ke smiled, but he shook his head too, saying,--

'Well, children, I blame you not. The Lord will surely teach you and
lead you, it may be in ways you will not like; for it is on my mind that
you both have much to learn and much to suffer before your marriage day
shall dawn.'

And now Aunt Golding, who loved Harry, and never could endure to have
him crossed, began to laugh outright.

'I will own,' she said, 'I thought you very unmerciful to your good son,
Mr. Truelocke, while you continued to run him down so shamefully; but
now I see you took the right way to advance his cause. It's wonderful
what a spice of contradiction will do with a woman! Lucy, you would
never have made this bold, open confession without some such
provocation'--words which abashed me much, for they were true.

And now, no one present having a word more to say against it, Harry and
I exchanged rings; and Mr. Truelocke in a few pathetic words besought
Heaven's blessing on our contract. I do believe Harry would not have
been sorry could he have called me wife before he went away; but, every
one frowning on this fancy of his when he distantly hinted it, he did
not urge it; and truly the time was too short.

I was a little afraid of Althea, lest she should think I had every way
demeaned myself; but she never has owned that she thought so.

'These things go by destiny, little Lucy,' she said once. 'I am not
strong enough to control fate, and certainly you are not; so why should
I blame you? Were not all our follies written in the stars when we were
born?' I could not tell then what to make of her mocking words, knowing
how she despised what people call astrology.

As for Andrew, he could talk cheerfully of nothing at this time; and the
hopefullest word he could find for Harry and me was that though in these
evil days there could be no love-thoughts or marriage-thoughts for such
as him, he would not say they were forbidden to others; and he wished us
all the happiness we could get; poor cold words; but Harry said 'twas
wonderful Andrew could say as much on any worldly matter.

This was the manner of our betrothing; and, were it not for Harry's ring
still shining on my finger, and also for the odd unusual fashion of the
whole thing, which is what I never could have dreamt, I should be sadly
apt to think of it as a dream too pleasant to be true.

For within a day or two Harry had left us and gone to Hull, from which
port he sailed. I have never seen