u don't think that I--I----Oh, no! you cannot
think that of me. Oh, my darling, if you should be so foolish as to
think that I--that I still----Ah, I cannot speak about it. Listen to me,
Phyllis: I tell you that as he conquered himself by the love which is of
heaven, so have I conquered by the same Divine Power. The love which is
in heaven--the love which is mine--has given me the victory also.
Dear Phyllis, that man is nothing to me to-day. I tell you he is
nothing--nothing! Ah, I don't even hate him. If I should ever speak to
him again it would be to send him back to you."

Phyllis said nothing, and just then her father came into the room, and
after a few minutes' conventional chat Ella went away.

Mr. Ayrton remarked to Phyllis that her dearest friend was looking
better than she had looked for many months, and then he laughed. Phyllis
did not like his laugh. She looked at him--gravely--reproachfully.

"Pardon me, my dear," said he; "but I was only thinking that--well--that
she----Ah, after all, what is marriage?"

Phyllis did not reply. She saw by his eyes that he had found another
phrase. What were phrases to her?

"Marriage is the most honorable preliminary to an effective widowhood,"
said he.

She went out of the room.

During the next eight months Phyllis received many letters from
Ella--some from Switzerland, some from Italy, and one from Calcutta.
Ella had gone to India to make further inquiries on the subject of
Buddhism. At any rate, no one whose heart was set upon building up a New
Church could afford, she said, to ignore Buddhism as a power.

Mr. Holland agreed with her, she said. He had gone through India with
her.

She returned to England in April, and of course went to see Phyllis
without delay. Some men had wanted to marry Phyllis during the winter,
as everybody knew, but she had been pleasantly irresponsive. Some of
her closest friends (female) laughed and said that she had found out how
silly she had been in throwing over Mr. Holland.

It was not, however, of these suitors that Ella talked to her. It was of
Herbert Courtland.

Had she heard from him? she asked.

Yes; he occasionally sent her his address, Phyllis said--that was all.

"You will write to him to come back to you, Phyllis?" said Ella
entreatingly.

Phyllis shook her head.

"Dearest child," continued Ella, "I know the goodness of your heart. I
know the high ideal of honor and faith which you have set before you.
I saw