In a few months, however, the monotonous and mechanical parade of a home dépôt was exchanged for the stirring and arduous duties of actual warfare and the nightly bivouac. The forced and wearisome march, and the battle field, which the new friends shared together, drew closer the ties by which a congeniality of feeling had from the first united them.

It is not our present purpose to recapitulate the oft-told tale of the peninsular campaigns, nor to descant on the prowess of the young friends, which, merging in the general valor of the troops, that left to their leader no choice but to conquer, was unproductive of individual fame or promotion: suffice it to say that, from the period their corps joined the division of the forces at Salamanca, to the termination of the war, scarcely a battle occurred in which it bore not a distinguished part; still the friends, as if shielded by the panoply of fortune, escaped unhurt, with the exception of some slight wounds from the thickest of the fights.

At Orthes, however, less propitious was their fate. Gideon Scott, after sharing in the changing fortunes of that day, was found dangerously wounded amidst a heap of slain, and conveyed by our victorious troops to the neighboring village, where he lay for many weeks insensible to all that surrounded him. On awaking from this long and deep trance, the first object he beheld was Lieutenant Malcolm, stretched on a couch near his own, his leg having been fractured by a cannon ball early in the action; and the long and wearisome hours of a protracted convalescence were greatly lightened to both by the enjoyment of each other's society.

The preliminaries of peace were in the meantime signed, and the friends, when able to travel, found no difficulty in obtaining twelve months' leave of absence.

On gaining the Nore, they hailed a packet for Leith; and having transferred themselves and baggage

on board, soon arrived in port, and without unnecessary delay proceeded to the north. Lieutenant Malcolm being a native of Nithsdale, the little town of Hawick was the point at which the friends behoved to separate; but so alarming ap-, peared the debility of Gideon Scott, and so death-like his features, as he descended from the coach, that his friend, springing after him, desired; the vehicle to proceed, and taking his arm supported him into the town.

"God bless you," said the invalid, fervently, as they entered a parlor. "I have overrated my strength;" and, wholly exhausted, he sank into a chair, and his eyes closed in insensibility.

Malcolm, on turning to look for, aid, perceived an elderly gentleman gazing on the invalid with deep emotion; but a waiter entering, he ordered some hot negus to be, brought on the instant, and again turned to support the drooping head of his friend.

After swallowing a little of the invigorating beverage, which the lieutenant held to his lips, he opened his eyes, saying, with a smile, "Thank you, Malcolm; now 'Richard is himself again!""

"Heaven be praised," fervently ejaculated the stranger, seizing both his hands, and gazing wistfully in his face-" Heaven be praised, you are returned to us; but how sadly changed," he added, mournfully, on seeing the color once more recede from his visage.

A few moments, however, sufficed to still the emotions to which the sudden appearance of Mr. Halliburton had given rise; and the introduction of his military friend to the worthy Laird placed them at once on a footing of the utmost cordiality.

Mr. Halliburton, having dined with Western Farmers' Club, was leaving the inn when the voice of Gideon arrested his progress; but, wholly unprepared for his altered appearance, sorrow was the predominant feeling of his bosom at the unexpected meeting.

tlemen proceeded to Drycleugh; but the melancholy news had outstripped their speed, and they found the widow stretched on a couch in the first deep agony of a bereaved heart; on the floor knelt her daughter, with her face concealed in her mother's lap, vainly endeavoring to stifle the sobs which burst from her young bosom, while Gideon hung over them the mute image of despair.

No sooner was the Laird of Drycleugh consigned to the last resting place of his ancestors, than Mr. Halliburton and the brother of Mr. Scott prepared to investigate his affairs, which were found in a more deranged state than their worst fears had anticipated; for after every claim was settled, the farm given up, and arrangements entered into for the liquidation of the securities. held by the banker, the family were left without other resource than what arose from the very moderate jointure secured to Mrs. Scott by her marriage contract.

No choice was therefore left to the young Laird, as Gideon was usually termed, but either to enter the establishment of the aforesaid writer-banker, ostentatiously offered for his acceptance by the great manto become a tackman under Mr. Halliburton-or to seek fame and fortune in the service of his country. To become the dependent of the vampire who had inflicted the vital stab which precipitated his confiding parent to a premature grave, was abhorrent to every feeling of his generous nature; his pride revolted against the friendly suggestion of the father of his Margaret; and joyfully he accepted an offered ensigncy in the regiment of foot; and set forth, as related in the opening of our tale, for the dépôt of his corps, then in the Isle of Wight.

ly cemented and perpetuated by the union of their children; nor had the altered circumstances of Gideon produced the least alteration in the mind of the survivor, except, perhaps, by imparting a more paternal character to the regard he had ever cherished for the son of his departed friend.

