The end of this story is very short now. Mr. W. Merrick Stephens and mother never returned to Montreal, but are living with Mrs. Stephens (the widow) on the same estate and never has there existed a more perfect harmony and friendship—both trying to make each other happy and those around them. The last I heard from them was the following letter:

LONDON, December 18.
MY DEAR OLD FRIEND,
Don’t be angry that I call you old. I know you are not
much older than myself, but it seems you are nearer to me
when I address you so. How my life has changed! You
used to tell me the evening will be better than the morning
How true! She is so good (his wife), both Willie
and I cannot help loving and admiring her. She thinks
Willie looks like him and has many of his ways. If her
health is good next spring we shall all three visit Canada,
I think the sea-voyage will do her good. I shall be so
proud to introduce her to you, and so glad to see you
again who helped and advised me always for the best.
You can write the history of my life it you like. Why
did you ask my permission? You well knew I would
do more for you if you let me I know you will not say
anything to harm us, and I shall forever consider myself
in your debt, but you must send us one of your books
when out. Willie joins with me in sending his best regards
to your husband and children and believe me for ever
your grateful friend.
EMMA MERRICK STEPHENS

CHAPTER XIII. — A Tale of Bigamy.

Lillie Malcolm was the daughter of Scotch parents who had emigrated to Montreal about the year 1835. Her father was a schoolmaster, having a private school in the neighborhood of St. Antoine street, and at the time of their arrival in this city Lillie was about the age of ten. The little girl was precocious and talented, and very pretty, and was also, as regards both these characteristics, admired and made much of. As the girl grew older she became a little vain and conceited, her principal aim being to gain the plaudits of the visitors at her father’s house for her singing or other performances, which were many and various, the versatility of the girl being remarkable. By the time she was seventeen, Lillie Malcolm became known as the prettiest and most accomplished young lady in the neighborhood, and no church or Sunday-school gathering was complete without a song or recitation by her.

But Lillie aspired somewhat higher than Sunday-school concerts and such circumspect circles. She longed for an entree into the inner and higher circles of Montreal society where she felt that she could rise above the common level, and take a position in keeping with her education and accomplishments. Unfortunately for the ambitious girl her father, though highly respectable, was very poor, and so altogether debarred from participating with his family in the round of social pleasures in which the bon ton of Montreal indulge; added to this, he was a strict Presbyterian, and was averse to consenting even when his daughter did receive an invitation to some of the houses of her limited number of acquaintances.

The poor girl fretted and repined at her lot. She could manage the household affairs if required, but her mother or sister invariably attended to that, and so her talents were not brought into requisition; she could speak fluently and, as a clergyman or lawyer, would certainly have distinguished herself, but women were not required or even tolerated as clergymen or lawyers; she would (so she imagined) have made an excellent wife for a fairly rich young man, but the young men did not seem to want wives without money or social rank, and so poor Lillie fretted and fumed, occasionally attending the many brilliant weddings which were celebrated in the fashionable churches, and wondering how it was that so many plain and unattractive girls got husbands, while she was without even a proposal. It is true she had no lack of admirers; these flocked round her like bees in a flower-garden, but few of them were eligible as suitors; and the few who were, although they admired her openly, and paid her great attention, never approached the subject of marriage.

Things went on in this way till Miss Malcolm was twenty-three, when she made the acquaintance of Captain FitzMarshall, an officer of Her Majesty’s army, who was stationed in Montreal. FitzMarshall was very highly connected, being the grandson of an English Duke, and was greatly sought after by the belles of Montreal; but he, having met Lillie Malcolm by chance at the house of a mutual acquaintance, vowed that she was the only beauty in Montreal, and was even, marked in his addresses to her. Lillie’s heart fluttered with delight at the thought of actually out-doing the acknowledged society belles, and she would have been in ecstasy if she could only have appeared on the arm of her admirer at one of the public assemblies to which he had offered to bring her, but her father would not permit her to enter a circle unfitted for his means and her station, particularly as neither he nor her mother would be present to look after her.

Before the close of FitzMarshall’s second year in Canada he had made Lillie Malcolm’s heart glad by offering his heart and hand; he also communicated the matter to Mr. Malcolm, but the latter gentleman shook his head dubiously, and asked him if he had consulted his friends in England. When he replied that he had not, the old gentleman gently but firmly informed him that, although he esteemed him highly, yet he would not have his friends say that he had been entrapped into a marriage with one who was socially his inferior, and that, till he had written to his relatives and obtained their consent to his marriage, it would be better for him to discontinue his visits to the house. FitzMarshall pleaded strongly, but the old man was firm, and so the poor love-sick Captain had to content himself with the assurance that, if his friends consented to his marriage (for although a Captain he was only twenty-four), he would be only too happy to confide his daughter to his keeping. Accordingly the young officer took his departure from the house, with the understanding that when the return mail arrived from England he was to call at once, and, if agreeable to his family at home, to be formally betrothed to the fair Elizabeth.