Was I right?

by Mrs. O. F. Walton

My heart beat so loudly that I was afraid Maggie would hear it, and I trembled so much that I was obliged to sit down on a chair by the bed.

"May, dear," said Maggie, "what is the matter? You look so pale and ill. Shall I get you anything? I am afraid I startled you, coming in like that."

"Oh no," I said, trying to smile, "I am all right. Read me your letter, Maggie—from whom is it?"

"It is from Fanny, May." (Fanny was Maggie's bosom friend and confidante). "Shall I read it all, or only the part about Claude?"

A DISCOVERY.

"Read the part about Claude first, dear," I said, "and I will lie down on my bed whilst you read; I feel a little tired with packing, and I mean to take half an hour's rest before dinner."

So I lay on my bed and turned my face to the wall whilst Maggie read as follows:

"'And now I must tell you the news. Who do you think is engaged? You will never guess, if you guess all night. It is Claude Ellis! I will tell you how I heard about it. Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk with Dash to the Endle Farm. As we were coming home, down that hilly part of the road where you and I played hide-and-seek amongst the furze bushes, I saw two people sitting on a stile at the bottom of the hill. One was Claude Ellis, and the other was a young lady. They did not see me until I was very near to them, and then Claude pretended not to see me and got up, and they both walked down the lane, and I followed them only a little way behind, so that I could see the young lady very well. She was prettily dressed, and was tall and very good-looking. She had the loveliest hair I ever saw, done in a number of most wonderful plaits. I am sure she could not have done it herself. Claude was bending over her and talking to her; and he looked very happy, and so did she. They turned in at the Parsonage gate, and I went home wondering very much who she was.
"'But I had not to wait very long, for that evening papa came in with the news that Claude was engaged, and that the young lady was staying at the Parsonage. Mr. Ellis had told him, so there could be no mistake about it. She is the sister of one of Claude's Oxford friends; and he has been staying with them in Scotland the last few weeks. Her name is Alice Fitzgerald, and she is very rich indeed. Papa says she is quite a prize for Claude, and that he will be a very rich man now, with her money and his own money put together. And papa says, that is a very good thing, for he has heard that Claude spent a great many hundred pounds at Oxford, and that poor Mr. Ellis would have been almost ruined if Claude's uncle had not died just then and left him the money. Papa thinks Claude is very extravagant, and he says he rather pities his wife. But I am sure Claude is very fond of her, and he looked so happy to-day I could not help feeling glad for him. He seemed so miserable the last time he came home. Do you remember when we met him in Bush Lane, how cross he was, and how he contradicted everything we said, and looked as if he had just heard all his relations were dead? Well, it's getting late, and I must end my letter.'

"That's all about Claude, May," said Maggie, as she stopped reading. "Wouldn't you like to see Miss Alice Fitzgerald?"