Year: 1869

ing; but now that the sun was withdraw
for time. the calm moonlight stole int
his soul, till he wished that II might neye
be high noon again.


In those days and nights he thought h
had found the gate to new Paradise.
One day-the last OF July-he told thi!
to Miss Desmond. She heard him ut frs
with shadow ofdoubt in her eyes. Maut
was expected the next day. She wishet
he had waited. and said these things aftel
he had seen Maud again. AT last seeing
no escape she told him so.


"Do you think do not know myself?'
he asked her proudly. clam no boy, ant
/ have never yet been tempted to say tt
any woman what say to you now. The
only question Is can You love me?'


"lt is not the only question, she answer.
ed, mournfully. "Ilove you well enough
but what il / should fail to satisfy youP"


"And swear TO you. that If you love me
enough, you will not fail"


So urged by his pleading and her own
hope, Blanche gave up the point, and nj.
lowed herself to be happy. She seemed
| TO be re-created. Even Maud would never
have questioned, seeing her now. whether
she had any heart. The deep calm of her
nature was broken up at last. New light
was in her eyes, more bloom upon her
cheeks. She was pure rs pearl still. but
radiant rs moonstone.


A telegram came that Maud would stay
away week longer-a sen'night which
was long enough for Blanche to drain the
the bubbles from this too sparkling cup
which her lover was holding to her lips.


He came over the next morning after he
had won Miss Desmond's confession that
that she loved him, with triumph in his
eyes, with the micn ofa king who has been
crowned, hero who has won victory.
~ He brought with him the little exquisite
! ly wrought hand he had detached from the
chain which he gave to Maud.


~ kept this back" he said, "because l
could give my hand to but one. 1t seems
to be symbolic. Will you wear it?"
"Your heart did not seem symbolic, /
suppose, rs the gift of that could be multi
piled infinitely" she retorted, softening
the words with smile, however; and bend
ing over for him to fasten the gift round
her neck. But she thought with sharp
and sudden pang-"He gives his heart to
Maud, and his hand to me-"


Still she banished the prophetic pain,
which seemed to her at once morbid and
ungenerous; and perhaps she was happy
enough In the seven days which followed,
to balance fairly some sad hours to come.


Is there not an alchemy In young true
love, which can distil into week bliss
enough for life? After Egypt had melt
ed her pearl and drank II, she would have
been inconsistent indeed to expect to see
1t shining clear upon her bosom.


The second week in August brought
Maud back Mt its beginning. The under
standing between Akenside and Miss Dcs-
mond was so new, he was so careless, and
she so delicate, that 1t had not yet been talk
ed about ms an engagement or even como
to the understanding of the father and mo-
ther on either side. Mrs. Desmond was an
invalid, and of necessity left her girls so
much to their own devices that she had ut
terly failed TO discern rs much rs was patent
to clear-seeing Maud ut once.


"He either loves her or thinks he does"
she said to herself the first night.


The thought was bitter to her. She had
begun to care for him before she went
away, and the tedium of her absence had
nursed the fancy into something she be-
lieved to be the love of her lifetime. Had
she lost him by that absenccp She deter
mined to watch them both narrowly. She
went to the piano in pursuance of this
thought and sat down to 1t. II fronted the
wall, so that rs she sat before II she could
see the face of the room. She commenced
PLAYING n dreamy noctunc, In which she
seemed absorbed and, so sitting and watch
inc, she saw some looks, heard some tones,
which told her their own story. At last
she began to sing.


Her voice had no wonderful sweetness,
but il had curious, prevailing individu-
ality of its own. With singular pathos In
her tones, she sang song, in itself full OF
despair


"Wo're all alone, we're all alone!


The moon and stars are dead and gone;


The nights at deep, the winds asleep,


And thou and are all alono


What care have we, though life there be,


Tumult and life are not for me!


Silence and sleep about us creepi


Tumult and life are not for thee!


How late u Is since such a. this


Had topped the height Of breathing bliss
And now we keep an iron sleep


In that grave thou, and In this!


Before the first verse was over, n power
he was not strong enough to resist, had
drawn Akensidc to tho piano. Listening
with his soul, he looked with his eyes.
This girl was beautiful, surely, with the
red CLINT in her golden hair. the full tide
of light in her great amber eyes, the lips
that sang and the voice that charmed.
Was there anything rs satisfying, any
such fillncss of emotion in his qnict
Blanche? The next moment he looked
ut her, pearl white and pure, rs she sat
silently by the window, and hated himself
that he had asked the question.


But the days and the nights went by,
and Maud glittered forever before his eyes,
or sang her way into his heart; and he felt
himself growing helpless; besicged in his
stronghold by Fate.


One day, in mood Of desperation, he
proposed to Blanche TO make their engage
ment known. and ask her parents consent
to an early marriage. He thought that
this disclosure would serve to bind him
TO impress upon him his obligations,
and strengthen him in his conflict with
himself. But to his surprise, Blanche de-
terininedly refused. They would wait n
few weeks, she said. This gave him an
opportunity to reproach her with want OF
love. She only smiled. She said to her
sclf-"Let him think do not love him.
il he can. 1t may help him to forgive him.
self more readily when the time comes"


By which you win perceive that she
loved him so well, she was ready to lay
heart and life alike under his feet. II
Maud had quite understood her quiet, ST.
lent, sister, she might have been more
merciful. though she had never yet much
regarded any law save her own will: but
there were some riddles she would never
guess, and youth and love were strong
within her. So she glittered on. and after
while Mark Akcnside's eyes were daz-
zled. and he saw nothing clearly.


III wish had stayed away from you"
she said one day, petulantly-shc was often