rs Ducie's fireside, and the
pipe, and the cosey, quiet dinner they would be sure to get there, that
the squire could not resist the temptation. "For all will be at sixes
and sevens at home," he commented, "and no peace for anybody, with
greens and carols and what not. Eh? What?"

"And very likely, as it is Christmas Eve, you may be asked to give
Sophia away. So a nice dinner, and a quiet smoke, and an hour's nap will
help you through to-night." And the thought in each heart, beyond this
one, was "Perhaps Harry will be at home."

Nobody missed the fugitives. Mrs. Sandal was sure Harry would come, and
she was busy preparing his room with her own hands. The brightest fire,
the gayest greens, the whitest and softest and best of every thing, she
chose for Harry's room.

Certainly they were not missed by Julius and Sophia. They were far too
much interested in themselves and in their own affairs. From the first
hour of his return to Seat-Sandal, Sophia had understood that Julius was
her lover, and that the time for his declaration rested in the main with
herself. When the Christmas bells were ringing, when the house was
bright with light and evergreens, and the very atmosphere full of
happiness, she had determined to give him the necessary encouragement.
But the clock of Fate cannot be put back. When the moment arrives, the
word is spoken or the deed done. Both of them were prepared for the
moment, and yet not just then prepared; for Love still holds his great
surprise somewhat in reserve.

They were in the drawing-room. The last vase had been filled, the last
wreath hung; and Sophia looked at her beautiful hands, marked with the
rim of the scissors, and stained with leaves and berries, in a little
affected distress. Julius seated himself on the sofa beside her. She
trembled, but he looked at her almost triumphantly. Over Sophia's heart
he knew his power. With the questioning, unwinking gaze of love his eyes
sought hers, and he tenderly spoke her name, "_Sophia_." She could
answer only by her conscious silence.

"My wife! Mine in lives long forgotten."

"O Julius!"

"Always mine; missed in some existences, recovered in others, but
bringing into every life with you my mark of ownership. See here."

Then he lifted her hand, and opening its palm upward, he placed his own
in the same attitude beside it. "Look into them both, Sophia, and see
how closely our line of fortune is alike. That is something, but
behold." And he