r confidence and trust in each
other get a shake, for it is the tree of married life, and one shake
will knock off more apples of love and happiness than can ever be
replaced."

"God bless you both," said Mrs. Dering, with one hand in that of her
daughter, the other in that of her new son. "I give her to you freely,
Walter, with perfect faith in your love and loyalty, and a dear daughter
is the most precious gift a mother ever yielded up. Be worthy of each
other's perfect love and trust, and once more, God bless you. Good-bye."

To hear, to heed, to wed,
Fair lot that maidens choose;
Thy mother's tenderest words are said,
Thy face no more she views.
Thy mother's lot, my dear,
She doth in nought accuse;
Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear,
To love--and then to lose.

CHAPTER XXIII.

WHEN GOD DREW NEAR AMONG HIS OWN TO CHOOSE.

"And is that the word you are going to send back, Olive?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Roger must go abroad, alone?"

"I suppose so, if he goes at all."

Mr. Congreve sighed, and Olive began to tap her foot impatiently on the
grass.

"Uncle Ridley, I couldn't; I should hate him; I should hate myself and
my art, too, if I felt that I owed all its success to some one else. He
would be miserably unhappy, and so would I. Even if I loved him as he
wants me to, I couldn't accept everything from him."

"Too proud, Olive, too proud; but then I suppose you are right; indeed,
I shouldn't wonder if you were," muttered the old gentleman, walking
slowly back and forth with his eyes down. "But I hate to take this word
back to the boy, I do indeed."

"Well, I'm sure, he's a man, and I really think by this time, that he is
quite reconciled to it. At any rate, he'll get over it before long,"
said Olive complacently.

"God bless my soul!" cried Mr. Congreve, pausing before her, with a
puzzled wonder in his shrewd eyes. "Do you honestly so little realize
what Roger's nature is, or how much the boy loves you, and how he is
waiting to hear what word I bring!"

"He ought to know by this time that it is the same I gave to him. I told
you, no, the day after you gave me the letter; surely, you told him so
when you wrote."

"But I didn't, though. I thought, like as not, with the prospect of
travel, you might change your mind after you'd thought about it more,
and I told him that I was giving you time."

"You must think I am very weak and uncertain," said Olive with som