she would and britain who had been terribly east down at sight of thb battle of life ms wife which was like the business hanging its head said that was right and mr and michael went up stairs and there they were soon engaged in a conversation so cautiously conducted that no murmur of it was audible above the clatter of plates and dishes the hissing of the pan the of the low monotonous of the jack � with a dreadful click every now and then as if it had met with some mortal accident to its head in a fit of � and all the other preparations in the kitchen for their dinner to morrow was a bright and peaceful day and nowhere were the autumn tints more beautifully seen than from the quiet orchard of the doctor s house the of many winter nights had melted from that ground the withered leaves of many summer times had there since she had fled the honey porch was green again the trees cast and changing shadows on the grass the landscape was as tranquil and serene as it had ever been but where was she not there not there she would have been a stranger sight in her old home now even than that home had been at without her but a lady sat in the familiar place from whose heart she had never passed away in whose true memory she lived youthful radiant with all promise and all hope in whose affection � and it was a mother s now there was a cherished little daughter playing by her side � she had no rival no successor upon whose gentle lips her name was trembling then the spirit of the lost girl looked out of those eyes those eyes of grace her sister sitting with her husband in the orchard on their wedding day and his and s birthday he had not become a great man he had not grown rich he had not forgotten the scenes and friends of his youth he had not fulfilled any one of the doctor s old but in his useful patient unknown visiting of poor men s homes and in his watching of sick beds and in daily knowledge of the gentleness and goodness the by paths of this world not to be trodden down beneath the heavy foot of poverty but springing up elastic in its and making its way beautiful he had better learned and proved in each the of succeeding year the truth of his old the manner of his life though quiet and remote had shown him how men still entertained angels unawares as in the time and how the most unlikely forms � even some that were mean and ugly to the view and poorly clad � became hy the couch of sorrow want and pain and changed to spirits with a glory round their heads he lived to better purpose on the altered battle ground perhaps than if he had in more ambitious lists and he was happy with his wife dear grace and had he forgotten her the time has flown dear grace he said since then they had been talking of that night and yet it seems a long while ago we count by changes and events within us not by years yet we have years to count by too since was us returned grace six times dear husband counting tonight as one we have sat here on her birth day and spoken together of that happy return so eagerly expected and so long deferred ah when wiu it be when will it be her husband attentively observed her as the tears in her eyes and drawing nearer said but told you in that farewell letter which she left for you upon your table love and which you read so often that years must pass away before it could be did she not she took a letter from her breast and kissed it and said yes that through those intervening years however happy she might be she would look forward to the time when you would meet again and all would be made dear and that she prayed you and to do the same the letter runs so does it not my dear yes alfred and every other letter she has written since except the last � some months ago � in which she spoke of you and what you then knew and what i was to learn tonight he looked towards the sun then fast declining and said that the appointed time was sunset alfred said grace laying her hand upon his shoulder earnestly there is something in this letter � this old letter which you say i read so often � that i have never told you thb battle of s but to dear husband with that sunset drawing near and all our life seeming to soften and become hushed with the departing day i cannot keep it secret what is it love when went away she wrote me here that you had once left her a sacred trust to me and that now she left you alfred such a trust in my hands praying and me as i loved her and as i loved you not to reject the affection she believed she knew she said you would transfer to me when the new wound was healed but to encourage and return it � and make me a proud and happy man again grace did she say so she meant to make myself so and honored in your love was his wife s answer as he held her in his arms hear me my dear he said � no hear me so � and as he spoke he gently laid the head she had raised again upon his shoulder i know why i have never heard this passage in the letter until now i know why no trace of it ever 