, and
turned with his usual easy courtesy to Gueldmar. "Then we may expect you
without fail to-morrow, sir! Good night!"

"Good night, my lad!"

And with many hearty salutations the young men took their departure,
raising their hats to Thelma as they turned down the winding path to the
shore. She remained standing near her father,--and, when the sound of
their footsteps had died away, she drew closer still and laid her head
against his breast.

"Cold, my bird?" queried the old man. "Why, thou art shivering,
child!--and yet the sunshine is as warm as wine. What ails thee?"

"Nothing, father!" And she raised her eyes, glowing and brilliant as
stars. "Tell me,--do you think often of my mother now!"

"Often!" And Gueldmar's fine resolute face grew sad and tender. "She is
never absent from my mind! I see her night and day, ay! I can feel her
soft arms clinging round my neck,--why dost thou ask so strange a
question, little one? Is it possible to forget what has been once
loved?"

Thelma was silent for many minutes. Then she kissed her father and said
"good night." He held her by the hand and looked at her with a sort of
vague anxiety.

"Art thou well, my child?" he asked. "This little hand burns like
fire,--and thine eyes are too bright, surely, for sleep to visit them?
Art sure that nothing ails thee?"

"Sure, quite sure," answered the girl with a strange, dreamy smile. "I
am quite well,--and happy!"

And she turned to enter the house.

"Stay!" called the father. "Promise me thou wilt think no more of
Lovisa!"

"I had nearly forgotten her," she responded. "Poor thing! She cursed me
because she is so miserable, I suppose--all alone and unloved; it must
be hard! Curses sometimes turn to blessings, father! Good night!"

And she ascended the one flight of wooden stairs in the house to her own
bedroom--a little three-cornered place as clean and white as the
interior of a shell. Never once glancing at the small mirror that seemed
to invite her charms to reflect themselves therein, she went to the
quaint latticed window and knelt down by it, folding her arms on the
sill while she looked far out to the Fjord. She could see the English
flag fluttering from the masts of the _Eulalie_; she could almost hear
the steady plash of the oars wielded by Errington and his friends as
they rowed themselves back to the yacht. Bright tears filled her eyes,
and brimmed over, falling warmly on her folded hands.

"Would I care if y