m Semele
she paused for a moment; struck once more The Rosary's; opening chord;
and did as Garth had bidden her to do.

"The hours I spent with thee, dear heart,
Are as a string of pearls to me;
I count them over, ev'ry one apart,
My rosary,--my rosary.
"Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer,
To still a heart in absence wrung;
I tell each bead unto the end, and there--
A cross is hung!
"O memories that bless and burn!
O barren gain and bitter loss!
I kiss each bead, and strive at last to learn
To kiss the cross ... to kiss the cross."

When Jane left the platform, Garth was still standing motionless at the
foot of the stairs. His face was just as white as before, but his eyes
had lost that terrible look of unshed tears, which had sent her back,
at his bidding, without a word of question or remonstrance. A wonderful
light now shone in them; a light of adoration, which touched Jane's
heart because she had never before seen anything quite like it. She
smiled as she came slowly down the steps, and held out both hands to
him with an unconscious movement of gracious friendliness. Garth
stepped close to the bottom of the staircase and took them in his,
while she was still on the step above him.

For a moment he did not speak. Then in a low voice, vibrant with
emotion: "My God!" he said, "Oh, my God!"

"Hush," said Jane; "I never like to hear that name spoken lightly, Dal."

"Spoken lightly!" he exclaimed. "No speaking lightly would be possible
for me to-night. 'Every perfect gift is from above.' When words fail me
to speak of the gift, can you wonder if I apostrophise the Giver?"

Jane looked steadily into his shining eyes, and a smile of pleasure
illumined her own. "So you liked my song?" she said.

"Liked--liked your song?" repeated Garth, a shade of perplexity
crossing his face. "I do not know whether I liked your song."

"Then why this flattering demonstration?" inquired Jane, laughing.

"Because," said Garth, very low, "you lifted the veil, and I--I passed
within."

He was still holding her hands in his; and, as he spoke the last two
words, he turned them gently over and, bending, kissed each palm with
an indescribably tender reverence; then, loosing them, stood on one
side, and Jane went out on to the terrace alone.

CHAPTER VII

GARTH FINDS HIS ROSARY

Jane spent but a very few minutes in the drawing-room that evening. The
fun in progress there was not