r place if you felt sure of your own heart."

"If I was not sure before, I am now!" and in an instant the ring was
flashing on her finger, and her eyes were lit up by an angry gleam. She
wondered how it was that Hugh always seemed to bring up her worst feelings.
She was angry, and she did not attempt to hide it.

"You have no right to speak to me like that! You have no right even to seek
me here against my will! I have plenty of unpleasant memories of you
already, so be kind enough to go home! When I remember that boat sail, your
very presence seems an insult."

"Dexie, I did not mean to vex you again, but it is not my fault that your
memory is full of unpleasant happenings in connection with me. Fate seems
against me," said he, with a sigh, "but, Dexie, let us part friends," and
he rose from his seat and stood beside her.

But the firm, closed mouth gave no promise of yielding until Hugh dropped
beside her on the sofa, and in a voice choking with emotion made one
further appeal.

"Dexie, if you could but picture the anguish of my heart when I returned
that day to the vessel with other help than mine, and found no trace of
you, I think that even you would admit that I suffered enough for my
madness and folly; and since I have been sick, memory has given me many a
weary hour and adds many a thrust to wounds that are almost unbearable. It
is hard to give up all hope and face the dreary future without you, for you
have robbed my life of all happiness. If I must be sent hopeless away, tell
me, at least, that the unfortunate past is forgiven; it would make it
easier to bear."

His voice had grown soft, and his eager, pleading tone was hard to resist.

Dexie felt her anger giving place to a feeling of pity.

"I do not forgive easily, I fear, Mr. McNeil," said she, in a low tone,
"but I will try and think less bitterly of that unpleasant affair in the
future. I would be sorry to think that I had, even unintentionally, spoiled
your life; but you will not feel so low-spirited when you get stronger. The
best years of your life are yet before you, and I will soon drop out of
your memory as entirely as if you had never known me. Forget me as soon as
you can; that is the best wish I can give you."

"Ah! Dexie, that proves that you do not know what true love really is! When
your heart awakens, as it surely will sometime, you will know how cruel you
have been to me. Well, you have told me to go, and I suppose I must; but
it i