was the firelight strong.

"Miss Travers has come to take tea very quietly with me, Mr.
Hayne,--she is so soon to return to the East,--and now I want you to
stay and join us. No one will be here but the major; and we will have a
lovely time with our music. You will, won't you?"

"So soon to return to the East!" How harsh, how strange and unwelcome,
the words sounded! How they seemed to oppress him and prevent his reply!
He stood a moment dazed and vaguely worried: he could not explain it. He
looked from Mrs. Waldron's kind face to the sweet, flushed, lovely
features there so near him, and something told him that he could never
let them go and find even hope or content in life again. How, why had
she so strangely come into his lonely life, radiant, beautiful,
bewildering as some suddenly blazing star in the darkest corner of the
heavens? Whence had come this strange power that enthralled him? He
gazed into her sweet face, with its downcast, troubled eyes, and then,
in bewilderment, turned to Mrs. Waldron:

"I--I had no idea Miss Travers was going East again just now. It seems
only a few days since she came."

"It is over a month; but all the same this is a sudden decision. I knew
nothing of it until yesterday.--You said Mrs. Rayner was better to-day,
Nellie?"

"Yes, a little; but she is far from well. I think the captain will go,
too, just as soon as he can arrange for leave of absence," was the
low-toned answer. He had released, or rather she had withdrawn, her
hand, and he still stood there, fascinated. His eyes could not quit
their gaze. She going away?--She? Oh, it _could_ not be! What--what
would life become without the sight of that radiant face, that slender,
graceful, girlish form?

"Is not this very unexpected?" he struggled to say. "I thought--I heard
you were to spend several months here."

"It _was_ so intended, Mr. Hayne; but my sister's health requires speedy
change. She has been growing worse ever since we came, and she will not
get well here."

"And when do you go?" he asked, blankly.

"Just as soon as we can pack; though we may wait two or three days for
a--for a telegram."

There was a complete break in the conversation for a full quarter of a
minute,--not such a long time in itself, but unconventionally long under
such circumstances. Then Mrs. Waldron suddenly and remarkably arose:

"I'll leave you to entertain Mr. Hayne a few moments, Nellie. I am the
slave of my cook, and she knows not