"

"They are safe upon the seas," he gently replied, and he kissed her
hand.

"Now you will read this letter for me. M. Laflamme left it behind in the
Cave."

With a pang he took it, and read thus:

DEAR FRIEND,--My grief for your misfortune is inexpressible. If it
were possible I should say so in person, but there is danger, and we
must fly at once. You shall hear from me in full gratitude when I
am in safety. I owe you so many thanks, as I give you so much of
devotion. But there is the future for all. Mademoiselle, I kiss
your hand.

Always yours,
RIVE LAFLAMME.

"Hugh!" she said sadly when he had finished, "I seem to have new
knowledge of things, now that I am blind. I think this letter is not
altogether real. You see, that was his way of saying-good-bye."

What Hugh Tryon thought, he did not say. He had met the Governor on his
way to Pascal House, and had learned some things which were not for her
to know.

She continued: "I could not bear that one who was innocent of any real
crime, who was a great artist, and who believed himself a patriot,
should suffer so here. When he asked me I helped him. Yet I suppose I
was selfish, wasn't I? It was because he loved me."

Hugh spoke breathlessly: "And because--you loved him, Marie?"

Her head was lifted quickly, as though she saw, and was looking him in
the eyes. "Oh no, oh no," she cried, "I never loved him. I was sorry for
him--that was all."

"Marie, Marie," he said gently, while she shook her head a little
pitifully, "did you, then, love any one else?"

She was silent for a space and then she said: "Yes--Oh, Hugh, I am so
sorry for your sake that I am blind, and cannot marry you."

"But, my darling, you shall not always be blind, you shall see again.
And you shall marry me also. As though--life of my life! as though one's
love could live but by the sight of the eyes!"

"My poor Hugh! But, blind, I could not marry you. It would not be just
to you."

He smiled with a happy hopeful determination; "But if you should see
again?"

"Oh, then...."

She married him, and in time her sight returned, though not completely.
Tryon never told her, as the Governor had told him, that Rive Laflamme,
when a prisoner in New Caledonia, had a wife in Paris: and he is man
enough to hope that she may never know.

But to this hour he has a profound regret that duels are not in vogue
among Englishmen.

A PAG