en she lifted her beautiful eyes to his, with a glance so
helpless, so anguished, so imploring, as if silently praying from him
some kind word before she should go, that Ishmael's generous heart was
melted and he took her hand and pressing it while he spoke, said in low
and fervent tones:

"God bless you, Lady Vincent. God shield you from all evil. God save you
in every crisis of your life."

And she bowed her head, lowly and humbly, to receive this benediction as
though it had been uttered by an authorized minister of God.

CHAPTER LXVII.

BEE'S HANDKERCHIEF.

"I would bend my spirit o'er yon."
"I am humbled, who was humble!
Friend! I bow my head before you!"

--_E.B. Browning_.

But a mist fell before Ishmael's eyes, and when it cleared away Claudia
was gone.

The young bridesmaids were chattering gayly in a low, melodious tone
with each other, and with the gentlemen of the party filling the room
with a musical hum of many happy voices.

But all this seemed unreal and dreadful, like the illusions of troubled
sleep. And so Ishmael left the drawing room and went up to the office,
to see if perhaps he could find real life there.

There lay the parcels of papers tied up with red tape, the open books
that he had consulted the day before, and the letters that had come by
the morning's mail.

He sat down wearily to the table and began to open his letters. One by
one he read and laid them aside. One important letter, bearing upon a
case he had on hand, he laid by itself.

Then rising, he gathered up his documents, put them into his pocket,
took his hat and gloves and went to the City Hall.

This day of suffering, like all other days, was a day of duties also.

It was now one o'clock, the hour at which the train started which
carried Claudia away.

It was also the hour at which a case was appointed to be heard before
the Judge of the Orphan's Court--a case in which the guardianship of
certain fatherless and motherless children was disputed between a
grandmother and an uncle, and in which Ishmael was counsel for the
plaintiff. He appeared in court, punctually to the minute, found his
client waiting for him there, and as soon as the judge had taken his
seat the young counsel opened the case. By a strong effort of will he
wrested his thoughts from his own great sorrow, and engaged them in the
interests of the anxious old lady, who was striving for the possession
of her grandchildren only from th