Chapter 17 BARTON'S NIGHT-ERRAND.

"Mournful is't to say Farewell,

Though for few brief hours we part;

In that absence, who can tell

What may come to wring the heart!"

Anonymous.

The events recorded in the last chapter took place on a Tuesday. On Thursday afternoon Mary was surprised, in the midst of some little bustle in which she was engaged, by the entrance of Will