She asked herself the question going home one evening from her mission
of mercy. The long-deferred wedding was to take place on Christmas eve,
and it was now the 7th of December. She was walking home alone, in the
yellow lustre of the wintry sunset, the snow lying white and high all
around her. Her new life had changed her somewhat; the hard look was
gone, her face was far more peaceful and gentle than when she had come.
Its luminous brightness was not there, perhaps; but the light that
remained was far more tender and sweet. She looked very lovely, this
cold, clear December, afternoon, in her dark, fur-trimmed mantle, her
pretty hat, fur-trimmed too, and the long black plume contrasting with
her amber-tinted hair. The frosty wind had lit a glow in her pale
cheeks, and deepened the light of her starry violet eyes. She looked
lovely, and so the gentleman thought, striding after her over the snowy
ground. She did not look around to see who it was, and it was only when
he stepped up by her side that she glanced at him, uttering a cry of
surprise.

"Sir Ronald Keith! Is it really you? Oh, what a surprise!"

She held out her gloved hand. He took it, held it, looking piercingly
into her eyes.

"Not an unpleasant one, I hope? Are you glad to see me?"

"Of course! How can you ask such a question? But I thought you were
hundreds of miles away, shooting moose, and bears, and wolves in New
Brunswick."

"And so I was, and so I might have remained, had I not heard some news
that sent me to Canada like a bolt from a bow."

"What news?"

"Can you ask?"

She lifted her clear eyes to his face, and read it there. The news that
she was free. The red blood flushed up in her face for a moment, and
then receded, leaving her as white as the snow.

"I learned in the wilds of New Brunswick, where I fled to forget you,
Kate, that that man was, what I knew he would be, a traitor and a
villain. I only heard it two weeks ago, and I have never rested on my
way to you since. I am a fool and a madman, perhaps, but I can't help
hoping against hope. I love you so much, Kate, I have loved you so long,
that I cannot give you up. He is false, but I will be true. I love you
with all my heart and soul, better than I love my own life. Kate, don't
send me away again. Reginald Stanford does not stand between us now.
Think how I love you, and be my wife."

She had tried to stop him, but he ran on impetuously. He was so haggard
and so agitated speaki