d
the shape they were looking for.

"I think I see him! I think I am going to faint, for I didn't really
expect him! Yes; I know it is he, though he is wearing summer clothes
that I never saw before. Look, Charlotte! Away back near that grove of
cocoanut-trees! He's with other people--I knew he would find somebody!
Give me the glasses. There's an elderly man in a Panama hat, and two
ladies, and--why, Charlotte, take the glasses yourself. It can't be,
but it looks like your Winthrop!"

My hand trembled so that I could hardly hold the glass. I could
scarcely believe Dolly's eyes or my own; but the Diana crept nearer,
and it was true! Inch by inch the picture grew clearer, and then a
pathetic surprise met my gaze.

I could see Clive plainly now, and felt that he was searching the line
of passengers on the Diana's deck to find me. My heart gave a furious
leap to think that a man like my chief would look for only one woman's
face in that crowd, and regard it, with all its blemishes, as a
precious thing.

Duke had separated himself from the little group and was swinging his
hat to Dorothea; but I could not explain why the two men were not
standing nearer together and what was the meaning of the wheeled
chair, with the nurse's head rising above the back. The identity of
the person in the chair was hidden by a tiny black frilled parasol
with a handle bent in the middle so that it could be used for a
shield. Did I know that little old-fashioned sunshade? I did! It was
the property of some one whose belongings had a certain air of
difference from those of other people. She lifted it at last, as we
came close to the dock, and I met Ellen Winthrop's affectionate,
welcoming glance. Her eyes swam in unshed tears, and mine were so wet
I could see only dimly that her beautiful hair was a shade whiter, her
face paler and thinner, that she had aged mysteriously in a month, and
the hand that was holding the parasol trembled like a leaf. She had
been very ill; there was no doubt of that. She had been ordered a
voyage, and I felt that she had chosen this one because she knew
Clive's wish. That meant she was willing to welcome me into the heart
of the family; perhaps even that she wished to help me fit myself to
take her own unique place in her brother's life. Oh, what joy to feel
that I could not only take freely all that my chief wanted to give me,
but that I could be of real service to her!

Down the precipitous landing-steps we we