nd silently, looking the gratitude that
he could not utter, and then he made a bolt for the door.

"I'm off," he said, hoarsely. "God bless you, Jimmie--I'll never forget
this!"

"Sure you feel fit enough?"

"Quite; don't worry about that."

"Well, good luck to you, old man!"

Jack shouted good-by, and made for Piccadilly. He sprang into the first
cab that came along, and he reached Waterloo just in time to catch a
Shepperton train. He longed to be at his destination, and alternate
hopes and fears beset him, as he watched the landscape flit by. He drew
a deep breath when he found himself on the platform of the rustic little
station. It was a beautiful spring-like day, warm and sunny, with birds
making merry song and the air sweet and fragrant. He started off at a
rapid pace along the hedge-bordered road, and, traversing the length of
the quaint old village street, he stopped finally at a cottage on the
farther outskirts. It was a pretty, retired place, lying near the
ancient church-tower, and isolated by a walled garden full of trees and
shrubbery.

Jack's heart was beating wildly as he opened the gate. He walked up the
graveled path, between the rows of tall green boxwood, and suddenly a
vision rose before him. It was Madge herself, as lovely and fair as the
springtime, in a white frock with a pathetic touch of black at the
throat and waist. She approached slowly, then lifted her eyes and saw
him. And on the mad impulse of the moment he sprang forward and seized
her. He held her tight against his heart, as though he intended never to
release her.

"At last, darling!" he whispered passionately. "At last I have found
you! Cruel one, why did you hide so long? Can you forgive me, Madge? Can
you bring back the past?--the happiness that was yours and mine in the
old days?"

At first the girl lay mutely in his arms, quivering like a fragile
flower with emotions that he could not read. Then she tried to break
from his embrace, looking at him with a flushed and tear-stained face.

"Let me go!" she pleaded. "Oh, Jack, why did you come? It was wrong of
you! I have tried to forget--you know that the past is dead!"

"Hush! I love you, Madge, with a love that can never die. I won't lose
you again. Be merciful! Don't send me away! Is the shadow of the
past--the heavy punishment that fell upon me for boyish follies--to
blast your life and mine? Have I not suffered enough?"

The girl slipped from his arms and confronted h