'And next to find out some friend in the orchestra.'

'Is that your protégée? He looks fit for the hospital at this moment. I can't get him in, unless you like to put my coat and blue ribbon on him. Would he pass muster for me, I wonder? People would think I had been worn out, body and clothes, by this horrid festival!'

'Can't you, really, get him through?

'Indeed I can't. I'll tell you who could, though. Your uncle.'

I made a face of dismay.

'Well, if you're so stiff-backed, I'll ask him myself.-Here, my boy→ what's your name?'

'John Foster, Sir.'

'Then, John Foster, stay here with this gentleman, and we'll see what can be done.'

I was so doubtful of success, that I had enough to do to curb the impatience of my charge, while the kind-hearted little man was absent on his errand. Every pulse in his body was quivering with excitement. He told me that he had walked twelve miles from his home that morning, chiefly, I thought, with the hope of seeing that mysterious friend, about whom he was strangely reserved; so much so, that he seemed relieved when the conversation was broken off by the return of Dr. Forbes.

'Victory, victory cried the little man triumphantly; I have the pass all right! But now, look here! This is a case of deliberate swindle, conceived by you, executed by me, and winked at by an authority. Therefore, the order is that it shall be done quietly: he is to be kept in the dark-under the staircase, or where you will, provided he neither displaces anyone, nor appears too prominently before the eyes of the well-dressed public.'

We went to work like a couple of conspirators: and if ever man met with a reward for his trouble, that did Dr. Forbes in the enjoyment of perplexing an inquisitive policeman. Mine came in seeing the look of almost wild delight, which lit up the boy's face when the first notes of music fell upon his ear. Just as we established him in a hidden corner, the Sanctus commenced; and the sweet full tone of the great artist, who was singing the soprano part, rose like a clear bell over the other voices. The vast audience was hushed to a profound silence; the voice soared on and on; and as a fuller chorus swelled the harmony, it still rang out above them all-first in that exultant cry, wherein angels and men, even here on earth, are not forbidden to unite their praises.

The boy's eyes were full of tears. I do not believe he once removed them from the singer in search of his friend in the orchestra until the chorus ceased; but as the next was proceeding, I was alarmed by a hasty exclamation. He started forward, and-how it happened I cannot tell, whether he was giddy, or whether his foot caught in a low step, or whether both were the cause-somehow or other he fell, and as he fell, struck his head sharply against a projecting corner of the staircase. It

cut his head and stunned him, and I could not lift him without disturbance; but, fortunately, Dr. Forbes was at hand, and by my side in a moment.

O Frank, Frank whispered the little man ruefully, you certainly were born to make a noise in the world!'

However, we got him out more quietly than I expected, through the assistance of the watchful policeman, who had never taken his eye off us since he adopted the idea that my poor boy was a pickpocket. I wanted to carry him home, but Dr. Forbes insisted upon the hospital.

'He looks a great deal worse than he is; and if you take him home, you'll frighten your mother into fits, and waste as much fuss over him as if he had broken his neck.-Hospital, driver!—The least they can do is to look after a festival patient. So-softly! Don't look so terrified, Frank; he'll be himself again before we get there.'

The Doctor's prophecy was not fulfilled to the letter, for we lifted him out as unconscious as we put him in; but with a few simple remedies he revived. His first words were puzzling.

'Father! It was father, wasn't it?' he said, looking inquiringly round.

'Did you see your father?' asked Dr. Forbes. 'Yes-didn't I! Up there, with the music.' bewilderment; then suddenly brightening as he 'Oh, is that you, Sir? What is it all about?'

He spoke with slow caught sight of me.

We told him of his accident, and he became suddenly restless and uneasy, declaring that it was nothing-he hardly felt it-he must go. 'Don't talk nonsense, John Foster,' said Dr. Forbes, getting very red in the face.

'Yes, Sir, I must indeed. I must go to him.'

