e
sat down again, feeling deliriously happy. She seemed to be lapped in a
great drowsy ecstasy of bliss.

The sunset was fading into sombre grays before Sidney broke the silence;
then his train of thought revealed itself.

"If you're so down on Esther, I wonder how you can put up with me! How
is it?"

Addie did not hear the question.

"You think I'm a very wicked, blasphemous boy," he insisted. "Isn't that
the thought deep down in your heart of hearts?"

"I'm sure tea must be over long ago," said Addie anxiously.

"Answer me," said Sidney inexorably.

"Don't bother. Aren't they cooeying for us?"

"Answer me."

"I do believe that was a water-rat. Look! the water is still eddying."

"I'm a very wicked, blasphemous boy. Isn't that the thought deep down in
your heart of hearts?"

"You are there, too," she breathed at last, and then Sidney forgot her
beauty for an instant, and lost himself in unaccustomed humility. It
seemed passing wonderful to him--that he should be the deity of such a
spotless shrine. Could any man deserve the trust of this celestial soul?

Suddenly the thought that he had not told her about Miss Hannibal after
all, gave him a chilling shock. But he rallied quickly. Was it really
worth while to trouble the clear depths of her spirit with his turbid
past? No; wiser to inhale the odor of the rose at her bosom, sweeter to
surrender himself to the intoxicating perfume of her personality, to the
magic of a moment that must fade like the sunset, already grown gray.

So Addie never knew.

CHAPTER XV.

FROM SOUL TO SOUL.

On the Friday that Percy Saville returned to town, Raphael, in a state
of mental prostration modified by tobacco, was sitting in the editorial
chair. He was engaged in his pleasing weekly occupation of discovering,
from a comparison with the great rival organ, the deficiencies of _The
Flag of Judah_ in the matter of news, his organization for the
collection of which partook of the happy-go-lucky character of little
Sampson. Fortunately, to-day there were no flagrant omissions, no
palpable shortcomings such as had once and again thrown the office of
the _Flag_ into mourning when communal pillars were found dead in the
opposition paper.

The arrival of a visitor put an end to the invidious comparison.

"Ah, Strelitski!" cried Raphael, jumping up in glad surprise. "What an
age it is since I've seen you!" He shook the black-gloved hand of the
fashionable minister hear