arth such saintly melody! How different from
the--

"Midnight song and revelry,
Tipsy dance and jollity"

that had once appeared an elysium of musical ravishment to her.

Tris walked home with Denas, and this evening they came very close to
each other. And then, at the close of it, Tris unfortunately said some
words which showed how bitterly he regarded the years that had been
stolen from him by Roland Tresham. And Denas resented the anger shown
to this paling, dying shade of her memory, and the next day Tris went
away with Mr. Arundel and did not return for full five weeks.

But Mr. Arundel had been so much interested in the singer as to ask
from Tris all that he could tell him of the life of Denas. And Tris,
like all lovers, was only too glad to talk of the girl he adored; so
as they sat together at midnight on the lonely sea, with the full
moon above them, they grew very confidential. Tris told all the story
of his love, and Mr. Arundel told Tris about the beauty and
accomplishments of the woman he was going to marry; and there was, in
this way, a kind of intimacy established which resulted in a
financial proposition making the question of marriage a very easy and
happy one to Captain Tristram Penrose, of the yacht _Spindrift_.

That five weeks of lonely heartache taught Denas that Tris had become
a very dear portion of her life, and when he returned he found it more
easy than he had dared hope to induce her to bury for ever the strange
years which a strange love had somehow slipped into her sheaf of life.
And she promised Tris to let them fall from out her grasp, all the
vain regrets, the vain hopes, the vain love which were garnered in
them.

Then Tris told her that he had signed a contract with Mr. Arundel for
five years, and that a portion of this contract was the use of the
stone cottage on the hill beyond the Abbey--the pretty home covered
with clematis and jasmine vines and surrounded by a lovely garden. He
said if Denas would share it with him he would make it as beautiful
within as it was without, and that he would love her more and more
fondly to the last moment of his life. He spoke with all the simple
passion of his nature and circumstances; but his heart was hot behind
his words, and Denas gave herself freely to their persuasion.

They were sitting on the rocks by the sea-side as she did so; the
waves were breaking at their feet; the boats were lying on the
horizon; the village was as quiet