"Who is it? Can't we bring him here, my boy?' said a new voice from behind. We all started. It was my uncle.

'Now, Becham,' said Dr. Forbes in a tone of no little irritation, 'what on earth brought you here? We did everything quietly enough; and you need-'

'Have known nothing about it,' interrupted my uncle mischievously. 'But I could not help seeing something; and a policeman told me such an alarming medley about a pickpocket and a broken head and the hospital-'

"The stupid fellow!' muttered Dr. Forbes.

"That I came off at once. But I cannot stay.-Tell me, my boy,' he continued, changing his tone to one of quiet kindness, who is it you want so much to see?'

The boy struggled to speak; but his self-control suddenly gave way. He covered his face with his thin hands, and burst into sobs which shook his whole frame. My uncle laid his hand kindly on his shoulder. 'Come,' he said, 'we can do better than this. Tell us your grief, my boy. Nay, never be ashamed of your tears; there's comfort in them,

which older men than you would be glad to find. story.'

Tell us your

It was very short. Father had gone away from mother two years before, (deserted her, in fact,) and they had never been able to find out what had become of him, except that some friend reported having seen a man he believed to be Dick Foster, playing the big fiddle at some large music meeting. The wife and son had worked hard, and between them managed to live; but her heart's yearning was to reclaim her husband. Whenever any public concert took place within reach, she or her boy contrived to hang about the doors in hope of seeing himhitherto without success. Now the lad was confident he had recognized his father, and was feverishly anxious to return to his watch.

'No,' said my uncle decidedly; 'rest where you are. He shall come.' I heard Dr. Forbes murmuring something about a greater charity to keep the rascal out of the way; and in a fright lest my uncle should adopt the suggestion, I managed by a dexterous accident to tread upon the Doctor's foot. It was a deed of treachery, I acknowledge; but it answered so completely, that upon his and my recovery, I found my unele jotting down the boy's eager description.

'Short-dark-nothing different from the rest of the world? One leg? come, that's a blessing! We'll find him.-Forbes, you'll go in my cab.-And, Frank, my boy, a word with you.' He drew me into the corridor. I heard more about that affair afterwards. I was hasty. I beg your pardon. Do you forgive me?'

He held out his hand with a kind grave smile. What could I do but take it, and falter out some broken words? What can I do all my life, but treasure up the memory of that act in my heart, side by side with the text of the Preacher: 'Better is he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.'

It was evident that the hospital authorities desired to be rid of me; and being desperately hungry, I left our patient sitting in the wardquieter, but looking rather ghastly with his bound-up head-and went in search of food: did not hurry back, believing the business would take some time, and so, after all, missed the meeting. It might have been as well-the father was such a stolid impassive fellow. Dr. Forbes was violently indignant, because he could not succeed in frightening him about his son: he made no objection to be taken to the hospital; but displayed neither shame nor emotion, and said, 'Well, John,' as coolly as if they had parted the day before. The boy himself seemed unable to speak in the presence of strangers, so that Dr. Forbes ordered everybody out, and left the two alone, hoping they might arrive at a better understanding. I found the little Doctor pacing up and down the corridor, (my uncle had not returned with him,) fuming, and declaring that between us the greatest possible mistake had been made.

'As if they were not better off without such a scoundrel as that! No more heart than a stone, and no more wits than-you, begging

your pardon, Frank. Now if I had been allowed to manage the matter, I would have kept the boy quietly here until it was all over, and the fellow out of the town. Just like those women! never will know when they are well off! Why can't she let her husband go to the dogs by himself, if he wishes it, without insisting on accompanying him there?'

I ventured to suggest that perhaps she liked him.

'Of course she does! That's the very woman's folly I complain of! Can't they like in a reasonable manner, instead of knocking their heads against a wall after every rascal who runs away from them? Now Mrs. Foster's duties-'

'Are in here, are they not?' said I innocently, stopping before the door of the ward.

