her hand. She stood for a moment immovable, then gave a little cry,
dropped her palette and brushes on the floor, grew white, then blushed
deeply and held out both her hands to him.

"Cousin Antony!"

He took her hands in his, could not find his voice even to say her name.
He heard her say--

"They told me you were dead! I thought you had died long ago--I thought
another man had taken your genius and your fame."

She spoke fast, with catching breath, in a low vibrant tone that he
remembered--how he did remember it! His very life seemed to breathe on
her lips in the sound of her voice. "Flow gently, sweet Afton"--the
music was here--here--all the music in the world!

"I know who you are now; I saw it in the paper. I read it this morning.
I saw your picture, and I knew." She stopped to catch her breath deeply.
"Oh, I'm so glad!"

She was more beautiful than he had dreamed she would be; brilliant,
bewitching, and the flowers of his past clustered round her.

"I heard them falling through the rooms, the light step and the heavy
step."

Slowly by both her hands which he held he drew her toward him, and as he
held her cheek against his lips he heard her murmur--

"Back from the dead! Cousin Antony.... No, just Antony!"

"Little cousin!" he said. "Bella!"

THE END

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.

The following misprints have been corrected:
"Miss Whitcombs'" corrected to "Miss Whitcomb's" (page 19)
"the eager Miss Whitcombs" corrected to "the eager Miss Whitcomb"
(page 23)
"succeceded" corrected to "succeeded" (page 24)
"bas relief" changed to "bas-relief" (pages 47, 54)
"bas reliefs" changed to "bas-reliefs" (pages 62,67)
"choirmaster" is standardized to "choir-master" (pages 118, 121)
"reponse" corrected "response" (page 197)

Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained.

End of Project Gutenberg's Fairfax and His Pride, by Marie Van Vorst

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