n their return from the wood-yard. The sight of Henry, pale and
worn as he appeared, excited all her sympathy. His right arm, which was
uninjured, lay extended on the bed; she gently grasped it, and, bending
over him, imprinted upon his pallid lips a kiss, that was unknown and
unappreciated by its recipient. Only a few days before she had listened
to the eloquent confession of him who now lay insensible of her
presence. She was a true woman, and the presence of Dr. Vaudelier did
not restrain the expression of her woman's heart. It was visible in her
pale cheek, in her heaving breast, and in her sparkling eye, from which
oozed the gentle tear of affectionate sympathy.

She held his hand; unconsciously, at the silent bidding of her warm
heart, she gently pressed it. As though the magnetism of love had
communicated itself to the sleeper, he sighed heavily, and uttered a
groan of half-subdued anguish. His eyelids fluttered; he was apparently
shaking off the heaviness of slumber. His lips quivered, and Emily heard
them faintly articulate her name.

At the request of the good physician, she reluctantly withdrew from the
apartment.

The sufferer endeavored to turn in the bed; the effort drew from him a
groan of agony, which, in a more wakeful state, a proud superiority over
every weakness would not have permitted him to utter. His eyes opened,
and he stared vacantly about the darkened chamber. The doctor took his
hand, and examined his pulse.

"How do you feel, captain? Does your head ache?" asked he.

"Slightly; I am better, I think," replied the invalid, faintly.

"And you are better," said the doctor, with evident satisfaction. "The
scalds are doing very well, and the wound on your head is not at all
serious."

"Now, sir, will you tell me where I am?"

Dr. Vaudelier imparted the information.

"Emily! Emily! Won but lost again!" murmured Henry. "Would that we had
sunk together beneath the dark tide!"

"Do not distress yourself, my dear captain. We must be careful of this
fever."

"Distress myself!" returned Henry, not a little provoked at the coolness
of the doctor. "You know not the loss I have sustained."

"But you must keep calm."

"Doctor, did you ever love?" asked Henry, abruptly, as he gazed rather
wildly at his host.

This was a severe question to a man whose matrimonial experience was of
such a disagreeable nature. But he remembered the day before
marriage,--the sunny dreams which had beguiled many