The Doctor opened it softly, and looked in for a minute; closed the door again, and shook his umbrella in my face. 'You need not think you have convinced me, Frank; you are a goose for your pains; but→→ that boy's face is irresistible!'

Once having put his shoulder to the wheel, my uncle was not the man to draw it back. He threatened and reasoned by turns with Dick Foster, until he extracted a promise from him that he would make home his head-quarters, and provide for his wife. I believe he has kept his promise very fairly. His one leg, which afforded so ready a means of detection, gave my uncle a capital hold over him. But I like better to think that his love for music worked for good after all; and better still, that the faithful patience of his wife and son touched his vagrant heart, and brought reward to each.

As for the boy, his prospects afforded plenty of discussion. Evidently he was a musician born; and, as evidently, it would not do for him to depend upon that profession for a subsistence as yet. He was too old for chorister work; but fortunately a music-seller in the town wanted a young assistant, and consented to take him upon trial. It was a capital arrangement; the very sight of the music was intense delight; while all his spare hours he gave to the violin, and made quicker progress than anyone had ventured to predict.

At the last festival his grand ambition was realized: he and his father were both among the performers; and I looked at him, and wondered if the pale dusty boy, who had stood listening with me in the crowd without, could be he who now, with lissome fingers and kindling face, made the same music live in the ears of other listeners.

And I-as well as he-have reason to be grateful to my first appointment, which had nearly ended so disastrously. No thanks to myself that it turned out otherwise; but to the friend who spoke the word in season, and to him who taught me by example, stronger than words, that there is no shame in the acknowledgement of error.

F. M. P.

ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

'MOTHER, where does the river go?'

'Alee was squatted down by the brink of the river Nile, a little below Manfalout. He was a small brown Arab boy, with bright eyes, his skin was dark by nature, and darker by being grimed with dust and mud. There he sat by the river, dabbling his feet in the water, his coarse blue shirt tucked up above his knees, showing his little brown legs. His mother paused a moment before lifting her water-jar on her head.

'Mother, where does the river go?' repeated the child, with his eyes. fixed on the last visible bend of the gleaming river.

'Far away, boy, beyond the furthest clump of date palms, Allah knows where! But take care, my child, not to dabble in the stream, or Timpsa the crocodile will bite you.'

Instead of following his mother home that evening, 'Alee stayed by the river side, watching the water hurrying past, and the feluccas with their brown sails floating northward, watched till the sun set, and the after-glow illuminated the sky with gold and crimson, and the cool evening breeze sprang up. Still he sat wondering, 'Where did the river go? Did it ever get anywhere? Was there any country besides this land that he knew?' and then he got puzzled and confused, for 'Alee was utterly ignorant and untaught. When he got home that night to the mud hut where he lived, his mother asked him, 'Why are you so serious, my son?' But 'Alee did not answer, only shook his head mournfully. In the middle of the night, his mother, waking, heard him mutter in his sleep: 'Where, O Allah, does the river go?' From that day 'Alee left off playing merry games with the other boys-he spent all his time by the side of the Nile. The pigeons that hovered about minded him no more than if he had been one of themselves, hopped about, cooing and crooning over the stray bits of food they found, and perching on the boy's shoulder.

'Pigeons, where does the river go?' But they could not tell him.

The hoopoes, with their golden crests, flew zigzagging round him, but they too could not answer him. Only the wild geese, who flew in long lines above his head, could have told him; but they did not see the lonely little boy, for they were so high up in the air.

'Alee's mother sighed when she found her boy growing thin and pale, and begged the Hakim of the village to give her some medicine for him. But even in Africa, medicines cost something, and the widow was too poor to get what the doctor prescribed. Had she been able to do so, all the physics in the world could not have cured 'Alee. It was the desire to know where the river went that possessed him, and wore out his little strength. He forgot to eat his bread, and did not even care for the sugarcanes his mother brought him.