to
him, and then they would be married. Meantime, he engaged to write to
her frequently, and she promised to write to him faithfully once every
week. And then farewell!

By this time the doctor's party had left him far behind, and
naturally, considering the capabilities of his steed, he was growing
impatient to move on. The early stars were already coming out, and
he testily reminded Dora, as she lingered over her leavetaking, that
there was no more time to lose. And so, without a murmur, the devoted
soul turned her back upon all her new-born hope and joy, and dutifully
took up the long and dreadful homeward march on foot. And Posey,
his heart in his mouth and his tongue charged with unutterable
execrations, gazed gloomily down into the darkening valley, that half
an hour before had been filled with a radiance "that never shone on
land or sea." And as he gazed all the bad in him persistently rose
up to curse the despicable author of his woe, while all the good in
him--about an even balance--rose up to bless the fast-disappearing
idol of his heart.

Slowly and painfully, day after day, the little company of stragglers
toiled on toward their distant homes, the redoubtable doctor, with his
unwilling beast and his willing bond-woman, ever bringing up the rear.
No one but Dora herself could know how grievously she suffered in
her chains--how her very heart's blood was gradually consumed by
the vampire whom she chose to cherish and obey because it was her
misfortune to be his daughter.

The old home was reached at last. On the whole, the doctor had rather
enjoyed the journey, and brought to the family board, as of yore, a
tremendous appetite. He "resumed practice at the old stand" without
delay, publishing a card to that effect in the village newspaper. He
seemed scarcely to note the absence of his wife, who for a quarter of
a century had been wearing her life out in a vain endeavor to justify
his existence on this globe. In short, he speedily settled back into
his old habit of life, and appeared to have totally forgotten that he
had come home to die. And Dora, too, soon lapsed into her old routine
of schoolkeeping, and so once more the pot boiled merrily. Once a
week, with scrupulous regularity, she wrote her promised letter to
Posey, and she waited long and anxiously for some word from him, but
in vain. Weary weeks lost themselves in months, and month after
month crept slowly away till almost a year had passed, and sti