ouls."

"Althea, I believe you have never loved me," suddenly exclaimed Hubert,
steadily regarding his cousin.

"That is a cruel assertion, and it wounds me more than you can think,"
returned the lady, deeply moved. "Would I could forget that I ever loved
you! The memory recalls my sin, my shame, and, thank God, my
repentance. I deserve that you should recall all this to me, but I pray
you, if you have regard for me, never to refer to this again."

"Forgive me, Althea, I did not intend thus to pain you. You are right
and I am wrong. While regretting, I honor you the more for the noble
stand you have taken. I go, Althea, and should I ever come again, you
shall behold me worthier, God willing. I shall think of you as resting
under the very shadow of heaven, and no ill, I am sure, will betide you.
Farewell, and God will help you."

CHAPTER XXX.

"AND THE SEA SHALL GIVE UP ITS DEAD."

The summer at Windsor was an unprecedently hot one. No rain in July, no
rain in August, and September's sun was shining fiercely down upon
parched earth, dried up rivers, panting animals, and complaining men.
There would be no wheat, no corn; potatoes were dwarfed, and vegetables
literally dried and hardened. Grass would be light, and cattle would be
starved, if not first choked with thirst. The heavens were as brass, the
fiery atmosphere like that of a furnace. Was there about to be a general
conflagration, "when the earth and the heavens should be rolled together
as a scroll?"

The great Mississippi was never so low. Inquiring urchins made
explorations up and down the dried banks with all the enthusiasm of
explorers of the Nile. Even the women of Windsor proposed a bold feat.
This was none other than in a body to ford the Mississippi. It would be
something worth telling of, when, after some flood, the river should
widen to the space of a mile.

Accordingly, old calico wrappers were brought into requisition, and a
small army of women stood upon the shores. You might have thought from
the voices of fear, hesitation, reproach, and encouragement, another Red
Sea was before them, and behind them a Pharaoh's host. All the women of
Windsor were not engaged in this expedition. Some were milking cows, and
some were putting dear little children to sleep; some were preparing
late suppers for dilatory husbands, and not a few were gathered together
in knots, discussing the impropriety and scandal of such a bold
proceeding.

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