l telegram. Kitty returned to
service--and her baby died.

"What had I done," she cried wildly. "What had I done to deserve it? I'd
gone as straight as a girl can go. There was nobody else in the world
for me but him. Then my baby was taken, and the parson's talk about God!
What did anything matter after that! Oh, the loneliness. The loneliness!
Men don't know what that loneliness is like--the loneliness of a woman.
They have their friends, but nobody wants to be friends with a lonely
woman. There are only two ways for her. I tried to kill myself, and I
was too big a coward, so I took the easy way and thought I might
forget."

"You thought you might forget. And did you think your husband would ever
forget?"

"Oh, my God! don't say that!"

"You see, the name of God still means something to you," said Paul
gently. "Many a soldier's wife has become a believer, and you are not
the first who has shuddered to believe." He saw his course clearly, and
did not hesitate to pursue it. "The parsons, as you say, talk about God
without knowing of What or of Whom they speak, but I am not a parson,
and I know of What I speak. Look at me. I have something to ask you."

She turned her eyes, red with weeping, and was fascinated by Paul's
concentrated gaze.

"Do you ever dream of your husband?" he asked.

"Oh! you'll drive me mad!" she whispered, trembling violently. "For the
first six months after ... I was afraid to close my eyes. I am
frightened. I am frightened."

"You are frightened because he is here, Kitty; but he is here to guard
you and not to harm you. He is here because to-night you have done with
that life of forgetfulness which is worse than the memories of those
you loved. He will always come when you call him, until the very hour
that you are ready to join him again. But if you do wrong to the memory
of a man who was true to you, even I cannot promise that he will ever
hold you in his arms again."

"But can you promise?--Oh! you seem to _know_! You seem ... Who are you?
Tell me who you are----"

She stood up and retreated from Paul, the pallor of her face discernible
through the tear-streaked make-up. He smiled in his charming fashion,
holding out his hands.

"I am one who has studied the secrets of nature," he replied. "And I
promise you that you shall live again as a woman, and be loved by those
whom you think you have lost. Look at your locket before you sleep
to-night and dream, but do not be afraid. Promi