. "I'm so
happy, so happy!" he repeated again and again. "I drink to peace and
rest and--love!"

He tried to draw her toward him, but with a feeling of secret horror
she gently repelled him. "Edwin," said she, "what has happened? You
can't deceive me for I knew it at the first word you uttered, though
you strove to conceal it; you've experienced something that has greatly
excited, agitated, or saddened you. Won't you tell me about it? We've
always told each other everything."

"Yes, indeed, dearest," he said with a weary nod, while he gently
patted her on the cheek. "You're my strong-hearted little girl, my
trusty comrade, my dear left hand, that always knows what the right
hand is doing. But it's late, my eyes are closing with sleep and there
will be plenty of time to-morrow--to-morrow, and the day after, and
during our whole lives. What have I experienced? Nothing dangerous.
We've passed through a storm, the thunderbolt struck close beside us,
and we have been drenched to the skin, that's all. The warmth here will
soon dry us again. Come, dearest. What says old Catullus?

"Oh! how pleasant it is from all care to part!
Heavily all burdens fall away from the heart,
As weary of life's toils we return to our home,
Reposing there restfully, no more to roam."

"Do you want to sit up any longer, child?"

While repeating the verse, he had risen from the sofa with evident
effort and approached the door of the bed room. There, leaning against
it, he looked back at her. "Good Heavens, you're weeping!" he
exclaimed, suddenly shaking off all fatigue. "What in the world is the
matter?"

"Oh! Edwin," she said, gently repelling his passionate embrace,
"forgive me, it's wrong. I ought not to be so childish. But my feelings
overpowered me. Sleep! How can I think of sleeping, when I see you
return so changed, with a burden on your heart which, for the first
time, I'm not allowed to share! And yet this is wrong, you're so
tired and ought above all to find rest here, and not a weeping wife.
To-morrow--will you not? to-morrow, when you've slept--"

"No, not to-morrow!" he murmured bending over her and stroking her hair
caressingly with both hands. "This very day, dearest, though it should
cost us all sleep. This was the object for which I longed, the reason I
could not wait, and walked without ceasing ten miles in six hours. And
now I am here, I'm so cowardly that I want to sneak off