aid.

"Thank Heaven!" murmured the other, devoutly.

Ada arrived breathless. "Here 'tis," said she. "Did you think I was
never comin'? You've got time enough; they ain't very prompt. There
ain't anythin' the matter, is there?" she asked.

Lucyet took the letter mechanically. "No," she said, "there isn't
anything the matter."

As she went swiftly toward the little post-office the rhythm of those
lines was in her ears; the assured, incisive tones of that man's voice
pulsed through her very soul. She was conscious of no hope for the
future; she had no regret for the past; the present was a glory. In that
moment Lucyet had taken a long, dizzying draught from the cup of
success.

Hearts Unfortified

THE observation train wound its way in clumsy writhings along the bank
of the river, upon which the afternoon light fell in modified brilliancy
as the west kindled towards the sunset. But if the sheen and sparkle of
the earlier day had passed into something more subdued and less
exhilarating, the difference was made up in the shifting action and
color that moved and glowed and flashed on, above and beside the soft
clearness of the stream. The sunlight caught the turn of the wet oars
and outlined the brown muscular backs of the young athletes who were
pulling the narrow shells. The Yale blue spread itself in blocks and
patches along the train, and the Harvard crimson burned in vivid
stretches by its side, and all the blue and crimson seemed instinct
with animation as they floated, quivered, and waved in the thrilled
interest of hundreds of men and women who followed with eager eyes the
knife-blades of boats cleaving the water in a quick, silent ripple of
foam. The crowd of launches, tugs, yachts, and steamers pushed up the
river, keeping their distance with difficulty, and from them as well as
from the banks sounded the fluctuating yet unbroken cheers of
encouragement and exhortation, rising and falling in rhythmic measure,
guided by public-spirited enthusiasts, or breaking out in purely
individual tribute to the grand chorus of partisanship. It had been a
close start, and the furor of excitement had spent itself, somewhat,
during the first seconds, and now made itself felt more like the quick
heart-beats of restrained emotion as the issue seemed to grow less
doubtful, though reaching now and then climaxes of renewed expression.

"Alas for advancing age!" sighed a woman into the ear of her neighbor,
as their eyes