windy
night when he threw his coat over her and spoke those words? Yet she
could hear them now, and the tears that rushed to her eyes as she
blessed him for his manly goodness were as much those of the desolate
child as of the full-hearted woman.

And the change that she had observed in him since that evening at
Danbury? A real change, but only of manner. He would not say to her
what he had meant to say until she knew the truth about her own
circumstances. In simple words, she being rich and he having only what
he earned by his daily work, Sidney did not think it right to speak
whilst she was still in ignorance. The delicacy of her instincts, and
the sympathies awakened by her affection, made this perfectly clear to
her, strange and difficult to grasp as the situation was at first. When
she understood, how her soul laughed with exulting merriment!
Consecration to a great idea, endowment with the means of wide
beneficence--this not only left her cold, but weighed upon her,
afflicted her beyond her strength. What was it, in truth, that restored
her to herself and made her heart beat joyously? Knit your brows
against her; shake your head and raze her name from that catalogue of
saints whereon you have inscribed it in anticipation. Jane rejoiced
simply because she loved a poor man, and had riches that she could lay
at his feet.

Great sums of money, vague and disturbing to her imagination when she
was bidden hold them in trust for unknown people, gleamed and made
music now that she could think of them as a gift of love. By this way
of thought she could escape from the confusion in which Michael's
solemn appeal had left her. Exalted by her great hope, calmed by the
assurance of aid that would never fail her, she began to feel the
beauty of the task to which she was summoned; the appalling
responsibility became a high privilege now that it was to be shared
with one in whose wisdom and strength she had measureless confidence.
She knew now what wealth meant; it was a great and glorious power, a
source of blessings incalculable. This power it would be hers to
bestow, and no man more worthy than he who should receive it at her
hands.

It was not without result that Jane had been so long a listener to the
conversations between Michael and Kirkwood. Defective as was her
instruction in the ordinary sense, those evenings spent in the company
of the two men had done much to refine her modes of thought. In spite
of the humble pow