vista where, in the
false dawn, the phantom of Hope stood smiling. Her happy smile had
altered, too; and her gloved hand stole out and rested on his own for
a moment in silence. Neither said anything for a while, and yet the
sky was so blue, the wind so soft and aromatic, and the sun's
splendour was turning the very earth to powdered gold. And maybe the
gods would yet be kind. Maybe, one day, others, with Athalie's hair
and eyes, might smooth the faded scarlet hood and cloak with softly
inquiring fingers.

He spoke almost harshly from his brief dream: "There is the Bay!"

But she had turned to look back at the quiet little cemetery already
behind them, and a moment or two passed before she lifted her eyes and
looked out across the familiar stretch of water. Azure and silver it
glimmered there in the sun. Red-shouldered blackbirds hovered,
fluttered, dropped back into the tall reeds; meadow larks whistled
sweetly, persistently; a slow mouse-hawk sailed low over the fields,
his broad wings tipped up like a Japanese kite, the silver full-moon
flashing on his back as he swerved. And then the old tavern came into
sight behind its new hedge of privet.

Athalie caught sight of it,--of the tall hedge, the new posts of stone
through which a private road now curved into the grounds and around a
circle before the porch; saw the new stone wall inclosing it ablaze
with nasturtiums, the brilliant loveliness of the old and long
neglected garden beyond; saw the ancient house in all its quaint and
charming simplicity bereft of bow-window, spindle, and gingerbread
fretwork,--saw the white front of it, the green shutters, the big,
thick chimneys, the sunlight sparkling on small square panes, and on
the glass of the sun parlour.

The girl was trembling when he stopped the car at the front door,
sprang out, and aided her to descend.

A man in overalls came up, diffidently, and touched his broad straw
hat. To him Clive gave a low-voiced order or two, then stepped forward
to where the girl was standing.

"It is too beautiful--" she began, but her voice failed, and he saw
the sensitive lips tremulous in their silence and the eyes brilliant
with the menace of tears.

He drew her arm through his and they went in, moving slowly and in
silence from room to room. Only the almost convulsive pressure of her
arm on his told him of a happiness too deep for expression.

On the landing above he offered her the key to her mother's room.

"Not