a truly kind friend in Mrs. Aylmer, your godmother, dearest. She will return to England in three weeks or a month, and then she is determined, she says, to do her duty towards her godchild, by having you with her till something shall be definitely arranged about your coming to us, or our going home. You will love her dearly, my child; and I shall rejoice to think you are in such good hands; besides, we have already trespassed too long on the kindness of the Clinfords. You shall hear from me again before Mrs. Aylmer leaves here."

Now the doubt arose whether I ought not to wait for this promised letter. But I could not meet Mrs. Clinford again, without having taken some step towards ridding her of the burden which she found so troublesome. I was left so dependent on myself, that surely I might do whatever seemed to me to be right. But what would that be? There was but one course to pursue to tell Miss Gordon candidly that I believed the Clinfords were tired of me, and that that alone induced me to remind her of her kindness in offering me a home for a few days, at Stoneleigh; that as soon as a friend of my mother's, who would shortly return from abroad, should be settled in her own house, I would no longer intrude on her.

This was the substance of my note, which was straightforwardly expressed, without any attempt to gloss over the truth; for I felt that Miss Gordon would see through and despise polite conventionalities. One thing I could honestly say, that I looked forward with real pleasure to see her again. This critical epistle having been written, sealed, and delivered to a servant, with strict injunctions to have it sent by the earliest post in the morning, I dressed hurriedly, and ran down stairs with such a feeling of relief, that I longed to tell Mrs. Clinford or Dora what I had done. The drawing-room door was open, and light figures passed and repassed, in a giddy waltz, keeping time to the lively airs of Strauss; so I stole in unperceived, and sat down by Lady Grace, who, lounging in an easy chair, beat time with her foot to the music.

Mrs. Clinford came up in a few minutes, and in passing, said, coolly, and with, I fancied, a glance of keen scrutiny, Dora told me that you had a headache, I trust it is better now, Miss Trevor?"

"Much better, thank you," and I blushed guiltily; and, before I had recovered my composure, Lady Grace actually told me, with many embellishments, the story of her fright in the conservatory, omitting, however, to mention the result of the investigation. Then she said, looking at Miss Clinford, who wore a wreath of the same flowers as those I had chosen, "What good taste Dora has in ornaments! the flowers in her hair are very elegant," and there seemed to be a little pecu

liarity in her manner; so that I fancied the young lady alluded to, her mother, and my companion had compared notes, and having come to the conclusion that I had overheard the conversation of which I was the subject, wished to assure themselves on that point. This only made me more satisfied with what I had done.

The next morning, when I was cooler, I began to hesitate, and almost wished to recall my letter; but it was too late, the little packet was already sent, so I had only to wait passively for the answer.

It came. Miss Gordon said: "Your frankness pleases me. When I told you that so soon as you were tired of the frivolities of Clinford Court, my house was open to you, I spoke in all sincerity;-come when you like. The distance is fifteen miles, but a stage-coach runs daily, almost from door to door. I will send an old and trusty servant for you, if you dislike travelling alone. I cannot promise you much gaiety, but you will at least meet clever and sensible people at my table, and you can thus study another phase of life. Do not write again if you can come directly, unless you would wish the domestic, of whom I have spoken, to accompany you."

Thus far all was well. How to inform Mrs. Clinford of my approaching departure was next to be thought of; but she led the way to the announcement herself, by speaking rather pointedly, the day that the letter arrived, of their projected removal to London, and I then told her of my plans. She opened her eyes rather wider than usual, when she found where I was going, asked me when I intended to leave, and offered some civil opposition when I said that I thought of going in a few days; but finally yielded, on the pretence of not wishing to curtail my stay at Stoneleigh, as it would necessarily be short, if Mrs. Aylmer came back when she was expected.

I wrote a few lines, begging Miss Gordon not to trouble herself to send for me, as I should not at all mind going so short a distance alone, and saying that at two o'clock on the following Thursday, I hoped to be with her.

When Thursday came, adieux were duly exchanged. Mrs. Clinford's was frigidly courteous. She was glad to have had the pleasure of my society for so long a time. Dora condoled with me upon the prospect of being domesticated with a "bas-bleu,' " and the old General declared he was disappointed that I did not go with them to town, wished me cordially "good-by," and asked me to come again. The next minute I was gone, and so ended my first visit from home.

CARLA MEREX.

THE BIBLE IN EVERY LAND.