Fain would the good old man have cheered the heart of the youth by an unreserved disclosure of his unchanged intention; but Gideon was young, and his own Margaret still younger; he therefore deemed it prudent that they should undergo the ordeal of absence, and an extended intercourse with the world, unshackled by engagements, which, though honor induced them to hold inviolate, might nevertheless prove destructive to their future peace.

With the sorrowing relict of his late friend he had, however, no reserves, and the hopes then imparted to her desolate bosom robbed the parting with her son of half its bit

In a few months, however, the monotonous and mechanical parade of a home dépôt was exchanged for the stirring and arduous duties of actual warfare and the nightly bivouac. The forced and wearisome march, and the battle field, which the new friends shared together, drew closer the ties by which a congeniality of feeling had from the first united them.

It is not our present purpose to recapitulate the oft-told tale of the peninsular campaigns, nor to descant on the prowess of the young friends, which, merging in the general valor of the troops, that left to their leader no choice but to conquer, was unproductive of individual fame or promotion: suffice it to say that, from the period their corps joined the division of the forces at Salamanca, to the termination of the war, scarcely a battle occurred in which it bore not a distinguished part; still the friends, as if shielded by the panoply of fortune, escaped unhurt, with the exception of some slight wounds from the thickest of the fights.

At Orthes, however, less propitious was their fate. Gideon Scott, after sharing in the changing fortunes of that day, was found dangerously wounded amidst a heap of slain, and conveyed by our victorious troops to the neighboring vil lage, where he lay for many weeks insensible to all that surrounded him.

On awaking from this long and deep trance, the first object he beheld was Lieutenant Malcolm, stretched on a couch near his own, his leg having been fractured by a cannon ball early in the action; and the long and wearisome hours of a protracted convalescence were greatly lightened to both by the enjoyment of each other's society.

The preliminaries of peace were in the meantime signed, and the friends, when able to travel, found no difficulty in obtaining twelve months' leave of absence.

On gaining the Nore, they hailed a packet for Leith; and having transferred themselves and baggage

on board, soon arrived in port, and without unnecessary delay proceed-. ed to the north. Lieutenant Malcolm being a native of Nithsdale, the little town of Hawick was the point at which the friends behoved to separate; but so alarming appeared the debility of Gideon Scott, and so death-like his features, as he descended from the coach, that his friend, springing after him, desired. the vehicle to proceed, and taking his arm supported him into the town.

"God bless you," said the invalid, fervently, as they entered a parlor. "I have overrated my strength;", and, wholly exhausted, he sank into a chair, and his eyes closed in insensibility.

Malcolm, on turning to look for, aid, perceived an elderly gentleman gazing on the invalid with deep emotion; but a waiter entering, he ordered some hot negus to be brought on the instant, and again turned to support the drooping head of his friend.

After swallowing a little of the invigorating beverage, which the lieutenant held to his lips, he opened his eyes, saying, with a smile, "Thank you, Malcolm; now 'Richard is himself again!""

"Heaven be praised," fervently ejaculated the stranger, seizing both his hands, and gazing wistfully in his face-" Heaven be praised, you are returned to us; but how sadly changed," he added, mournfully, on seeing the color once more recede from his visage.

A few moments, however, sufficed to still the emotions to which the sudden appearance of Mr. Halliburton had given rise; and the introduction of his military friend to the worthy Laird placed them at once on a footing of the utmost cordiality.

Mr. Halliburton, having dined with Western Farmers' Club, was leaving the inn when the voice of Gideon arrested his progress; but, wholly unprepared for his altered appearance, sorrow was the predominant feeling of his bosom at the unexpected meeting.

When, however, the invalid began to rally from the fatigue of his journey, and the still more overpowering agitation of his spirit, the Laird enjoined the friends to remain quietly where they were through the night, saying, he must hurry home to prepare the ladies for the joyful news, but would return in the morning to escort them to the Grange, at which place Mrs. Scott and Marion were on a visit.

In vain Lieutenant Malcolm talked of prosecuting his westward journey; the hospitable owner of the Grange put a decided negative on the proposition, declaring that he must positively deliver up his charge to his widowed mother, and then effect his escape as best he could from the fair damsels of Slitterick.

Malcolm smiled at the lightness of his heart as he held the stirrup of Mr. Halliburton; and, after ordering beds to be prepared, rejoined his friend.

On reaching home, the Laird found the fair inmates sauntering before the house; when something unusual in his manner as he joined them, alarmed the maternal fears of Mrs. Scott, and she inquired, in hurried tones, whether any letters had arrived from France ? Thus assailed, the caution with which Mr. Halliburton had resolved to disclose the arrival of Gideon was put to flight, and he declared at once the truth.

Wild with joy, Marion alternately threw her arms round the neck of her mother and her friend, whose quivering lip and pale countenance were the only outward signs of the deep and conflicting emotions which agitated her bosom.

