k
to her, with the bitterness of death, the last time her eyes had looked
upon these familiar objects--how happy she had been then, how hopeful;
how miserable she had been since, how hopeless now. The well-known
objects flitted before her eyes, seen through a mist of tears, so
well-known that it seemed only yesterday since she had last looked at
them, and these dreary intervening months only a wretched dream. Ah! no
dream, for there sat the English nurse with the baby in her arms, a
living proof of their reality. One by one the old places spun by, the
church, the presbytery, with Father Francis walking up and down the
little garden, his soutane tucked up, and his breviary in his hand, all
looking ghostly in the dim afternoon light. Now the village was passed,
they were flying through wide open gates, and under the shadow of the
dear old trees. There was Danton Hall, not the dingy, weather-beaten
Danton Hall she knew, but a much more modern, much more elegant mansion;
and there on the gray stone steps stood her father, handsome and portly,
and kindly as ever; and there was Grace beside him--dear, good Grace;
and there was Eeny, dressed in pale pink with fluttering ribbons, fair
and fragile, and looking like a rosebud. A little group of three persons
behind, at sight of whom Kate uttered an exclamation of delight.

"Oh, Frank! there are Harry and Agnes! To think papa never told us! What
a charming surprise!"

That was all Rose heard; then she was clasped in her father's stalwart
arms, and sobbing on his breast. They all clustered around her
first--their restored prodigal--and Grace kissed her lovingly, and
Eeny's soft arms were around her neck. Then the group in the background
came forward, and Rose saw a sunburned sailor's face, and knew that it
was her brother Harry who was kissing her, and her sister Agnes whose
arms clung around her. Then she looked at the third person, still
standing modestly in the background, and uttered a little cry.

"Jules! M. La Touche!"

He came forward, a smile on his face, and his hand frankly outstretched,
while Eeny blushingly hovered aloof.

"I am very happy to see you again, Mrs. Stanford--very happy to see you
looking so well!"

So they had met, and this was all! Then they were in the
drawing-room--how, Rose could not tell--it was all like a dream to her,
and Eeny had the babe in her arms, and was carrying it around to be
kissed and admired. "The beauty! The darling! The pet!" Ee