ing! do you forget that I am quite an old
man to be your father? You were the child of my old age, Salome! I was
nearly fifty when you were born. I am nearly seventy now!"

"_Dear father!_" murmured Salome, caressing him with ineffable
tenderness.

"Do not let me sadden you, my darling. I would not be a day younger. It
is well to be old. It is well to have lived a long time in this world,
for it is a good world. But good as it is, it is but rudimentary. It is
to the human being only what the soil is to the seed--the germinating
bed; the full and perfect world is beyond. Young Christians believe this.
Aged Christians know it. There, brighten up! And think that this marriage
of yours and Arondelle's if it be as true as I feel assured it is--will
be not for time only but for all eternity! Believe this and be happier
than you were ever before! There now, my darling! I called you in here
to make my little confession. I have received absolution. Now go to your
rest. Good night," said the banker, bending and kissing her forehead.

"Dear, dearest father! bless your daughter before she goes," said Salome,
in a voice thrilling with emotion, as she raised from her seat and knelt
at her father's feet.

The old man laid his hand upon her bowed head and solemnly invoked a
blessing upon her.

"May the Lord look down on you, my daughter. May He give you health and
grace to bear your burdens and do your duties as wife and mother, and
save and bless you and yours, now and ever more, for Christ's dear sake.
AMEN."

She arose in silence from her knees, put her arms around his neck, kissed
him, and glided from the room.

And now a terrible and mysterious thing happened to the bride-elect.

The lights had been turned very low in the hall. The household had all
retired to rest. The stillness and the sense of darkness awed her as she
glided noiselessly along in the deep shadows. Suddenly she saw the form
of a man approaching from the direction of her own room. He might be some
belated servant on some legitimate business for one of the guests, yet he
startled her. She looked intently toward him, but in the obscure light
she could only see that he was a tall man in dark clothing, and with a
very white face. She shrank back in the shadow of the wall as he swiftly
and silently approached her.

Then with amazement she recognized the face and form of her betrothed
husband. But the face was deadly pale, and the form was shaking as with
an