e
of happiness passed irrevocably. Graydon's letter kindled her hope
greatly. It seemed to her that she was to have a chance--that her
patient effort might receive the highest reward after all. She thanked
God for the hope. Her love was a sacred thing. It was the natural,
uncalculating outgrowth of her womanhood, and was inciting her toward
all womanly grace.

Madge did not believe her motive, her purpose, to be unwomanly. Should
the opportunity offer, she did not intend to win Graydon by angling
for him, by arts, blandishments, or one unmaidenly advance. She would
try to be so admirable that he would admire her, so true that he would
trust her, and so fascinating that he would woo her with a devotion
that would leave no chance for "equanimity" were it possible for
him to fail. If in her desperate weakness, in the chaos of her
first self-knowledge, she could hide her secret, she smiled at the
possibility of revealing it now that she had been schooled and trained
into strength and self-control.

In her brief letter of reply to Graydon she wrote:

"That I still exist and shall continue to live is proved by my one
trait which you regard as encouraging--curiosity. Please send me some
books that will tell me about Europe, or, rather, will present Europe
as nearly as possible in its real aspect. I may never travel, but am
foolish enough to imagine that I can see the world from the standpoint
of this sleepy old town."

"Poor little wraith!" said Graydon, as he read the words. "What
a queer, shadowy world her fancy will create, even from the most
realistic descriptions I can send her!" But he good-naturedly made
up a large bundle of books, in which fiction predominated, for he
believed that she would read nothing else.

The days gilded on, autumn merged into winter, and strangers came
again. Madge was acquiring an experience of which at one time she had
never dreamed. She found herself in Miss Wildmere's position. Every
day she was put more and more on the defensive. Gentlemen eagerly
sought her society, and her situation was often truly embarrassing,
for she had as little desire that the besiegers should capitulate
as she had intention of surrendering herself. In this respect Miss
Wildmere's tactics were easier to carry out. _She_ was not in the
least annoyed by any number of abject and committed slaves, and she
was approaching the period when she proposed to surrender with great
discretion, but to whom was not a settle