other smitten with this affliction, one, dear, that I
have to bear patiently to the end."

"Yes, John," she said, with a strange calmness in her tones.

"How could I let you tie yourself down to a poor helpless wretch who
will always be dependent upon others for help? It would be a death in
life for you, Mary. In my great joy I forgot it all; but my reason has
come back. There is no hope, dear. I am going up to town because Mrs
Mostyn wishes it. Heaven bless her for a good, true woman! But it is
of no use, I know. Doctor Manning knows it well enough. My sight has
gone, dear, and I must face the future like a man. You well know I am
speaking the truth."

She tried to reply, but there was a suffocating sensation at her throat,
and it was some moments before she could wildly gasp out--"Yes!"

Then the strange, sweet, patient look of calm came back, with the gentle
pity and resignation in her eyes as she gazed at him with sorrow.

"There," he said, "you must go now. Bless you, Mary--bless you, dear.
You have sent gladness and a spirit of hopefulness into my dark heart,
and I am going away ready to bear it all manfully, for I know it will be
easier to bear--by and by--when I get well and strong. Then you shall
hear how patient I am, and some day in the future I shall be pleased in
hearing, dear, that you are happy with some good, honest fellow who
loves and deserves you; and perhaps too," he continued, talking quickly
and with a smile upon his lip, as he tried to speak cheerfully in his
great desire to lessen her grief and send her away suffering less
keenly--"perhaps too, some day, I may be able to come and see--"

He broke down. He could, in his weak state, bear no more, and with a
piteous cry he snatched away his hands and covered his convulsed
features, as he lay back there quivering in every nerve.

And then from out of the deep, black darkness, mental and bodily, which
closed him in, light shone out once more, as, gently and tenderly, a
slight soft arm glided round his neck, and a cold, wet cheek was laid
against his hands, while in low, measured tones, every word spoken
calmly, almost in a whisper, but thrilling the suffering man to the
core, Mary murmured--

"I never knew till now how much a woman's duty in life is to help and
comfort those who suffer. John, dear, I have listened to everything you
said, and feel it no shame now to speak out all that is in my heart. I
always liked the frank, stra