aracter mine is."

"I had hoped--"

She did not finish her sentence, but sat twisting the links of her
chatelaine about her fingers, and looking almost timidly away from his
face.

"Go on," he said, "what did you hope?"

"That this long absence might have--that--I hardly know how to say it
without offending you."

"You hoped I had learned to accept life more like a reasonable being,
isn't that it? I think I have, Bessie; we will be happy now, very happy;
you and Elsie and I."

He took her hand and held it in his own; was it true that it trembled,
or only his fancy that made him think so?

"We shall be happy, Elizabeth?" he repeated, this time making the words
an inquiry.

"I hope so--oh, I do hope so!" she exclaimed with sudden passion; "I
want to be happy, oh, my husband! I want to be happy."

She threw her arms about his neck, and her head dropped on his shoulder;
but the face which he could not see wore a strained, frightened look, as
if she saw some dark shadow rise between her and its fulfilment.

Mellen strained her to his heart, and showered kisses down upon her cold
face,--kisses, so warm from the heart, that her cheeks kindled into
scarlet under them, and she began to weep those gentle tears that drop
from a loving heart like dew from a flower.

"Our lives shall go on quietly and pleasantly now," he continued, giving
himself to the full happiness of this reunion; "we will have one long
summer, Bessie, and warm our hearts in it."

"I have been in the cold so long," she murmured.

"But that is over--over for ever! We will be trustful Bessie: we will be
patient and loving always; can't we promise each other this, my wife?"
he said, drawing her closer to his bosom.

"I can, Grantley; I do!"

"And I promise, Elizabeth, I will never be suspicious or harsh again.
You and I could be so happy now."

"You will love me and trust me!" she cried, almost hysterically.

"Always, Bessie, always!"

Again he clasped her in his arms, pressing kisses upon her forehead, and
murmuring words which, from a husband's lips are sweeter and holier than
the romance of courtship could ever be, even in the first glow of its
loveliest mystery.

Elizabeth nestled closer to his heart, and a feeling of rest and
serenity stole over her so inexpressibly soothing and sweet, that she
almost longed to float away for ever from the care and dimness of this
world upon the sacred hush of that hour.

There was a sound without wh