street, where he knew there were plenty of rooms to be rented, and
where he soon engaged a _suite_ that would answer his purpose for the
present.

This done, he secured a man and team to move his possessions, and
before the shades of night had fallen he had stored everything he
owned away in his new quarters and bidden farewell forever to the
aristocratic dwelling on Commonwealth avenue, where he had lived so
luxuriously and entertained so elaborately the _creme de la creme_ of
Boston society.

Three days later he had disappeared from the city--"gone abroad" the
papers said, "for a change of scene and to recuperate from the
effects of the shock caused by his wife's sudden death."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

MR. BRYANT MEETS WITH UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES.

Let us now return to Edith, to ascertain how she is faring under the
care of her new friends in New York.

On the morning following her arrival Mr. Bryant called at the house of
his cousin, Mrs. Morrell, as he had promised, to escort our fair
heroine to his office, to meet Mr. Louis Raymond, who had been so
anxiously searching for her.

The gentleman had not arrived when they reached the place that was so
familiar to Edith, and "Roy," as she was slyly beginning to call him,
conducted her directly to his own special sanctum, and seated her in
the most comfortable chair, to await the coming of the stranger.

"My sunshine has come back to me," he smilingly remarked, as he bent
over her and touched his lips to her forehead in a fond caress. "I
have not had one bright day since that morning when I returned from my
trip and found your letter, telling me that you were not coming to me
any more."

"I did not think, then, that I should ever return," Edith began,
gravely. Then she added, in a lighter tone: "But now, that I am here,
will you not set me at work?"

"Indeed, no; there shall be no more toiling for you, my darling,"
returned the young man, with almost passionate tenderness.

Edith shrank a little at his fond words, and a troubled expression
leaped into her eyes.

Somehow she could not feel that she had a right to accept his loving
attentions and terms of endearment, precious as they were to her,
while there was any possibility that another had a claim upon her.

Roy saw the movement, hardly noticeable though it was, and understood
the feeling that had prompted it, and he resolved that he would be
patient, and refrain from causing her even the slightest