general oblivion before the end of the ninth week. The Prime Minister
had not forgotten the man, nor had Quintus Slide. The name was
still common in the columns of the "People's Banner," and was never
mentioned without being read by the unfortunate Duke. But others had
ceased to talk of Ferdinand Lopez.

To the mind, however, of Arthur Fletcher the fact of the man's
death was always present. A dreadful incubus had come upon his life,
blighting all his prospects, obscuring all his sun by a great cloud,
covering up all his hopes, and changing for him all his outlook into
the world. It was not only that Emily Wharton should not have become
his wife, but that the woman whom he loved with so perfect a love
should have been sacrificed to so vile a creature as this man. He
never blamed her,--but looked upon his fate as Fate. Then on a sudden
he heard that the incubus was removed. The man who had made him and
her wretched had by a sudden stroke been taken away and annihilated.
There was nothing now between him and her,--but a memory. He could
certainly forgive, if she could forget.

Of course he had felt at the first moment that time must pass by. He
had become certain that her mad love for the man had perished. He
had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in sackcloth
and ashes. It had been acknowledged to him by her father that she
had been anxious to be separated from her husband, if her husband
would consent to such a separation. And then, remembering as he did
his last interview with her, having in his mind as he did every
circumstance of that caress which he had given her,--down to the
very quiver of the fingers he had pressed,--he could not but flatter
himself that at last he had touched her heart. But there must be
time! The conventions of the world operate on all hearts, especially
on the female heart, and teach that new vows, too quickly given, are
disgraceful. The world has seemed to decide that a widow should take
two years before she can bestow herself on a second man without a
touch of scandal. But the two years is to include everything, the
courtship of the second as well as the burial of the first,--and
not only the courtship, but the preparation of the dresses and the
wedding itself. And then this case was different from all others. Of
course there must be time, but surely not here a full period of two
years! Why should the life of two young persons be so wasted, if it
were the case that they lo