a wail that made her tremble and
moan,--"Oh, Evelyn, my wife, forgive your husband."

Slowly compassion began to bridge the dark gulf of separation and
hate, and as the wife gazed at the writhing form of her husband, her
stony face softened, and tears gathered in the large, mournful eyes.

"Ah, Maurice! This world has proved a huge cheat to you and to
me,--and well-nigh cost us all peace in the next one. My husband, yet
my bitterest foe,--my first, my last, my only love! If I could recall
one throb of the old affection, one atom of the old worshipping
tenderness and devotion,--but it has withered; my heart is scorched
and ashen,--and neither love nor hope haunts its desolate ruins. Poor,
polluted, down-trodden idol! Maurice--Maurice--my husband, I have
come. Evelyn, your wife, forgives you, as she hopes for pardon at the
hands of her God."

Kneeling beside the bed, with her snowy fingers clasped around his,
she bowed her head, and humbly prayed for his soul, and for her own;
and, when the petition ended, that peace which this world can never
give,--which had so long been exiled, fluttered back and brooded once
more in her storm-riven heart.

Softly she lifted and smoothed the long tangled hair that clung to his
forehead, and tears dripped upon his scarlet face, as she said;
brokenly,--

"_Till death us do part!_ Poor Maurice! Deserted and despised by your
former parasites. After long years, my vows bring me back in the hour
of your need. God grant you life, to redeem your past,--to save your
sinful soul from eternal ruin."

Suns rose and set, weary days and solemn nights of vigil succeeded
each other, and tirelessly the wife and hired nurse watched the
progress of the dreadful disease. Occasionally Mr. Carlyle talked
deliriously, and more than once the name of Edith Dexter hung on his
lips, and was coupled with tenderer terms than were ever bestowed on
the woman who wore his own. Bending over his pillow, the pale watcher
heard and noted all, and a sad pitying smile curved her mouth now and
then, as she realized that the one holy love of this man's life
triumphed over the wreck of fortune, health, and hope, and kept its
hold upon the heart that long years before had sold itself to
Lucifer.

Sleeplessly, faithfully, she went to and fro in that darkened room,
whose atmosphere was tainted by infection, and at last she found her
reward. The crisis was safely passed, and she was assured the patient
would recover.