t what it may be I must not guess.

'M.'

This was cold comfort, but he had not expected more, and he strolled
away in sheer vacuity of heart and thought to the principal theatre of
the city, where just then a bright comic opera was running. The lights,
the gay music, the brilliantly-dressed crowd upon the stage, made no
impression on his mind, and his saturnine and gloomy face was in such
contrast to the loud hilarity of the audience that he felt himself a
blot upon the house, and at the first fall of the curtain withdrew
into the streets, where he wandered listlessly until midnight He was
fatigued, and slept heavily for some hours, but he was awake again
long before the household was astir, and suffered all the weariness
and chagrin which assailed the unoccupied mind in hours of suspense and
doubt. Another brief note reached him by the first post.

'Mother has spoken a great deal to-night of my brother George, who, as
you know, is already in London. I do not know what to think of this, and
I can scarcely dare to fancy what I should so much like to believe. I
shall not write again until I have something definite to tell you, but
whether we ever meet again or no, you shall see my whole heart for once.
I love you, and I know that I shall always love you. Is it unwomanly--is
it too bold to tell you this so soon? Will you think that I am too
easily persuaded about myself? I hope not. But whatever happens, even if
I never see you or hear your voice again, I shall not change or forget
anything that has happened in all this beautiful and dreadful time.

'All yours, and always yours,

'Madge.'

This had been brought to him as he sat dressed in his bedroom, wondering
if any message would reach him, and he had locked his door to be alone
with Fate before he had broken the seal of the wax, which bore a dove
with an olive-branch, and the motto _Esperez_. He read the tender
message with its proclamation of unshakable fidelity thrice over,
and then rising, began to pace up and down the room. A cry of
self-accusation rose to his lips.

'My God!' he asked himself, 'what have I done? What _have_ I done?'

There was no room for doubt in all his mind. There are some truths which
manifest themselves so clearly to the heart that they are not to
be resisted. He had found fidelity at last after all his foolish
researches. It had seemed to him the priceless jewel of the world, and
he had been willing to barter all his life for it. It