e of her dead
parents.

Then, too, even the memory of that frenzied morning, when Aunt Mercy,
laboring under her awful disease of mysticism, had assumed the role
of prophetess, and accuser, and hurled at her troubled head a
denunciation as cruel as it was impossible, had lost something of its
dread significance and sting. At the time it had been of a blasting
nature, but now--now, since she had conferred with Buck's great
friend, since Buck's wonderful support had been added to her life, all
the harshness of the past appeared in a new and mellowed light. She
believed she saw her aunt as she really was, a poor, torn creature,
whose mind was diseased, as a result of those early fires of
disappointment through which she had passed.

The Padre had denied the fate that this aunt had convinced her of.
Buck had defied it, and laughed it out of countenance. These men, so
strong, so capable, had communicated to her receptive nature something
of the hope and strength that was theirs. Thus she was ready to
believe, to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, feeling that in the
future nothing could hurt her. So she was ready for her aunt's coming.

But to live up to her determination was not always easy. She had
yielded to all her old superstitious dread at the moment when Buck had
first opened her eyes to the wonderful love that had so silently, so
unknown, yet so swiftly grown up in her heart for him. In that
delicious awakening, when lost in a joy almost inconceivable, when her
defenses were at their weakest, the enemy's attack had come swiftly
and surely. Her very love had aided it. Her dread for the man had
gripped her heart, and all her mind and senses had gone back to the
unspeakable fears she had only just learnt to deny. Nor was it until
his denial, a denial given with that wonderful laugh of confidence,
had she been able to drag herself back to the new path which his
white-haired friend had marked out for her.

Since then, however, she had been able to contemplate her aunt's
coming in something of the spirit in which she desired to welcome
her. She felt that now, at least, she was proof against the
unwholesome thought of the woman's diseased mind. There were certain
unacknowledged trepidations as the time drew near, but these she
contrived to smother under the excitement and interest of preparing
her house for the reception, and the radiant confidence of Buck, which
never failed to support her.

Every morning and eve