y, and forget me."

"Never!" cried Madelon; "how could I? I will never forget you,
Jeanne-Marie, and some day, if I can, I will come back and see
you."

So they parted, and, of the two, it was the brave, faithful
heart of the woman that suffered the sharper pang, though she
went about her daily work without saying a word or shedding a
tear.

Mrs. Treherne had large estates in Cornwall, on which, since
her husband's death, she had almost constantly resided; and
thither, with Madelon, she proceeded, a few days after their
arrival in London. Graham did not go with them. He had been
appointed to accompany a government exploring party into
Central America, and his time was fully occupied with business
to settle, arrangements to make, outfit to purchase, and,
moreover, with running down to his sister's house in the
country as often as possible, so as to devote every spare hour
to Miss Leslie. The summer love-making had ended in an
engagement before he started for Spa--an engagement which--
neither he nor Miss Leslie having any money to speak of--
promised to be of quite indefinite length. In the midst of all
his bustle, however, Graham contrived to take Madelon to as
many sights as could be crowded into the three or four days
that they stayed at the London hotel; and in a thousand kind
ways tried to encourage and cheer the child, who never said a
word about her grief, but drooped more and more as the moment
for separation drew near. Graham went to see her and his aunt
off at the Great Western terminus, and it was amidst all the
noise, and hurry, and confusion of a railway-station that they
parted at last. It was all over in a minute, and as Graham
stood on the platform, watching the train move slowly out of
the station, a little white face appeared at a carriage-
window, two brown eyes gazed wistfully after him, a little
hand waved one more farewell. It was his last glimpse of our
small Madelon.

PART III.

CHAPTER I.

Letters.

For five years Horace Graham was a wanderer on the other side
of the Atlantic. He had left England with the intention of
remaining abroad for two years only; but at the end of that
time, when the exploring party to which he belonged was
returning home, he did not find it difficult to make excuses
for remaining behind. He had only begun to see the country, he
said in his letters to England; he knew two men who were going
further south, to Paraguay, to La Plata, to Patagonia,
perha