never despairing, but always with the same heart-rending
pathos, always voicing the same unutterable longing.

Unmindful of his surroundings, his whole soul absorbed in the music,
Darrell played on, till, as the strains sank to a minor undertone, he
heard a stifled sob, followed by a low whine from Duke. He glanced
towards Kate, and the music ceased instantly. Unobserved by him she had
left the hammock and was seated opposite himself, listening as though
entranced, her lips quivering, her eyes shining with unshed tears, while
Duke, alarmed by what he considered signs of evident distress, looked
anxiously from her to Darrell as though entreating his help.

"Why, my dear child, what is the matter?" Darrell exclaimed, moving
quickly to her side.

"Oh," she cried, piteously, "how could you stop so suddenly! It was
like snapping a beautiful golden thread!" And burying her face in her
hands, her whole frame shook with sobs.

Darrell, somewhat alarmed himself, laid his hand on her shoulder in an
attempt to soothe her. In a moment she raised her head, the tear-drops
still glistening on her cheeks and her long golden lashes.

"It was childish in me to give way like that," she said, with a smile
that reminded Darrell of the sun shining through a summer shower; "but
oh, that music! It was the saddest and the sweetest I ever heard! It was
breaking my heart, and yet I could have listened to it forever!"

"It was my fault," said Darrell, regretfully; "I should not have played
so long, but I always forget myself when playing that way."

Kate's face grew suddenly grave and serious. "Mr. Darrell," she said,
hesitatingly, "I have thought very often about the sad side of your
life--since your illness, you know; but I never realized till now the
terrible loneliness of it all."

She paused as though uncertain how to proceed. Darrell's face had in
turn become grave.

"Did the violin tell you that?" he asked, gently.

She nodded silently.

"Yes, it has been lonely, inexpressibly so," he said, unconsciously
using the past tense; "but I had no right to cause you this suffering by
inflicting my loneliness upon you."

"Do not say that," she replied, quickly; "I am glad that you told
me,--in the way you did; glad not only that I understand you better and
can better sympathize with you, but also because I believe you can
understand me as no one else has; for one reason why the music affected
me so much was that it seemed the expressio