l letters he wrote to Gladys, and next
about Captain Hamilton, with whom he professed himself much pleased.

'Lady Betty is just as much a child as ever. It is ridiculous to think of
her as a married woman,' he went on; 'but Claude declares himself to be
perfectly satisfied. Well, there is no accounting for tastes,' with a
change of intonation that was very intelligible.

'And how is Phoebe, Giles?'

'Oh, first-rate,' he answered cheerfully; 'she likes her new couch much
better than the bed. I tell her if she goes on improving like this we
shall have her in the next room before Easter. By the bye, Ursula, have
you digested the contents of my last letter? Shall we go to the Pyrenees
to spend our honeymoon? It will be too early for Switzerland; we might
go later on, or to the Italian lakes.'

'Anywhere with you, Giles,' I whispered; and he gave me silent thanks for
that pretty speech.

He did not say any more for a little time, and I stood by him watching
the dark, wintry sea. Once my life had been dark and wintry too, but how
mercifully I had been drawn out of the deep waters and brought to this
dear haven of rest! As I crept nearer to Giles he seemed to utter my
unspoken thought.

'I am very happy to-night, Ursula, I have been thinking as I travelled
down what it will be to me to have you always near me, to share my work
and life. I am so glad you love Gladwyn so dearly.'

'Love Gladwyn,--your home, Giles: is there anything strange in that?'

'No, dear, perhaps not; but I like to hear you say so. There will not
be a wish of yours ungratified if I can help it. I mean to spoil you
dreadfully, Ursula.'

I told him, smiling, that I was not afraid of this threat, and just then
Max's voice interrupted us:

'Little she-bear, do you know this is dreadfully imprudent? Is this the
way Hamilton means to take care of you?'

'Wait a moment, Ursula,' whispered Giles. 'Do you hear that ballad-singer
in the square?' A voice clear and shrill seemed to float to us in the
darkness: 'Sweet and low, sweet and low, wind of the western sea,' she
sang. The waves seemed to splash in harmonious accompaniment; the lights
were flickering, the carriages rolling under the faint starlight. I saw
Giles's face--as I loved to see it--grave, thoughtful, and satisfied.

'After all,' he said, as though answering some inward questioning, 'a man
cannot know what his life will bring him. Do you remember what Robert
Browning says:

"What o' the