ite
champagne enough in the kitchen to feel in as exuberant spirits as was
desirable, himself.

The leave-takings were over; Tom Fuller had given his last tempestuous
sigh as Mellen drove off with his sister and his bride towards the home
where they were to begin their new life.

The journey was not a tedious one; the swift train bore them for a
couple of hours along one of the Long Island railroads, to a way
station, where a carriage waited to carry them to the quiet old house in
which they were to spend the honeymoon.

There was to be no journey, both Mellen and Elizabeth wished to go
quietly to the beautiful spot which was to be their future home, and
spend the first weeks of their happiness in complete seclusion.

The drive was a charming one, and the brightness of the Spring day would
have chased even a deeper gloom from Mellen's mind than the shadow which
Mrs. Harrington's careless words had brought over it.

From the eminence along which the road wound, they caught occasional
glimpses of the silvery beach and the long sparkling line of ocean
beyond; then a sudden descent would shut them out, and they drove
through beautiful groves with pleasant homesteads peeping through the
trees, and distant villages nestled like flocks of birds in the golden
distance.

The apple-trees were in blossom, and the breeze was laden with their
delicious fragrance; the grass in the pastures wore its freshest green,
the young grain was sprouting in the fields, troops of robins and
thrushes darted about, filling the air with melody, and over all the
blue sky looked down, flecked with its white, fleecy clouds. The
sunlight played warm and beautiful over this lovely scene, and through
the early loveliness of the season, the married pair drove on towards
their new life.

At a sudden curve in the road, they came out full upon the ocean, and
Elizabeth, unacquainted with the scene, uttered an exclamation of wonder
at its dazzling loveliness.

Below them stretched a crescent-shaped bay, with a line of woodland
running far out into the sea; away to the right, at the extremity of the
bay, a little village peeped out; its picturesque dwellings were dotted
here and there, giving a home look to the whole scene. At the end of the
shady avenue into which they had turned, the tall roofs and stately
towers of the Piney Cove mansion were visible through the trees.

"The dear old house!" cried Elsie, clapping her hands. "The dear old
house!"