footsteps no
more. Mr. Lennard, too, had given up the living in Sussex, and would
come, later on, to settle in Rushbrook, near Wayne's Court. Mrs. Lennard
had declared that it was impossible for her to live far away from her
adopted daughter, and Elsie longed to have this faithful friend always
by her side. And Miss Saxon, also, had promised to say good-bye to
London, and follow Elsie into her quiet world of meadows and streams.
Another summer would bring Mrs. Beaton and her son into that pastoral
country, just to refresh themselves with a glimpse of its sweetness and
light. How Elsie would welcome the sight of those friendly faces which
had gladdened her lonesome days!

To-night for musings; to-morrow for the beginning of the new life.
To-night for memories; to-morrow for the clasp of wedded hands and the
solemn troth, plighted "till death do us part."

"But there will never be a parting," said Elsie, taking a last look at
the fading light of the sunset. "Did not Harold and Meta walk together
to the very brink of the river? and is not the vanished hand still
pointing to the home of rest upon the other side?"

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A VANISHED HAND***

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