ad her excuse. The child
she loved as her own had been torn from her and it almost broke her
heart. But even so, I thought she ought to have had a little more
faith in Marcella.

"Oh, no, she'll never come back," sobbed Miss Sara. "Yes, I know she
promised. But they'll wean her away from me. She'll have such a gay,
splendid life she'll not want to come back. Five years is a lifetime
at her age. No, don't try to comfort me, Miss Tranquil, because I
_won't_ be comforted!"

When a person has made up her mind to be miserable you just have to
_let_ her be miserable.

I almost dreaded to see Doctor John for fear he would be in despair,
too, without any confidence in Marcella. But when he came I saw I
needn't have worried. The light had all gone out of his eyes, but
there was a calm, steady patience in them.

"She will come back to me, Miss Tranquil," he said. "I know what
people are saying, but that does not trouble me. They do not know
Marcella as I do. She promised and she will keep her word--keep it
joyously and gladly, too. If I did not know that I would not wish its
fulfilment. When she is free she will turn her back on that brilliant
world and all it offers her and come back to me. My part is to wait
and believe."

So Doctor John waited and believed. After a little while the
excitement died away and people forgot Marcella. We never heard from
or about her, except a paragraph now and then in the society columns
of the city paper the doctor took. We knew she was sent to school for
three years; then the Barrys took her abroad. She was presented at
court. When the doctor read this--he was with me at the time--he put
his hand over his eyes and sat very silent for a long time. I wondered
if at last some momentary doubt had crept into his mind--if he did not
fear that Marcella must have forgotten him. The paper told of her
triumph and her beauty and hinted at a titled match. Was it probable
or even possible that she would be faithful to him after all this?

The doctor must have guessed my thoughts, for at last he looked up
with a smile.

"She will come back," was all he said. But I saw that the doubt, if
doubt it were, had gone. I watched him as he went away, that tall,
gentle, kindly-eyed man, and I prayed that his trust might not be
misplaced; for if it should be it would break his heart.

Five years seems a long time in looking forward. But they pass
quickly. One day I remembered that it was Marcella's twenty-fir