was told that he
need not attend his office, but stay at home; and though it is pleasant
enough, he feels as if he ought to be at his work, that he appreciates
his home all the more when he can't sit reading the paper all the
morning, and that he does not love his home less, but rather more,
because he is away all the day."

"Yes," said Cynthia, "that is sensible enough; and I am amazed sometimes
that you can be so good and patient about it all--so content to be so
much with me and baby here; but I don't think it is quite--what shall I
say?--quite healthy either!"

"Well," I said, "I have no wish to change; and here, I am glad to think,
there is never any doubt about what one is meant to do."

And so the subject dropped.

How little I thought then that this was to be the end of the old scene,
and that the curtain was to draw up so suddenly upon a new one.

But the following morning I had been wandering contentedly enough in the
wood, watching the shafts of light strike in among the trees, upon the
glittering fronds of the ferns, and thinking idly of all my strange
experiences. I came home, and to my surprise, as I came to the door,
I heard talk going on inside. I went hastily in, and saw that Cynthia
was not alone. She was sitting, looking very grave and serious, and
wonderfully beautiful--her beauty had grown and increased in a
marvellous way of late. And there were two men, one sitting in a chair
near her and regarding her with a look of love; it was Lucius; and I saw
at a glance that he was strangely changed. He had the same spirited and
mirthful look as of old, but there was something there which I had
never seen before--the look of a man who had work of his own, and had
learned something of the perplexity and suffering of responsibility. The
other was Amroth, who was looking at the two with an air of
irrepressible amusement. When I entered, Lucius rose, and Amroth said to
me:

"Here I am again, you see, and wondering whether you can regain the
pleasure you once were kind enough to take in my company?"

"What nonsense!" I said rather shamefacedly. "How often have I blushed
in secret to think of that awful remark. But I was rather harried, you
must admit."

Amroth came across to me and put his arm through mine.

"I forgive you," he said, "and I will admit that I was very provoking;
but things were in a mess, and, besides, it was very inconvenient for me
to be called away at that moment from my job!"

But