to a
paradise too sweet to name! Days of high ecstacy, and painfully
passionate joy!--when "love, love!" palpitated in the air, and struggled
for utterance in the jubilant throats of birds, and whispered wild
suggestions in the rustling of the leaves! There were times when
Thelma,--lost and amazed and overcome by the strength and sweetness of
the nectar held to her innocent lips by a smiling and flame-winged
Eros,--would wonder vaguely whether she lived indeed, or whether she
were not dreaming some gorgeous dream, too brilliant to last? And even
when her husband's arms most surely embraced her, and her husband's kiss
met hers in all the rapture of victorious tenderness, she would often
question herself as to whether she were worthy of such perfect
happiness, and she would pray in the depths of her pure heart to be made
more deserving of this great and wonderful gift of love--this supreme
joy, almost too vast for her comprehension.

On the other hand, Errington's passion for his wife was equally
absorbing--she had become the very moving-spring of his existence. His
eyes delighted in her beauty,--but more than this, he revelled in and
reverenced the crystal-clear parity and exquisite refinement of her
soul. Life assumed for him a new form,--studied by the light of Thelma's
straightforward simplicity and intelligence, it was no longer, as he had
once been inclined to think, a mere empty routine,--it was a treasure of
inestimable value fraught with divine meanings. Gradually, the touch of
modern cynicism that had at one time threatened to spoil his nature,
dropped away from him like the husk from an ear of corn,--the world
arrayed itself in bright and varying colors--there was good--nay, there
was glory--in everything.

With these ideas, and the healthy satisfaction they engendered, his
heart grew light and joyous,--his eyes more lustrous,--his step gay and
elastic,--and his whole appearance was that of man at his best,--man, as
God most surely meant him to be--not a rebellious, feebly-repining,
sneering wretch, ready to scoff at the very sunlight,--but a being both
brave and intelligent, strong and equally balanced in temperament, and
not only contented, but absolutely glad to be alive,--glad to feel the
blood flowing through the veins,--glad and grateful for the gifts of
breathing and sight.

As each day passed, the more close and perfect grew the sympathies of
husband and wife,--they were like two notes of a perfect