of Jane Gould, and of Hester Pinhorn, exactly
as they are presented in these pages.

Furnished with such additional evidence as
these documents afforded, I considered myself
to be sufficiently prepared for a consultation with
Mr. Kyrle; and Marian wrote accordingly to
mention my name to him, and to specify the day
and hour at which I requested permission to see
him on private business.

There was time enough, in the morning, for
me to take Laura out for her walk as usual,
and to see her quietly settled at her drawing
afterwards. She looked up at me with a new
anxiety in her face, as I rose to leave the room;
and her fingers began to toy doubtfully, in the
old way, with the brushes and pencils on the
table.

"You are not tired of me yet?" she said.
"You are not going away because you are tired
of me? I will try to do better—I will try to
get well. Are you as fond of me, Walter, as
you used to be, now I am so pale and thin, and
so slow in learning to draw?"

She spoke as a child might have spoken; she
showed me her thoughts as a child might have
shown them. I waited a few minutes longer—
waited to tell her that she was dearer to me
now than she had ever been in the past times.
"Try to get well again," I said, encouraging
the new hope in the future which I saw dawning
in her mind; "try to get well again, for
Marian's sake and for mine."

"Yes," she said to herself, returning to her
drawing. "I must try, because they are both
so fond of me." She suddenly looked up again.
"Don't be gone long! I can't get on with my
drawing, Walter, when you are not here to help
me."

"I shall soon be back, my darling—soon be
back to see how you are getting on."

My voice faltered a little in spite of me. I
forced myself from the room. It was no time,
then, for parting with the self-control which
might yet serve me in my need before the day
was out.

As I opened the door, I beckoned to Marian
to follow me to the stairs. It was necessary
to prepare her for a result which I felt might
sooner or later follow my showing myself openly
in the streets.

"I shall, in all probability, be back in a few
hours," I said; "and you will take care, as
usual, to let no one inside the doors in my
absence. But if anything happens——"

"What can happen?" she interposed, quickly.
"Tell me plainly, Walter, if there is any danger
—and I shall know how to meet it."

"The only danger," I replied, "is that Sir
Percival Glyde may have been recalled to
London by the news of Laura's escape. You are
aware that he had me watched before I left England,
and that he probably knows me by sight
although I don't know him?"

She laid her hand on my shoulder, and looked
at me in anxious silence. I saw she uuderstood
the serious risk that threatened us.

"It is not likely," I said, "that I shall be
seen in London again so soon, either by Sir
Percival himself or by the persons in his
employ. But it is barely possible that an accident
may happen. In that case, you will not be
alarmed if I fail to return to-night; and you
will satisfy any inquiries of Laura's with the
best excuse that you can make for me? If I
find the least reason to suspect that I am
watched, I will take good care that no spy
follows me back to this house. Don't doubt my
return, Marian, however it may be delayed—and
fear nothing."

"Nothing!" she answered, firmly.  "You
shall not regret, Walter, that you have only a
woman to help you." She paused, and
defined me for a moment longer. "Take care!"
she said, pressing my hand anxiously—take
care !"

I left her; and set forth to pave the way for
discovery—the dark and doubtful way, which
began at the lawyer's door.

                       SPECIES.

ONE of the earliest duties and pleasures of
Adam in his Paradise was the studying and the
naming of the multitudes of living creatures
which passed in long review before him. In
these latter days, the highest and the most
refined intellects have found their greatest
gratification in working out the same task. They
have separated all living organised things into
two grand allied kingdoms — Animals and
Vegetables; but, as animal life appears at first sight
utterly distinct from vegetable life, the study of
the first has been called Zoology, a discoursing
on life; while the second is content to be
designated by the term Botany (Botanology it should
have been), the science of herbs.

The Animal Kingdom comprises a much greater
variety of forms and conditions than the
Vegetable. There are beasts of two kinds:
mammals, those that have outer breasts; and
marsupials, as kangaroos, which rear their young in
a pouch. There are birds; reptiles; fishes;
star-shaped animals, built on a radiating plan;
ringed animals, as earthworms; incrusted animals,
as crabs and lobsters; insects, and others. All
these are subdivided into classes, orders, families,
genera, species, and varieties. Thus, the genus
Canis, which gives its name to the Canidae, the
great family of dogs, contains as species the fox,
the jackal, the wolf, and the domestic dog. The
domestic dog species branches into the varieties
of hound, beagle, mastiff, Newfoundland, terrier,
and other well-known forms.

Vegetables are also divided into families,
genera, species, and varieties. In the Rosaceae, the
grand family of rose-like plants, are comprised
many genera, quince, apple, medlar, hawthorn;
peach, plum, cherry, apricot; bramble, strawberry,
potentilla, besides the roses proper. Of
the genus Pyrus, P. malus, the wild crab-apple,
is one species; P. communis, the thorny wild
pear, is another. Of these two species our
dessert and kitchen apples and pears are varieties.