‘Dear old fellow!’ Edgar said, pressing his hand warmly. ‘Try and forget that for to-day. How good providence has been to us!’
‘It is not every man who has a wife like yours, Seaton,’ replied the American, heedless of the blushing Eleanor.
‘True for you, old friend,’ Edgar replied, looking at his wife lovingly. ‘I have one in a million;’ and he kissed her fondly.
The American regarded them for a moment with something in his eyes suspiciously like tears. ‘It was not to be,’ he said at length—‘it was not to be!’
Eleanor came forward and took his hands in her own. ‘Why not?’ she said. ‘You have always a home and welcome here. Stay with us, and we will give to you what we can. Now, promise.’
And he promised.
THE MONTH:
SCIENCE AND ARTS.
The necessary excavations for an immense sewer in course of construction at Rome, have laid bare some interesting relics of the ancient city. One of these is a tomb, almost perfect in every respect, which bears an inscription showing that it was the last resting-place of Sergius, who was consul in the year 144 B.C. Cicero mentions Sergius as being a fine orator. The tomb is a handsome one; and it is intended to remove and rebuild it in some spot where it will again be open to the light of day. At present, it is at a depth of twenty feet below the modern level. Other relics, separated from the present by an interval of twenty centuries, have also been laid bare. Among them is the site of the College of Medicine, and an inscription bearing the names of thirty physicians.
Another interesting find has occurred at Ramleh, near Alexandria. This is the unearthing of an ancient statue of the great Pharaoh, which was recently discovered by the chief of the coastguardsmen, Middlemas Bey, while searching for contraband tobacco. The statue has not been fully examined yet. There is little doubt, however, that it is three thousand years old. It is covered with hieroglyphics, which will most probably throw some light upon its history. There is every indication that the spot where it has been found may form part of the site of a buried city.
The Exhibition opened some weeks ago under the auspices of the Geographical Society (London), has proved a great success, for it has been well attended. Its object was to show, by exhibiting the maps, atlases, textbooks, and appliances devoted to this science by continental countries, and also by lectures, that the land upon which the sun never sets is beyond all others the most deficient in the means of teaching geography. The collection will presently be exhibited at Manchester, and afterwards at Edinburgh. It is said that the Council of the Geographical Society will give a favourable hearing to any application which may be made to them for the loan of the collection for exhibition in other large cities.