joy and my treasure wedding a very lavish and a very substantial settlement he had given her away too and had appeared during the whole time of ceremony and reception to be in the most spirits and the best of health as for margaret she stayed on in her london rooms more from want of energy to arrange for any change than from any other reason the life that she led was dreary in the extreme � her only visitor was mrs for had faithfully done her bidding and had never once attempted to inflict his presence upon her i will come at a moment s notice he wrote to her dearest best truest of women i am always waiting but i will never force myself on you i can never forget that i have wronged you enough without that so a few more weeks passed it was radiant summer weather again and all the world seemed fresh and smiling margaret said mrs coming in like a beam of sunshine come out for a drive with me no � no cried margaret shrinking back you are thinking of a g for people mrs exclaimed you won t come but dear margaret what are you going to do with your life you cannot go on in these rooms for ever my dear i � i � came to tell you something yes i see by your eyes that you guess it yes he is going to be married she s not bad as girls go � her name is she is veiy young and � and � particularly devoted � and � it makes me ill to think of that doll at you think � you think � began margaret with lips yes i think she ll be kind to them she says she will and she seems to like all children and margaret � i ve something else to tell you i have been taking something upon myself to day � i have brought you a visitor dear margaret prince is here here margaret cried and you � you � would � dear margaret i would advise you to make the best of a bad business said mrs gently the old life is shut quite away you have always loved this man best � he you yes i would have you take him and be happy again as i feel you will be for a brief space margaret did not speak she said breaking the silence at length i shall never as x a woman long as i live come or woe forget all that you have done for me in my hours of need god bless and reward you � and he will � he surely will i may partly forget as time goes on but i shall never can never be the same again that i once was i swear to you that i am as except for having taken my fate into my hands in agreeing to a secret marriage as one of my own little girls whom i shall never see again fate and the two men who have loved me have been too strong for me i tried oh so hard to keep good to be good and now i am thrust deep down into those which i so dreaded which i thought so impossible that i could ever slip into i thought that i was stronger but i am very the world and the stress of life have been too much for me i must needs take some hand to guide me i m so tired so weary so longing to be loved and sheltered again she drooped as she spoke and mrs caught her to her kind heart with a clasp of infinite love my dear my dear she murmured you have fought so bravely and endured so nobly and i your only friend give you now to the only one who has any right to try to blot out this terrible time yes come in she said in a different tone as the door was pushed gently open in answer to a signal there take her make much of her � she needs it sorely in a moment she had slipped out of the room and had closed the door behind her margaret found herself in s arms his voice murmuring love and in her ears his kisses upon her lips his eyes filled with the old adoration the old passionate love looking into hers my margaret my love he breathed you won t send me away we will go back to the little flat where still waits and everything is just as you left it the pearl lies awaiting us at anchor in the old we will live the past all over again for a while and then we will go to together i shall never be quite the same she whispered painfully but ten thousand times more dear to me he cried more noble more lovely more charming than even in the dear past on which i have lived during the dreary years that have come between it has all been too cruel and hard here but when you find yourself once again in our you will forget much you will learn to live again my joy and my treasure we shall be older more worn less joyous perhaps but we shall be together my she said nothing � she had no words � she only stayed very still and quiet against his broad shoulder and rested there the struggle was ended at last she was so tired of beating the waters of life alone and without help in that first hour a great load fell off from her weary shoulders the spell of the old fascination was upon her his voice thrilled her as of his touch was as electric as it had ever been the present began to be touched with the gold of the past and the 