chased at high prices; and he thence conceived the idea of devoting his vacation to the completion of a series, by the sale of which he fondly hoped to defray a part of his half-yearly expenses at school. The thought of his anticipated labours-most truly the labours of love-at this time fully occupied the imagination of the young artist, though from motives of delicacy he had confined his expectation to his own bosom.

At this juncture arrived Mr. Rivers, to whom his son had written in such glowing terms of his obligations to young Loraine, that that gentleman eagerly invited him to pass at least a portion of his vacation at Rivers Park. "I shall take no refusal," said he; "you shall have a pony to ride, a boat for rowing on the lake, fishing tackle, and whatever else you may desire to pass away the time pleasantly." "Oh, Edward," cried Lionel, who read his friend's heart in his looks, " you will not, you cannot refuse !" But Edward, though it was a sore trial, did refuse; for he had received some hints that his mother was again embarrassed, and the application of his holidays to the purpose he had so long meditated was the only means by which he could hope to aid her. Though the tears stood in his eyes, therefore, as he declined the invitation of

Mr. Rivers, which he did with such expressions of gratitude as he trusted might reconcile that gentleman to a refusal for which he could assign no adequate cause; yet he did decline, and so firmly as to leave no expectation that his resolution could be changed. Mr. Rivers, however, was offended, and deeply. With somewhat of his son's temper, he looked only at the action, without seeking to inform himself of the motive; and was thus betrayed into resentment of that which should have commanded his admiration and respect. Lionel, also, whose disappointment was the greater from its being wholly unexpected, burst into loud reproaches, for which he had afterwards ample reason to reprove himself. He even refused to give his hand to his friend at parting, although earnestly and humbly entreated to do so; but Edward, though stung to the quick, remained immoveable in his own course of self-denial; and if the tears rolled down his cheeks as he saw them depart, they fell for Lionel rather than for himself.

He returned home the same evening, and was received by his mother with a fondness which confirmed him in his good resolution; though, on informing her of the invitation he had received and rejected, she tenderly blamed him for

what she deemed a sacrifice to his own exalted ideas of filial affection. Edward thought her paler and thinner than before, and he missed some articles of furniture, which seemed to confirm his fears that times had grown worse with her. Strengthened, therefore, in his plan, he applied himself sedulously to complete a set of drawings, for which he hoped to find a purchaser before the re-commencement of the school: nor was he altogether disappointed, though, the lady on whom he had chiefly relied as a patroness of the art being from home, he was able to dispose of some of his lesser pieces only. These were bought by a gentleman of good taste, but whose desire of encouraging the young artist, and yet more of furthering those kind intentions of which he had gained some intimation, was restrained by contracted means. The power of doing good, however, is not confined to the purse; and Mr. Hunter eagerly undertook to seek out for purchasers among the more wealthy of his acquaintance. In this number was included Mr. Rivers, at whose table the benevolent old gentleman was a frequent guest, and to whom the drawings were shown by one fully competent to point out their beauties. Mr. Rivers was delighted: "Look here, Lionel," said he, and confess

how greatly these views put to shame your own paltry daubs. I dare say you have not a boy in your school that can execute any thing like them!" Lionel looked, and looked again: he could not be mistaken in the hand of his friend; and, however displeased with that friend, he was too right-minded to withhold his testimony when his merits were at stake. "I am much deceived, Sir," said he, "if they are not the work of one of our boys,-aye, and of that very boy whose company I so much desired here." “Poh, Lionel, you dream!" returned his father; "you cannot mean that young Loraine, who so ungraciously refused an invitation which he might have been proud to accept, could produce any thing so excellent." "Yet Lionel is right," observed Mr. Hunter; "and could you learn young Loraine's motive for declining your invitation, ungracious as the refusal might seem, you would honour rather than condemn him. It was to produce these beautiful landscapes that he denied himself the pleasure of dividing his vacation between you and a fond mother, whom he hoped to relieve, by the sale of these very drawings, from a burthen which weighs somewhat too heavily on a poor widow's pension." "He is a noble fellow," exclaimed Mr. Rivers,

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hastily; "I have done him much wrong; I will endeavor to repair it. Let these drawings be mine at such a price as shall gratify his utmost wishes for the present occasion: his future advancement I will take upon myself. I cannot do too much to secure so inestimable a friend for my son!" "It was my fault," cried Lionel, eagerly; "I ought to have known him better than to suspect him of caprice; yet well I know, that eager as I was to condemn, Edward will be yet more eager to forgive. Shall I not go to him, Sir? every moment that we are now apart will seem an age." "We will all go,” replied Mr. Rivers; "but it shall be your office to make your peace with your friend, and to offer such atonement as may, I trust, reconcile him to our past injustice."

Edward was sitting disconsolate in his little chamber-for the day-dream of hope was beginning to fade, in the very limited success of his efforts to relieve his mother from difficulties which seemed to be darkening around her; and his thoughts, gloomy as they were, became yet more gloomy as he reflected on the anger with which his own chosen friend had parted from him, when that friend burst into the room. "Edward! my own Edward!" he cried, fling