ed themselves
upon her face, their expression growing each moment more clear and
comprehending.

"Gertrude!" he breathed in a voice whose weakness told a tale of
its own, and he moved his hand as though he would fain ascertain by
the sense of touch whether or not this was a dream.

She saw the movement, and took his hand between her own, kneeling
down beside the bed and covering it with kisses and tears.

That seemed to tell him all, without the medium of words. He asked
no question, he only lay gazing at her with a deep contentment in
his eyes. He probably knew not either where he was, or how any of
these strange things came to pass. She was with him; she was his
very own. Of that there could be no manner of doubt. And that being
so, what did anything else matter? He lay gazing at her perfectly
contented, till he fell asleep holding her hand in his.

That was the beginning of a steady if rather a slow recovery. It
was only natural indeed that Reuben should be long in regaining
strength. He had been through months of fatigue and arduous wearing
toil, and the marvel was that when the distemper attacked him in
his weakness and depression he had strength enough to throw it off.
As Mary Harmer said, it seemed sometimes as though those who went
fearlessly amongst the plague stricken became gradually inoculated
with the poison, and were thus able to rid themselves of it when it
did attack them. Reuben at least had soon thrown off his attack,
and the state of weakness into which he had fallen was less the
result of the plague than of his long and arduous labours before.

How he ever came to be in the pest house of Clerkenwell he never
could altogether explain. He remembered that business had called
him out in a northwesterly direction; and he had a dim recollection
of feeling a sick longing for a sight of the country once more, and
of bending his steps further than he need, whilst he fancied he had
entertained some notion of paying a visit to his aunt, and making
sure that his brothers had safely reached her abode. That was
probably the reason why he had come so far away from home. He had
been feeling miserably restless and wretched ever since Gertrude
had refused him, and upon that day he had an overpowering sense of
illness and weariness upon him, too. But he did not remember
feeling any alarm, or any premonition of coming sickness. He had
grown so used to escaping when others were stricken down all round,
that the se