iendly and firm grasp.

"Penelope," said I, "as I came down the hill there and saw you, I
thought that I dreamed."

"And I," said she, "when I turned and found David Malcolm beside me. I
had heard that you were in the Sudan."

"Much as I should have liked to bury myself in the Sudan, there were
calls from home," I returned.

"From Miss Dodd--what are you laughing at, David? From Miss Todd, I
mean. How could you talk of burying yourself when you have such
happiness before you? But, David, why do you laugh?"

With this reproof she tilted her head. That did not trouble me. I had
so often seen her tilt her head in the same scornful way in the old
days. And I laughed on joyfully at her calm assurance that I was going
back to Gladys Todd.

"Gladys Todd is now Mrs. Bundy," I said.

"Oh!" Penelope exclaimed, and her voice changed to one of sympathy. "I
am sorry, David. I see now what you meant by the Sudan."

"Didn't you know that Gladys Todd had jilted me years ago?" I asked.

"Why, no," she answered. "How should I? You never told me."

"I was on my way to tell you one day," said I. "And then----"

I stopped. Remembering why I had not told Penelope, I deemed it wiser
to be evasive. I remembered, too, that in my joy at seeing her again I
had been taking it for granted that she was still Penelope Blight. The
gulf between us, which had been closing so fast, yawned again. "Tell
me," said I in undisguised eagerness, "are you married, Penelope?"

Then she laughed, and in the gay ring of her laughter, I read her
answer. She stepped back to a stone bench and seated herself, and I
took a place beside her, watching as she made circles in the sand with
the point of her parasol. There were a thousand commonplace questions
that I might have asked her, but I was contented with the silence. It
mattered little to me how she came there. It was enough that she was
at my side. It mattered little to me that Bennett and his brother
might have settled their dispute long since and be hunting for me, for
I had made my farewell to them. I was home. I intended to stay at
home. So I, too, fell to making circles in the sand, with my stick.

Then Penelope looked up and asked me: "David, how do you come to be
here, in this out-of-the-way Italian town? I thought you were in the
Sudan. Uncle Rufus told me that you were in the Sudan. That is how I
happened to hear it. He always insists on reading to me everything of