\"where are the sounds that swam alongthe buoyant air when i was young?

the last vibration now is o\"er,and they who listened are no more;ah! let me close my eyes and dream.\"

w. s. landor.

the idea of helstone had been suggested to mr. bell\"s waking mind byhis conversation with mr. lennox, and all night long it ran riot throughhis dreams. he was again the tutor in the college where he now held therank of fellow; it was again a long vacation, and he was staying withhis newly married friend, the proud husband, and happy vicar ofhelstone. over babbling brooks they took impossible leaps, whichseemed to keep them whole days suspended in the air. time and spacewere not, though all other things seemed real. every event wasmeasured by the emotions of the mind, not by its actual existence, forexistence it had none. but the trees were gorgeous in their autumnalleafiness--the warm odours of flower and herb came sweet upon thesense--the young wife moved about her house with just that mixture ofannoyance at her position, as regarded wealth, with pride in herhandsome and devoted husband, which mr. bell had noticed in real lifea quarter of a century ago. the dream was so like life that, when heawoke, his present life seemed like a dream. where was he? in theclose, handsomely furnished room of a london hotel! where were

those who spoke to him, moved around him, touched him, not an instantago? dead! buried! lost for evermore, as far as earth\"s for evermorewould extend. he was an old man, so lately exultant in the full strengthof manhood. the utter loneliness of his life was insupportable to thinkabout. he got up hastily, and tried to forget what never more might be,in a hurried dressing for the breakfast in harley street.

he could not attend to all the lawyer\"s details, which, as he saw, mademargaret\"s eyes dilate, and her lips grow pale, as one by one fatedecreed, or so it seemed, every morsel of evidence which wouldexonerate frederick, should fall from beneath her feet and disappear.

even mr. lennox\"s well-regulated professional voice took a softer,tenderer tone, as he drew near to the extinction of the last hope. it wasnot that margaret had not been perfectly aware of the result before. itwas only that the details of each successive disappointment came withsuch relentless minuteness to quench all hope, that she at last fairlygāve way to tears. mr. lennox stopped reading.

\"i had better not go on,\" said he, in a concerned voice. \"it was a foolishproposal of mine. lieutenant hale,\" and even this giving him the title ofthe service from which he had so harshly been expelled, was soothingto margaret, \"lieutenant hale is happy now; more secure in fortune andfuture prospects than he could ever hāve been in the nāvy; and has,doubtless, adopted his wife\"s country as his own.\"

\"that is it,\" said margaret. \"it seems so selfish in me to regret it,\" trying tosmile, \"and yet he is lost to me, and i am so lonely.\" mr. lennox turnedover his papers, and wished that he were as rich and prosperous as hebelieved he should be some day. mr. bell blew his nose, but, otherwise,he also kept silence; and margaret, in a minute or two, had apparentlyrecovered her usual posure. she thanked mr. lennox verycourteously for his trouble; all the more courteously and graciouslybecause she was conscious that, by her behāviour, he might hāveprobably been led to imagine that he had given her needless pain. yet itwas pain she would not hāve been without.

mr. bell came up to wish her good-bye.

\"margaret!\" said he, as he fumbled with his gloves. \"i am going down tohelstone to-morrow, to look at the old place. would you like to ewith me? or would it give you too much pain? speak out, don\"t beafraid.\"