that moment he could have killed her.

The humiliation of it! The degradation of it! Married to that lawless
Irish agitator. The man now a member of his family! A cry of misery
broke from him, as he realised that the best years of his life were to
come and go fruitlessly. His career was ended. Despair lay heavy on his
soul.

CHAPTER XII

LOOKING FORWARD

Standing on the main deck of an Atlantic liner stood Angela and
O'Connell.

They were facing the future together.

Their faces were turned to the West.

The sun was sinking in a blaze of colour.

Their eyes lighted up with the joy of HOPE.

LOVE was in their hearts.

BOOK II

THE END OF THE ROMANCE

CHAPTER I

ANGELA'S CONFESSION

A year after the events in the preceding book took place O'Connell and
his young wife were living in a small; apartment in one of the poorer
sections of New York City.

The first few months in America had been glorious ones for them. Their
characters and natures unfolded to each other as some wonderful
paintings, each taking its own hues from the adoration of the other.

In company with a noted Irish organiser O'Connell had spoken in many of
the big cities of the United States and was everywhere hailed as a hero
and a martyr to English tyranny.

But he had one ever-present handicap--a drawback he had never felt
during the years of struggle preceding his marriage. His means were
indeed small. He tried to eke out a little income writing articles for
the newspapers and magazines. But the recompense was pitiful. He could
not bear, without a pang, to see Angela in the dingy surroundings that
he could barely afford to provide for her.

On her part Angela took nothing with her but a few jewels her mother
had left her, some clothes and very little money. The money soon
disappeared and then one by one the keepsakes of her mother were parted
with. But they never lost heart. Through it all they were happy. All
the poetry of O'Connell's nature came uppermost, leavened, as it was,
by the deep faith and veneration of his wife.

This strangely assorted fervent man and gentle woman seemed to have
solved the great mystery of happiness between two people.

But the poverty chafed O'Connell--not for himself, but for the frail,
loving, uncomplaining woman who had given her life into his care.

His active brain was continually trying to devise new ways of adding to
his meagre income. He multiplied his duties: he worke