Sleepless, though from different causes, passed the night with the inmates of the Grange; and after an early and hurried breakfast, Mr. Halliburton set out to escort the friends to his mansion; but long ere it was possible for him to have reached Hawick, Marion was on the watch for his return, whilst Margaret, with a self-conquering

effort, remained seated by the agitated parent of Gideon.

Several hours had passed away, and the oft interrupted converse of the ladies had given place to silence, when Marion, rushing into the parlor, exclaimed-" He is come: but what a poor, maimed, miserable object. Oh, my brother! better had he fallen in the field ;" and, shuddering, she hid her face on the arm of the sofa. "Inhuman girl ! " exclaimed Margaret, her fine face crimsoning with a flush of indignation as she supported the sinking frame of Mrs. Scott; but before she had time to add another word the invalid entered the parlor, supported by the arm of his friend. tation had diffused a death-like hue over features wasted by long illness, which was rendered more striking by the black fillet bound across his forehead. The luxuriant curls of his dark auburn hair had been shorn off, his eyes sparkled no longer with the laughing gladness of joyous youth, and his feeble, attenuated frame, spoke of long-endured suffering. Margaret could have wept

Agi

could have turned her eyes in horror from the spectral-like appearance of her early companion; but love, stronger than sisterly affection, enabled her to conceal her feelings, as with a smile she welcomed back the war-worn invalid, and, arranging the cushions of the sofa, assisted to place him at his ease by the side of his widowed parent.

In the simple inexperienced mind of Marion Scott the returned warrior was imaged as one of the most interesting objects of female sympathy; the languid eye, the bronzed countenance, which spoke of hardship and toil beneath a burning sun, the scarcely perceptible halt, the slight scar, even the dégagée sling

the gift, perhaps, of love-all told a tale of heroism on which her young imagination delighted to dwell.

But when the reality of suffering presented itself to her view, and

that in the person of a dearly-cherished brother, it at once put to flight the unreal visions of her fancy, and filled her affectionate bosom with horror and dismay.

The bereaved widow clasped her recovered treasure to her maternal bosom, and with chastened feelings breathed a mental petition that he might be spared to become the comforter and stay of her old age.

Slowly Marion raised her face, and stole a hasty glance towards the invalid. He beckoned her to approach. She rushed into his extended arms, and wept on his bosom. Margaret, followed by Lieutenant Malcolm, had joined her father in the dining parlor, that the first meeting of relatives, so dear, might be free from restraint; but Gideon unblessed, except in her presence, soon despatched Marion to recall their friend. The lively girl, recovered from the first shock which the altered appearance of the invalid occasioned, threw a deprecating glance to Lieutenant Malcolm, as Margaret Halliburton mildly reproached her for the mischief her want of self-control might have occasioned to the sufferers. That glance, and the tear which stood in her large dark eye, called forth an interest in the heart of the gallant young warrior, which no after circumstances had power to erase.

In a short time the clear air of his native hills, the cares of affection and friendship, but especially the sweet smiles of Margaret, exerted their sanative influence on the debilitated frame of Gideon. The hue of health gradually reappeared on his cheek, his eyes resumed somewhat of their wonted brilliancy, the black fillet no longer bound his forehead, and the scar it covered was now shaded, though not wholly concealed, by the profusion of dark curls that once again clustered round his manly visage; nor did he ever recollect the wounded limb, except as furnishing a ready excuse for accepting the proffered arm of Margaret Halliburton, as the youth

ful friends rambled amongst the pastoral haunts of the Slitterick.

In

Thus supported, would he linger on his path, till the bright cheerful laugh of Marion sounded from behind a far-off knoll, and he was alone with nature and the cherished maiden of his first young love. such moments, the light of a joy long untasted shone in his eyes, and past perils and anticipated evil were, for awhile,, forgotten. A month sped rapidly away in this free and happy intercourse, till Lieutenant Malcolm almost forgot that he had other claims on his affections, when a rather reproachful letter from his only brother reminded him of his selfish neglect. It fell like some unlooked-for and sudden misfortune on the heart of the young soldier. Now, for the first time, he discovered that he indeed loved the sister of his friend; now felt the bitter pang of tearing himself from the object of a first and fervent love.

With an unsteady voice he communicated the purport of his brother's letter to his friends, and declared his intention of repairing his neglect by setting off on the following morning for Nithsdale. All were loud in expressing their regrets for the privation they should sustain by his absence, except her who felt it as a death-stroke to her happiness.

As the evening drew to a close, Marion found the task of longer feigning cheerfulness impossible; and leaving the social circle, she strolled to a wooded hagg at a short distance from the house. It was a favorite resort of the young friends during the noon-day heats of summer, and she entered a natural grotto, now damp with the autumnal rains, and nearly choked up by the falling leaves; but her mind was in that state of excitement which rendered her little heedful of external objects; and, seating herself on a rustic bench, she leant her head on her hand and sank into a painful reverie. The last few hours had torn the veil from her eyes she