THE BIBLE IN PALESTINE.

(From the Bishop of Jerusalem.)

I HAVE the pleasure to inform you that the 100 Bibles which your Committee have kindly sent me, have just reached here, in good condition. They are most welcome; for, although I cannot dispose hopefully of great numbers of copies, for many reasons, yet I occasionally meet with cases when it would be exceedingly painful not to be able to supply the demands; for example, one of my Scripture readers has had, of late, interesting conversations with Moslems, the effect of which has been that several of them have applied for Bibles, which they will surely read with care, though, perhaps, not with a view of being convinced of the truth in the first instance; but yet, the Bible is the means by which they can be convinced and enlightened. Latterly, when three Moslems thus applied for Bibles, and I had none left, I borrowed the copies of several of our native converts, on the promise of giving them others when they should arrive.

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The Popish priests continue to burn all the Bibles of which they can get hold. Thus, latterly, they discovered that several of their people at Nazareth had Bibles, and gave them no rest till they gave them up, without, however, saying for what purpose they wanted them but when they had got as many as they could get, they burned them, which seems to have made a very painful impression upon many of their own people; and I hear that the greater number of those who had Bibles concealed them, whilst a few, who are not altogether dependent upon the convent, refused to give up their Bibles. Only yesterday I had the visit of a poor man, father of a family, who latterly had received a New Testament. He came to ask me to

receive him as a member of our church, stating that the priests had forced him, as he was dependent upon them, to give them his New Testament, which they had accidentally discovered, adding, with horror, that they had burnt it; wherefore he said, with great emphasis "I can no longer remain in connection with a church that burns the word of God."

About three weeks ago, the whole congregation of a considerable village near Nablous, left the Greek church, with their two priests at their head; and tomorrow, my Scripture reader in those parts will preach (though not ordained) in their church; or, as I have advised him, he will write an evangelical sermon (which he does very well), and have it delivered by one of the priests, who are too ignorant to produce anything like a useful sermon; but they seem to be well-disposed and humble. I am very glad that I can now supply them, and the few of their congregation who can read, with the word of God: hitherto they have attended divine service at Nablous. But you must not suppose that, when such people leave their church to embrace Protestantism, they are really inwardly converted. No; but they see the errors of their church, and its opposition to the word of God, and wish to receive further instruction, which we can impart only after they have declared themselves Pro

testants.

This country has been much disturbed of late: many lives have been lost, and much corn destroyed by the quarrels of the country people among themselves; and the Turkish rule continues as bad as ever. However, in town here we have been quiet hitherto.

BIBLE TOURS IN CHINA.

(From the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, Shanghae.)

ON the 4th of May last, our Committee met, and resolved to allow five dollars monthly, as wages of s colporteur, employed by the Rev. R. Cobbold. We

have since heard from Mr. Cobbold, who informs us that his colporteur is working well, carrying copies of the Scriptures to all the respectable families in the city of Ningpo; after having supplied whom, he will extend the sphere of his operations to the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities.

We allotted the sum of sixty-five dollars to Messrs. Cobbold, Medhurst, and Edkins, to reimburse them for the expenses of a Bible tour to T'heen-t'hae, in the province of Cheh-keang. During this journey, four or five hundred miles of country were travelled over, seven Chinese cities passed through, and 700 New Testaments distributed. This occurred in the month of April.

About the same time, the Rev. J. Burdon and Mr. J. Hudson Taylor visited two islands of the Yang-tszekeang, and the city of Thung-chow, on its northern bank, during which trip they distributed 109 Testaments, and 400 portions of Scripture. The half of the expenses asked for by them amounted only to seven dollars.

In the middle of May, the Rev. J. Edkins and the Rev. Henry Reeve visited Kwun shan, and Chang shuh, near the city of Soo-chow: they also proceeded up the Yang-tsze-keang to K'eang-yin, within seventy miles of the camp of the insurgents, and 150 miles from the mouth of the Shanghae river. About 200 Testaments were distributed at Keang-yin, almost all to literary men, who happened to be assembled there from the neighbouring towns, to attend the public examinations. About 300 more Testaments were given away at the other cities above-named, and Fuhshan, a busy fishing port on the Yang-tsze-keang. No interference occurred from the Mandarins; and it would seem that by means of this magnificent river, the Yang-tsze-keang, which is about thirty miles wide near its mouth, entrance may be gained into the country for much greater distances when the scene of