; the dross had been burned out,
and only the gold remained, shedding its brightness on all with which it
came in contact.

They would miss her at the farmhouse now far more than they did when she
first went away, for she made the sunshine of their home, filling
Helen's place when she was in New York, and when she came back proving
to her a stay and comforter. Indeed, but for Katy's presence, Helen
often felt that she could not endure the sickening suspense and doubt
which hung so darkly over her husband's fate.

"He is alive; he will come back," Katy always said, and from her perfect
faith, Helen, too, caught a glimpse of hope.

Could they have forgotten Mark they would have been happy at the
farmhouse now, for with the budding spring and blossoming summer, Katy's
spirits had returned, and her old, musical laugh rang often through the
house just as it used to do in the happy days of girlhood, while the
same silvery voice which led the chair in the brick church, and sang
with the little children their Sunday hymns, often broke forth into
snatches of songs, which made even the robins listen, as they built
their nests in the trees; while Uncle Ephraim, far from condemning this
lightness of spirits, thanked God, who had brought his darling safely
through the cloud to where the sun was shining.

If Katy thought of Morris she never spoke of him when she could help it.
It was a morbid fancy to which she clung; that duty to Wilford's memory
required her to forget, or, at least, avoid the man who had so
innocently come between them; and when she heard he was coming home she
felt more pain than sorrow. She liked going up to Linwood, as she often
did. Its quiet seclusion, and the beauty of its grounds suited her
taste, and she often passed hours in the pleasant summer house, or on
the broad piazza, dreaming sometimes of the past, and sometimes, it must
be confessed, dreaming of a future, and wondering what it would bring
her when Mark came back, as come he would, and Helen was gone for good.
She would be very lonely with people so much older than herself, and who
did not understand the different tastes and ways of thinking which she
had acquired. She was very happy at the farmhouse, it is true, and loved
its inmates with a deep, unselfish love, but Helen's frequent absences
from home showed her that even the farmhouse could be dreary with no
congenial spirit to sympathize with her as Helen did.

Matters were in this state wh