e was no hope of reunion with him. Days of weeping, nights of
remorse, were her portion. But though she little dared to hope it,
bright days were still in store for her--a happy and honourable
wifehood, and the pride and blessing of children to rise up to do her
honour.

It was the coming of the Hon. George Napier, an old Army friend of her
brother, that heralded the new dawn for her darkened life. There were
few handsomer men in England than this tall, stalwart son of the sixth
Lord Napier, who is described as "faultless in figure and features."
When he met Lady Sarah, under the roof of his old friend, her brother,
he was still mourning the wife whom he had recently buried in New York;
but the sight of such suffering and beauty allied touched a heart which
he had thought dead to passion. That she was as poor as he was, and many
years older mattered nothing to him. He soon realised that his only hope
of happiness lay in winning her. In vain the lady protested that she was
not fit to be his wife.

"He knows," she wrote to Lady Susan, "I _do_ love him;
and being certain of that, he laughs at every objection
that is started, for he says that, loving me to the
degrees he does, he is quite sure never to repent
marrying me."

Lady Sarah's family put every possible obstacle in the way of the
proposed union, but the masterful soldier had his way; and one August
day in 1781 Captain Napier led his tarnished but loved and loving bride
to the altar. For many years poverty was their lot; but they laughed at
their empty purse and found their reward in mutual devotion and the
sight of their children growing in strength and beauty by their side. Of
their five sons, three won laurels on many battlefields and died
generals; one of the trio was the famous conqueror of Scinde, another
was the historian of the Peninsular War.

When, after twenty-three years of ideally happy life together, Colonel
Napier (as he had become) died, his widow was disconsolate.

"How I wish I could go with him," she wrote; "the
gentlest, bravest man who ever brought sunshine and
solace into a woman's darkened heart."

But Lady Sarah was destined to walk life's path alone for nearly twenty
years longer, finding her only comfort in watching the careers of her
gallant boys.

To add to her misfortunes her last days were spent in darkness. The eyes
that had melted with love and sparkled with mischief, could no longer
e