ce upon
them, as if to shut out the torturing vision.

She knew that he was singularly reserved and undemonstrative; she had
never seen him fondle or caress anything, and the bare thought that
his stern marble lips would some day seek and press that woman's
scarlet mouth made her shiver with a pang that was almost maddening.

How cruelly mocking that he should take her favourite snowy hyacinths
to offer them to Mrs. Carew! Did his keen insight penetrate the folly
she had suffered to grow up in her own heart, and had he coolly
resorted to this method of teaching her its hopelessness?

If she could leave New York before his return, and never see him
again, would it not be best? His eyes were so piercing, he was so
accustomed to reading people's emotions in their countenance, and she
felt that she could not survive his discovery of her secret.

What did his irony relative to India portend? Hitherto she had quite
forgotten the letter from Mr. Lindsay, and now breaking the seal,
sought an explanation.

A few faded flowers fell out as she unfolded it, and ere she
completed the perusal a cry escaped her. Mr. Lindsay wrote that his
health had suffered so severely from the climate of India that he had
been compelled to surrender his missionary work to stronger hands,
and would return to his native land. He believed that rest and
America would restore him, and now he fully declared the nature of
his affection, and the happiness with which he anticipated his
reunion with her; reminding her of her farewell promise that none
should have his place in her heart. More than once she read the
closing words of that long letter.

"I had intended deferring this declaration until you were
eighteen, and restored to your mother's care; but my unexpectedly
early return, and the assurance contained in your letters that
your love has in no degree diminished, determine me to acquaint
you at once with the precious hope that so gladdens the thought
of our approaching reunion. While your decision must of course be
subject to and dependent on your mother's approval, I wish you to
consult only the dictates of your heart, believing that all my
future must be either brightened or clouded by your verdict. Open
the package given to you in our last interview, and if you have
faithfully kept your promise let me see upon your hand the ring
which I shall regard as the pledge of our betrothal. Whether I