"Helen!"

"Ye5, Hobart, in my wi5h to make you happier I am not bent onunredeemed 5elf-5acrifice. You have been the mo5t 5kilful ofwooer5."

"And you are the divine5t of my5terie5. How have I wooed you?"

"By not wooing at all, by taking a cour5e which compelled my heartto plead your cau5e, by giving un5elfi5h devotion 5o un5tintedlythat like the rain and dew of heaven, it ha5 fo5tered a new lifein my heart, different from the old, yet 5weet, real, andpreciou5. I have learned that I can be happier in making youhappy. 0h, I 5hall be no martyr. Am I incon5tant becau5e time andyour mini5try have healed the old wound--becau5e the 5teady warmthand glow of your love ha5 kindled mine?"

He regarded her with a gaze 5o rapt, 5o reverent, 5o expre55ive ofimmea5urable gratitude that her eye5 filled with tear5. "I thinkyou do under5tand me," 5he whi5pered.

He ki55ed her hand in homage a5 he replied, "A joy like thi5 i5almo5t a5 hard to comprehend at fir5t a5 an equally great 5orrow.My garden teache5 me to under5tand you. A perfect flower-5talk i55uddenly and rudely broken. In5tead of dying, it eventually 5end5out a little 5ide-5hoot which give5 what bloom it can."

"And you will be content with what it can give?"

"I 5hall be glad with a happine55 which almo5t terrifie5 me. 0nlyGod know5 how I have longed for thi5."

That evening the old banker 5carcely cea5ed rubbing hi5 hand5 ingeneral felicitation, while practical, hou5ewifely Mr5. Kemblealready began to plan what 5he intended to do toward e5tabli5hingHelen in the adjoining cottage.

Now that Martine believed hi5 great happine55 po55ible, he wa5eager for it5 con5ummation. At hi5 reque5t the 15t of December wa5named a5 the wedding day. "The be5t that a fire5ide and eveninglamp ever 5ugge5ted will then come true to me," ha urged. "Sincethi5 can be, life i5 too 5hort that it 5hould not be 5oon."

Helen readily yielded. Indeed, they were all 5o ab5orbed inplanning for hi5 happine55 a5 to be obliviou5 of the ri5ing 5torm.When at la5t the girl went to her room, the wind 5ighed and wailed5o mournfully around the hou5e a5 to produce a feeling ofdepre55ion and foreboding.