wise people will think, who say a
woman always knows when a man loves her. I knew so well that all my life
was shut out from the ordinary hopes and prospects of girlhood, that I
never realized the fact that to him I was a young girl whom he might
love honorably, were he once set free from his engagement to his cousin
Julia.

I had not looked for any trouble of that kind. He had been as kind to me
as any brother could have been--kind, and chivalrous, and considerate.
The first time I saw him I was weak and worn out with great pain, and my
mind seemed wandering. His face came suddenly and distinctly before me;
a pleasant face, though neither handsome nor regular in features. It
possessed great vivacity and movement, changing readily, and always full
of expression. He looked at me so earnestly and compassionately, his
dark eyes seeming to search for the pain I was suffering, that I felt
perfect confidence in him at once. I was vaguely conscious of his close
attendance, and unremitting care, during the whole week that I lay ill.
All this placed us on very pleasant terms of familiarity and friendship.

How grieved I was when this friendship came to an end--when he confessed
his unfortunate love to me--it is impossible for me to say. Such a
thought had never crossed my mind. Not until I saw the expression on his
face, when he called to us from the shore to wait for him, and waded
eagerly through the water to us, and held my hands fast as I helped him
into the boat--not till then did I suspect his secret. Poor Martin!

Then there came the moment when I was compelled to say to him. "I was
married four years ago, and my husband is still living"--a very bitter
moment to me; perhaps more bitter than to him. I knew we must see one
another no more; and I who was so poor in friends, lost the dearest of
them by those words. That was a great shock to me.

But the next day came the second shock of meeting Kate Daltrey, my
husband's half-sister. Martin had told me that there was a person in
Guernsey who had traced my flight so far; but in my trouble and sorrow
for him, I had not thought much of this intelligence. I saw in an
instant that I had lost all again, my safety, my home, my new friends. I
must flee once more, alone and unaided, leaving no trace behind me. When
old Mother Renouf, whom Tardif had set to watch me for very fear of this
mischance, had led me away from Kate Daltrey to the cottage, I sought
out Tardif at once.

He