esiring Dr. Gardner to explain
his strange conduct at his leisure--that the next opportunity granted
him of seeing Evelyn Howard must be of his own seeking.

There was a pause after the reading of this aggrieved, dignified little
message.

"And can you, as a gentleman of honor, reconcile your neglect of the
writer?" asked Lina Dent, in a voice in which a cadence of scorn
involuntarily sounded.

"Honor! Can't you see that honor was what kept me from her? Such honor
as a man feels when he knows that he is poised between a Scylla and a
Charybdis of desperate fatality?"

"There can be but one answer to all this, Dr. Gardner," the girl replied
with proud dignity. "It would ill become me to sit in judgment on you
after what I have received at your hands; but you will acknowledge that
it was cruelly inconsiderate to seek my love while a barrier such as
this existed. How do I know that you will not love your betrothed after
you have seen her?"

"Love her--love any other than you, my beautiful, peerless one? Do not
torture me with such a supposition. I care nothing for Evelyn Howard;
I do not know her; I do not care to know her; nor is she in the least
dependent upon me for happiness. She has vast wealth, and can command
whatever fate she chooses."

"But wealth cannot buy happiness," she sadly replied, "and our course
is clear. I can see you no more till you have met your betrothed and
received your dismissal--or,"--and her clear cheek paled again--"made up
your mind to fulfill your promise to her. Farewell! I thank you for your
unwise devotion to me, but I can see you no more."

"Oh, Lina, do not doom me to this total separation. Why it seems an
eternity. Where and when can I see you again? Why didn't I go to that
girl when she was here? Fool, coward that I was! And now I cannot leave
New York. Grant me some respite, my love--I cannot live without you!"

But much as she sympathized with him she was firm; and when Weldon
Gardner left the house, with despair tugging at his heart, the only ray
of sunshine that pierced the gloom was the conviction that she did love
him--that should anything occur to separate them forever, her heart
would plead strongly for him, and her love would strive with his to
overcome the barrier.

* * * * *

Months went by, and still Evelyn Howard eluded Weldon Gardner's pursuit.
Bitterly was he punished for his culpable neglect of her. In vain he
wrote letters urg