"Oh! my father and mother and all of them will never consent to part with Amy. I am very sorry indeed that I mentioned her name if you fancy you can take her from them."
"What relation is the young lady to you, Mr. Derrick?'" asked Mrs. Copeland, astonished at the young Squire's eagerness and Jessie's reluctant acquiescence. "How can you claim her? I thought she had only that one aunt in England"
"She is my mother's daughter, my half-sister," said the young; "so I have some authority to call her back to England, Mrs. George. Of course I can understand that your family have become attached to her, and that it will cost them some pain to part with her; but that does not lessen my desire to see and to know my sister. My claims on Miss Staunton are paramount, as you must acknowledge."
"Oh, George!" said Jessie, looking at her husband, with tears in her eyes. " What will they all say to me about this?"
"My dear Mrs. George," said Mr. Derrick, not with absolute sincerity, "it would have come to the same thing whether you had informed me on the subject or not. I heard lately through a friend, at least through an acquaintance, that Mr. Staunton had been accidentally killed, and had left one daughter in Australia. I have already
