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At the hour appointed on the following day,
the little family of Mr. Harding were gathered
together at their humble abode. Julia was
there, ready to explain the mystery, and her
parents and little William were anxiously
waiting for the moment to arrive when their
curiosity was to be gratified.

`You are expecting some one, Julia?' said
the old man.

`Yes, sir.'

`Who?'

`You will soon learn. I can only tell you
that it is one to whom we all owe much—'

`He who has helped to provide us with the
comforts we have enjoyed of late?'

`The same.'

At that moment the door-bell rang, and
Julia, very much agitated, hastened to admit
the visiter. But little William was at the
door before her, and to the surprise of her
parents, he returned almost immediately, accompanied
by Henry Maxwell!

Feeble as Mr. Harding was, he sprang to
his feet, and grasped Henry's hand warmly.

`It is you then!' he cried with emotion
`it is you that have been a friend to us in our
misfortunes! As soon as you knew of our
extremity, you nobly came to our assistance—
paid our rent—'

`Do not mention it,' interrupted Henry
with an air of modesty.

`You do not deny it,' pursued Mr. Harding
ding. `No, you admit it. And you have
since done more for us than I could have ex-lb pected even of a son!'

Henry Maxwell was bowing and stammering,
scarcely audacious enough to admit
the old man said, and unwilling to undeceive
him, when he was startled by a soft voice
beside him.

`Father!'

They all looked up—Mr. Harding, his wife,
little William, and the rejected suitor, Henry
Maxwell.

Julia stood before them; her features surpassingly
lovely, covered as they were with
blushes, smiles and tears; and in her trembling
hand she held the hand of a tall, dark,

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manly stranger, who cast a serene yet anxious
look about him as he entered.

Has not the reader recognized the young
man introduced at the opening of our story?
It was the same!

`Father,' repeated Julia, `this is the man
to whose generosity you are indebted! This
is he who first paid your rent, unbeknown
even to me, and afterwards, having sought an
interview with me, provided me with the
means to supply us with the necessaries and
comforts of life. Do you not know him,
father? It is Theodore Alliston!'

The old man sank upon a chair, and Julia,
sobbing at the excess of her emotion, threw
herself at his feet, burying her face in his out-stretched
hands. Theodore knelt beside her,
and drew her hand in his.

The old man looked at them for a moment,
while the tears ran down his cheeks, but uttered
not a word, until Theodore and Julia,
raising, as if with one consent, their eyes to
his, asked his benediction.

`Theodore!—Julia!—My children!' he
sobbed, and drew them together to his bosom.

When the excess of emotion had subsided,
and the young and happy pair arose to receive
the mother's blessing, Henry Maxwell,
beginning to feel exceedingly uneasy, slunk
from the house, never to enter the presence of
Julia or her family again.

Then was there a scene of a nature it seldom
falls to the lot of man to witness; such
as can never fail to improve the heart by the
holy influence it sheds around; such as brings
a tear of sympathetic joy into the eyes of
angels!

Every heart was overflowing with happiness—
every face was suffused with joy. Strange
contrast! There was a smile on every lip
and a tear in every eye.

For Theodore, the noble, the spirited, the
generous and true—Theodore had returned!
Not with all the riches of the Indies in his
possession, but with a competency procured as
much through industry and probity as the
favors of fortune, and with the same true
heart and noble soul which long before had
won the love of Julia.

When we hear of two such hearts as Theodore's
and Julia's—hearts that have stood the
test of absence; that have been tried by the
world and changed not; that have loved each
other notwithstanding the opposition of friends
and the allurements of newer objects; and
that have at length, after years of separation,
returned to each other with all the purity and
freshness of earlier age; when we hear of two
such hearts, I say, we need not be told that
there is truth, and depth, and endurance to
their affection, never to be destroyed.

And Julia became the bride of her own
Theodore, who took her, with her prrents, to a
home he had provided for them, and devoted
himself henceforth to prove his gratitude to
Mr. Harding for what he had done for him in
his boyhood, when he was a friendless orphan,
and to promote the happiness of his young
and lovely wife.