was not so pale as he had been, but looked very serious and
pensive with his eyes fixed on the mysterious depths of the ocean. Lovell
had propounded riddles to me, but never before had I caught such a
glimpse of the deeply philosophical workings of his mind.

"When you come to think of it, life--ahem--life is very uncertain, Miss
Hungerford."

I replied that it was very uncertain.

"And short, too, when you come to think of it. It's very short, too, Miss
Hungerford."

"Oh, yes," I answered, "very."

"Ahem! It was--it was dreadful sudden, somehow," said Lovell.

"I suppose so, Mr. Barlow," I replied gravely; "great and unexpected joys
are sometimes said to be as benumbing in their first effects as griefs
coming in the same way."

"_I_ think so," said Lovell. "Ahem! _I_ think so, Miss Hungerford, _I_
do, certainly."

Madeline joined me at the door, and I bade Lovell good-night.

We clambered down the cliffs, walking a little while along on the beach
on our way homeward.

It was growing dark, and the voice of the ocean was infinitely mournful
and sublime. No wonder, I thought, that life had seemed very short and
uncertain to Lovell as he stood in the door listening to the waves.

What a little thing it seemed indeed, comparatively--this life with its
fears and hopes, its poor idle jests and fleeting shows.

"And there shall be no more sea"--but this poor human soul that looks out
so blindly, and utters itself so feebly through the senses, shall live
for ever and ever.

"Lovell's folks have picked out a good wife for him, anyhow," said
Madeline, briskly. "She's got a sight more sense than anybody _he'd_ ever
a' picked out."

I crept back into my shell again. "I think so, certainly, Madeline," said
I, smiling at having unconsciously repeated Lovell's favorite phrase.

"She'll make Lovell all over, and get some new ideas into him, I can tell
you," said Madeline.

And though I did not stay in Wallencamp long enough to witness with my
own eyes the fulfillment of this prophecy, I know that it was abundantly
fulfilled--that Lovell soon recovered from the shock incident to his
wedding; that under the influence of his wholesome, active wife, and with
the weight of greater responsibilities, he grew more manly and admirable
in character, as well as happier, with each succeeding year; and that
Lovell's children--a joyful and robust group, adored of Mrs. Barlow,
senior--play on the "broad window seat" that looks off