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300 of her aunt's carriage to convey her back to the park.

At length her strained sight in watching caught a distant object, wrapped in a large coat, and walking with a hurried step.

"'Tis he, 'tis he!" she cried; "he comes! Ah, wherefore has he ventured to expose himself!"

Breathless with agitation she paced the apartment; he entered, and she flew to meet him. To her first emotions of joy, an exclamation of dismay escaped her upon beholding his altered looks.

Borne down by the force of contending feelings, Philimore's health had languished since the period of her absence, and this he had not communicated to her in his letters, fearing to disturb her mind by exciting painful feelings of anxiety for him. In the meeting now afforded him, though he sought to quiet her apprehensions, yet he could not conceal from himself that the germ of consumption had already taken root in his frame. Giving himself to the delight and satisfaction of seeing one so long and tenderly beloved, he forgot, in hastening his coming, how much he had been exposed to the inclemency of the weather.

His home being but next door, he might conveniently have disencumbered himself of his wet apparel; but yet, one moment lost so precious to