me that always,' exclaimed the locksmith's
little daughter; 'never speak coldly to me, never be distant, never
again reprove me for the follies I have long repented, or I shall die,
Joe.'

'I reprove you!' said Joe.

'Yes--for every kind and honest word you uttered, went to my heart. For
you, who have borne so much from me--for you, who owe your sufferings
and pain to my caprice--for you to be so kind--so noble to me, Joe--'

He could say nothing to her. Not a syllable. There was an odd sort of
eloquence in his one arm, which had crept round her waist: but his lips
were mute.

'If you had reminded me by a word--only by one short word,' sobbed
Dolly, clinging yet closer to him, 'how little I deserved that you
should treat me with so much forbearance; if you had exulted only for
one moment in your triumph, I could have borne it better.'

'Triumph!' repeated Joe, with a smile which seemed to say, 'I am a
pretty figure for that.'

'Yes, triumph,' she cried, with her whole heart and soul in her earnest
voice, and gushing tears; 'for it is one. I am glad to think and know
it is. I wouldn't be less humbled, dear--I wouldn't be without the
recollection of that last time we spoke together in this place--no, not
if I could recall the past, and make our parting, yesterday.'

Did ever lover look as Joe looked now!

'Dear Joe,' said Dolly, 'I always loved you--in my own heart I always
did, although I was so vain and giddy. I hoped you would come back that
night. I made quite sure you would. I prayed for it on my knees. Through
all these long, long years, I have never once forgotten you, or left off
hoping that this happy time might come.'

The eloquence of Joe's arm surpassed the most impassioned language; and
so did that of his lips--yet he said nothing, either.

'And now, at last,' cried Dolly, trembling with the fervour of her
speech, 'if you were sick, and shattered in your every limb; if you were
ailing, weak, and sorrowful; if, instead of being what you are, you were
in everybody's eyes but mine the wreck and ruin of a man; I would be
your wife, dear love, with greater pride and joy, than if you were the
stateliest lord in England!'

'What have I done,' cried Joe, 'what have I done to meet with this
reward?'

'You have taught me,' said Dolly, raising her pretty face to his, 'to
know myself, and your worth; to be something better than I was; to be
more deserving of your true and manly nature. In years to come, d