e entered into his chamber
and wept there."

She did not weep, this woman, not a young woman now: she only tried
during her few minutes of solitude to gather up her thoughts, to realize
what had happened to her, and who it was that sat in the next room--under
her roof--at her very fireside. Then she clasped her hands with a sudden
sob, wild as any of the emotions of her girlhood.

"Oh, my love, my love, the love of all my life! Thank God!"

The evening passed, not very merrily, but peacefully; the girls, who had
heard a good deal of Mr. Roy from David Dalziel, doing their best to be
courteous to him, and to amuse his shy little boys. He did not stay
long, evidently having a morbid dread of "intruding," and his manner was
exceedingly reserved, almost awkward sometimes, of which he seemed
painfully conscious, apologizing for being "unaccustomed to civilization
and to ladies' society," having during his life in the bush sometimes
passed months at a time without ever seeing a woman's face.

"And women are your only civilizers," said he. "That is why I wish my
motherless lads to be taken into this household of yours, Miss Williams,
which looks so--so comfortable," and he glanced round the pretty parlor
with something very like a sigh. "I hope you will consider the matter,
and let me know as soon as you have made up your mind."

"Which I will do very soon," she answered.

"Yes, I know you will. And your decision once made, you never change."

"Very seldom. I am not one of those who are 'given to change.'"

"Nor I."

He stood a moment, lingering in the pleasant, lightsome warmth, as if
loath to quit it, then took his little boys in either hand and went away.
There was a grand consultation that night, for Miss Williams never did
any thing without speaking to her girls; but still it was merely nominal.
They always left the decision to her. And her heart yearned over the two
little Roys, orphans, yet children still; while Helen and Janetta were
growing up and needing very little from her except a general motherly
supervision. Besides, _he_ asked it. He had said distinctly that she was
the only woman to whom he could thoroughly trust his boys. So--she took
them.

After a few days the new state of things grew so familiar that it seemed
as if it had lasted for months, the young Roys going to and fro to their
classes and their golf-playing, just as the young Dalziels had done; and
Mr. Roy coming about the house,