that her husband has transferred his love to another? Thelma
replies, in substance, that if her husband has ceased to love her, it
must be her own fault, and to illustrate her meaning she says that one
plucks a rose, attracted by its fragrance, but when at last it is
unconsciously thrown away, it is not because of fickleness, but rather
because the rose having faded, has lost its power to charm, and so is
cast aside. I think it was very touching for Thelma to make such a
comparison, charging herself with the fault of losing the love of her
husband."

"Yes! It is very pretty and poetical, but like poetry in general, it
is not very sensible. I think that if a man has enjoyed the
attractions of his wife in her youthful days he should cherish her the
more when her charms have begun to fade. There is quite a difference
between a rose, which in losing its outward beauty loses all, and a
woman who, however homely in feature, may still possess a soul as
beautiful as ever."

"Indeed, Miss Agnes, I indorse your sentiments. Such a man would be a
brute. But Thelma's husband was not of that mould. He was true to
her."

"Yes," said Agnes, smiling; "but Thelma's charms had not faded, nor
even begun to decline. Her simile was inapt as applied to herself."

"Exactly! It was her heart, and not her head that gave birth to the
beautiful sentiment. But I am sure that her husband would have loved
her, however ugly she might have grown. I am sure that, in his place,
I would have done so."

"You? Why, Mr. Grath, I thought that you told me you would never love
any one?" She spoke the words with mischievous intent, and glanced at
him archly, as she watched the effect of the speech.

Leon blushed and became confused. He was at a loss for words, but was
relieved from the necessity of formulating an answer, by an occurrence
which threatened to end in a tragedy. They were crossing a street at
the moment, and so intent had they become upon their discourse, that
they scarcely heard the warning cries of the excited people. A
maddened horse was running away, and as at length Leon was aroused to
the imminence of some danger, intuitively, rather than by any
well-defined recognition of what threatened, he gave one hasty glance
in the direction from which the animal was approaching, and with a
rapid movement he encircled Agnes's waist with his arm, and drew her
back, barely in time to escape from the horse and cab which rattled
by.

It was in this