Amabel Vaughan.

time , and all the windoAvs were filled with stained glass , the arms of great Lords , Bishops , Dignitaries of all sorts , Governors of Christ ' s Hospital . And a crowd of thoughts of the happy old days came back . There Avas the public supper one Sunday in Lent , years ago , Avhen the old Duke of Cambridge , wearing the blue riband of the garter , was there , and the people croAvded round as only a well dressed mob can do to see His Royal Highness . " I ' ve come to see my boys , " Mark had heard him say , " I've not come to see you . " He was a deaf old gentleman , and did not know he spoke so loud , but it had a good effect , and he was not much molested afterwards .

And then he thought of the election of the present Duke as President and how popular his candidature was Avith the boys , AVIIO bullied the meek looking Governors who came to vote into saying they Avould support the Duke ; and then he remembered the chagrin of the then Lord Mayor , who Avas also a candidate for the chair , and Avho , with a dignity and magnanimity Avorthy of the ciA'ic throne , because he failed to get in , visited the poor boys with his displeasure aud disappointment and refused to give them the customary shilling at Easter .

That Easter procession to the Mansion House when the boys brought back the Lord Mayor in state to Christ ' s Church to hear the 'Spital sermon according to ancient custom , —what old memories it revived . The long double line of boys , 1000 in number , walking slowly through the Egyptian Hall , doAvn the long corridors , passed I-OAVS of Aldermen clad in the scarlet furred gowns and wearing their chains of office , ladies ancl gentlemen in gay attire , tall flunkeys iu

gorgeous liveries , AVIIO handed to each boy two buns and a glass of wine , and then the Lord Mayor himself with the great pile of new silver and gold in front of him , a new shilling for each boy , half-a-crown for a monitor , half a soA'ereign for a deputy Grecian , and a pound for a Grecian , Each boy wove on his breast a paper legend in old English , " He is risen , " with the old fashioned long S so like an F that the boys in the streets used to misunderstand it , and mutter audibly "He is rifleman . "

. HOAV well he remembered Stokes , Avhose appetite was something aAvful , and who used regularly to stalk solemnly past the flunkey when his turn came , take his buns , slip behind dexterously and come up again , and get half-a-dozen surreptitiously that way , much to the delight of the other boys ; and Kirkham who sold his shilling generally twelve months in advance for a penny or twopence , thus shoAving his belief in the old proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush , Thus thinking over the old days , Mark left the hall , smiled a good bye to some of the boys who had been listening to his stories in the cloisters , and shared his bounty in the shop kept by one of the beadles in the grounds , and made his way out of the hospital and aAvay back to Somerset House .

For the next few days he and his good natured friend Avrote letters to all the Governors with present nominations , some 100 or 150 in all , ( let us hope it Avas ahvays during luncheon time , or after official hours , ) and for another week or fortnight he was on tenter hooks of expectation hoping to get a nomination from some quarter or other . A month had elapsed and he had received bat 30 letters , all in the negative ; up to a week before he came north he had received but 35 in all . Not one promise did he get ,

not the suspicion of the shadow of the shade of a promise . His was a deserving case , no doubt , but there were others far more distressing . The Governors had promised their presentations foryearsto come , and there seemednotthe ghostof a chance for Mabel ' s cousin . What Avas to be done ? He daren ' t go to Wolverston unless he succeeded . He thought , and thought , and thought again , and at last decided to speak to his chief . Mr . Tyssen was very kind , and when Mark stated all he had done and how he had

made every effort he could , he said how he would make one more trial for his sake , and the very day before Mark started for Wolverston he called him into his private oflice and told him he had at last succeeded in getting the coveted presentation from the Earl of Kilmallock , an Irish Peer . Mark Avrote at once a hasty line informing Mr . Brig of tho good news and started . ( To be Otmtvnmd . )