on to a Satyr!' I watched him till my very soul
turned sick, and all Pandemonium seemed to have joined in a jeer at
my former infatuation. Next day, I saw him reel from a saloon to the
steps of his wife's carriage. Years ago, when Erle Palma told me that
my darling drank and gambled, I denied it; and in return for the
warning, emptied more wrath upon my informer than all the Apocalyptic
vials held. Ah! for poor Belmont, I fought as fiercely as a tawny
tigress, when her youngest cub is captured by the hunters. Ashes!
Bitter ashes of love and trust! Truly 'there is no pardon for
desecrated ideals.' I have lived to learn that--

'Man trusts in God;
He is eternal. Woman trusts in man,
And he is shifting sand.'"

"Regina!"

The girl looked up, and saw her uncle with an open letter in his
hand.

"What is it? Some bad news!"

"Dear little girl, you are indeed fatherless now."

She bent her head upon the ledge of the window, and after a moment
Mr. Chesley sighed, and smoothed her hair.

"With all his faults, he was still your father; and having had
several interviews with him in Paris, I was convinced he was more
'sinned against than sinning,' though of course he knew that he could
never have legally married again while Minnie lived. God help us to
forgive, even as we need and hope to be forgiven."

"He knows I forgave him. I told him so the night he held me to his
heart and kissed me; and you never can know how that thought comforts
me now. But mother! Uncle----"

She sprang up pale and tearful, but he detained her.

"Mr. Palma writes me that there remains no longer a doubt that
Laurance perished in the wreck. He encloses a detailed account of the
disaster, from an American naval surgeon, who was returning home on
furlough, when the storm overtook them, and who was one of the few
picked up by the West Indian vessel. Mr. Palma wrote to him, relative
to your father, and it appears from his reply--in my hand--that he
knew the Laurances quite well. He says that during the gale, he was
called to prescribe for Maud, who was really ill, and rendered worse
by terror. When it was evident the steamer could not outlive the
storm, he saw Cuthbert Laurance place his wife in one of the boats,
and return to the cabin for his sick child. Hastening back with the
little cripple in his arms, he found the boats were beyond reach, and
too crowded to admit another passenger. He shouted the nearest t