberland , his wife , and an intellectual person who was called Mrs . Naylor . The food was plain , and plainly served , but plain food always allows more attention being given to the jovial conversation of a jovial table , and there certainly was no lack of jovial conversation there . Of course , Jack was

the spirit of the party ; with consummate skill he kept the chatter wavering round the ordinary comprehensible subjects of every-day life , and seemed now and again to prompt his wife with a leading question which always brought a smart and clever answer . Jack had worked his tuition so cleverly ,

that his pupil never once detected his design . But Mrs . Naylor had . She had lived with the Cumberlands for nearly five years . She came as a constant companion to a lady whose education had been neglected through illness . She was engaged by Mr . Cumberland at a salary of ^ 30 a

year ; first of all to mind her own business , then the business of her mistress , and lastly the instructions of her master .

Three months had not elapsed before John Cumberland had read every atom of Mrs . Naylor's character . He read her as a shrewd and clever woman , with a great sorrow nestling at her heart , but a sorrow he never wished to desecrate . So one day , when the wife was out of the house ,

he took Mrs . Naylor into his confidence , and explained just so much as he thought was necessary . And when his wife returned that afternoon she found that a copy of a certain marriage certificate had been framed , and was hanging boldly over the desk in Jack ' s own room . It was a certificate of

marriage solemnised at St . Andrew ' s , Holborn , between John Henry Brodrick Cumberland , bachelor , son of Sir Henry Brodrick Cumberland , Bart ., of Apsley Hall , Cheshire , and Mary Finch , spinster , daughter of Robert Finch , letter carrier , of Newlyn , in the same county . And

from that moment Mrs . Naylor imagined she detected germs of love and affection between the husband and wife , signs which she thought she had never detected before . And Mrs . Naylor was right , as she generally was , and what was more , she helped to fan the little flame that was bursting from Mary ' s heart , and as it increased in brightness and in strength she guarded it and cherished it as if it

were her own , so that in a very short time indeed she became absolutely indispensable in the household of " The Hut . " Mrs . Cumberland , however , was not much like the Mary

Finch of five years back . The neatness of the village maiden had ripened into the sweetness of the polished woman . She could discourse — thanks to the clever tuition of Jack—upon other subjects than the making of butter and the rearing of poultry ; but for all that there was

a reserve of discussion , a strong line as it were drawn across the page forbidding all subjects written beneath it . It seemed to be quite ah understood thing between them all that these should never be mentioned , and they never were . The past had buried the past ; John Cumberland , Mary

Cumberland , and Mrs . Naylor knew no childhood . Their existence had no early days , the little world enclosed within the four walls of the Hampton cottage was created but four years ago , and every one was happy at the

forgetfulness of an earlier period . Happy souls , perhaps , to be able to bury their histories ; what would not some of us give to start our lives from last year , last month , perhaps last night ? How many of us would dig a grave this instant to hide our memories in a soil where worms could eat into

it , and carry it away into perfect oblivion . And yet , God knows , there was little in these lives that could not bear the light of day . Mary Finch had sinned , but Mary Cumberland had atoned for it ; and who dare say that sin is not forgiven ? The little son born to her within a few weeks

of her arrival in London was now nearly five years old , and yet he had never been home to "The Hut , " since he was taken to reside in a lady ' s seminary at Eastbourne directly he . was old enough to leave his mother .

But the poor little chap had not been neglected . Every month Mrs . Cumberland went down to Eastbourne , some " times accompanied by Mrs . Naylor , sometimes by her husband . Everybody loved the chubby little fellow , he was such a sweet child , but none loved him so much as Mary . Once when Mrs . Cumberland was down at Eastbourne with

her husband—they had gone down in the summer on a Saturday and intended to stay until the Monday morning—Mary fetched the little fellow and took him to the hotel where they were staying . She had never done such a thing before ; but when they had mounted the stairs to their own

room , and she found Jack , wearied with work into a sound sleep upon the couch , she placed her little boy beside him and wept over them both as if her heart would break . When J ack woke , a chubby little hand was caressing his cheek , and

every now and again a pair of sweet little lips would creep up close to his and kiss him , with that tenderness which children alone possess . There was a tear too , in Jack ' s eyes when he quite realised what was going on , and forthe first time in his life he took the little fellow in his arms and kissed

him in return , and then little Alfred asked papa what mamma was crying for , and Jack said he didn ' t know , but he went across to her and soothed her , and told her to make preparations for taking Alfred back home with them . And that night late , when they drove up to their sweet little cottage at

Hampton , another of those living memories which laid hidden in the buried past was exhumed by free consent and was ruthlessly destroyed for ever and ever . And Mary went to rest much happier in her mind than she had been for years . ( To be continued )