Waiting For Her—A Mesmerists' Story.

in trouble and grief and care than in years—handed us out the locket containing the likeness of Milicent . I have it UOAV before me ; he left it amongst other treasures to me in his Avill . AVhat a sAveet face it is . What soft earnest blue eyes she has

, eyes that when you look into them you fancy you see heaven far off ; what a placid calm look of gentle innocence is there ! She has her fair hair parted smoothly from her forehead , and looped up simply behind , and fastened with some pretty combperhaps

, , and she wears a little cross upon her breast ; and Avhat a sweet oval pensive face it is ; the small well-shaped mouth , the pnre serene broAvs , the smooth forehead , not so high as to make her look ugly and learned , nor yet so IOAV as to be

unintellectual . She must haA'e had a graceful figure too , for though Ave have but the head and bust here , Ave can see by the sloping shoulders , the Avell-set head and swan-like neck that the harmony of nature could not be disturbed by giving a faulty figure to such a perfect face .

"It was Christmas time , " my uncle continued , "in the year 1822 , Avhen I first saw Milicent , and at a Christmas party . I Avas onl y 18 and a mere boy ; she Avas as old as I in years , and a great deal older in mind . Twelfth night , and my father ,

your grandfather ( who Avas an artist , you know ) , had gathered the young people round him on this occasion , as Avas his Avont , and a very jolly party it Avas . We used to romp more in those days , my dears , than you do noAv , I fancy , and I think Ave loA'ed

each other more ardently than j'ou do now . I daresay we fought more , too , and I don ' t suppose Ave Avere so refined altogether as the neAV generation is . HOAVever , we had dancing , and hunt the slipper , and blind man ' s buff , and , after supper ,

kissing under the mistletoe . And I remember I kissed Milicent . I think I almost wish I bad not done so noAv , for that kiss cost me a good deal , it cost me my heart , my dears . "I don ' t know IIOAV it Avas , but so it was—from that hour to this I have loved Milicent .

She didn ' t care for me , though , " the ° 'd man continued , " she thought me a mere boy and scorned my love . Bnt what was that to me ? I loved her , and I thought , foolish lad that I was , that if I were only constant to her , some day or other , Mill y

Avould be minfe ^ M / ser for years and years I Avas wailing for her , " " But did you never ask her to marry you , " Lizzie asks . " Oh , yes , but I shall come to that presently .

" AVell it Avas before railways were thought of , and Ave Avere CIOAVII in Somersetshire . We lived there then , and I was going up to toAvn to Avalk the hospitals . I had come up from Exeter the night beforeAvhere I had been sent by my

, father to see some creditors of his ( he Avas an extravagant man , your grandfather , and always in debt ) , and Avho should get in at Bath but Milicent . She was also

going to London to see her mother , Avho had been taken dangerously ill there . I had seen her many times since that tAvelfth night party , and two years had gone over our heads . We had met frequently at various houses at Bath and AVarminster , where she had relatives , and I had friends ; and Ave Avere IIOAV pleasant acquaintances , if nothing more .

" So Ave journeyed on together , and , as you may imagine , I did not lose any opportunity to improve the occasion , and before Ave got to London , I had asked her to he mine . Milly laughed outright at Avhat she call my effrontery in proposing to her , and ' such a boy as I Avas' she

, said . "Mortified , deeply woundedather cruelty , so I thought it then , I determined to leave the coach at the next stage , Avhich Avas Reading , and leave Milicent and her aunt Frances to continue the journey by

themselves . AVe soon reached Reading , and the coachman , Avhom I had suspected of imbibing , got down to have 'just another glass ' at the hotel where AVC changed horses . * ' It Avas a bitter cold night , and the 24 th

December , 1824 , when the 'Highflyer ' left the George and Dragon Hotel , ' at 5 . p . m . for London . I was standing outside the door of the inn looking at the travellers Avith a pitying self-satisfied air , as I thought how cold and uncomfortable they Avere ,

and IIOAV cosy I should be Avhen I Avect into the bar parlour and had a chat Avith mine host and his pretty daughter overaglass of his famous milk punch before the great blazing fire that Avas burning so pleasantly Avithin . " What made me order the hostler to get