The Evil Guest

which, at last, the curtain gracefully descends. We, too, may be all the briefer, inasmuch as the reader has doubtless anticipat­ed the little we have to say. It amounts, then, to this: – Within two years after the fearful event which we have just recorded, an alliance had drawn together, in nearer and dearer union, the inmates of Gray Forest and Newton Park. Rhoda had giv­en her hand to young Mervyn, of ulterior consequences we say nothing – the nursery is above our province. And now, at length, after this Christmas journey through somewhat stern and gloomy scenery, in this long-deferred fl ood of golden sun­shine we bid thee, gentle reader, a fond farewell.