true!"

Gravely she answered:

"Always--until death!"

"You'll look at no other man."

"How can you be so foolish, Ken dear? I see no one but you. I hear no
voice but yours. You are my life, my soul. When you return you'll
find me here, at this same dock, arms outstretched, waiting, just
waiting."

The bell rang.

"All ashore! All ashore!"

He bent low. His mouth met hers in one deep, lingering kiss.

"God bless you, darling."

"Good-bye, Ken, good-bye."

The next thing she knew she was back on the dock among a crowd of
spectators waving hats and handkerchiefs--the women weeping, the men
shouting and gesticulating.

The passengers stood at the rail, waving frantic adieux in return. The
siren sounded deep-toned blasts of warning to the smaller river craft
to get out of the way. The huge vessel strained and trembled,
vibrating more violently as she gradually began to glide into the open.
Assisted by a fleet of energetic tugs she finally swung clear and
pointed her nose eastward. Slowly, majestically, the leviathan moved
out to sea.

It was bad enough to see him go at all, but to have him sail on such a
gloomy day as this, with not a ray of sunshine to cheer him on the way,
was more than Helen could bear. Blinded by tears she stood kissing her
hand to the familiar figure now only faintly discernible on the fast
receding steamship, and she stood there long after every one else had
left the dock watching until the _Mauretania_ was only a speck in the
horizon.

CHAPTER V

Sunday evenings at Mrs. Traynor's were always enjoyable. No formal
invitations were issued. Friends just dropped in as they felt
inclined. There was good music, excellent tea _a la Russe_ and always
a number of interesting people.

To-night, the second Sunday since Kenneth went away, promised to be
duller than usual. Mr. Steell was there, of course, and he had brought
Dick Reynolds, a slightly built, shrewd looking young man with glasses,
who kept everybody amused with exciting stories of the underworld.
Yet, for all the animation, there was an atmosphere of gloom in the
air, an indefinable sense of depression which all felt and could not
explain. The lawyer, Dick, and Ray were in a corner carrying on an
animated discussion. Helen, her mind preoccupied, her thoughts
hundreds of miles away with the loved absent one, sat quietly at the
piano, running her fingers lightly over the keys, her thoughts many
leagues dist