f human constancy. Mr. Hargrove laid his hand upon
my head, and said in a strangely warning tone, I might have known was
prophetic: 'Mrs. Laurance, you are the youngest wife I ever saw, you
are not fit to be out of the nursery; but I trust this union will not
fulfil my forebodings, that the result will sanction my most
reluctant performance of this hallowed ceremony.'

"How supremely happy I was! How unutterably proud of my handsome
tender husband! I do not know whether even then he truly loved me, or
if he merely intended me as a pretty toy to amuse him during the
tedium of college sessions; I only remember my delirious delight, my
boundless exultation. We returned home, and Cuthbert resumed his
college studies, but through the co-operation of his room-mate, he
spent much of his time in our cottage. Peleg became troublesome, and
invidious reports were set afloat. I am not aware whether grandmother
had always intended to publish the marriage as soon as consummated,
or whether her breach of faith sprang from some facts she
subsequently discovered; but certainly she distrusted Cuthbert's
sincerity of purpose, and taking Peleg into her confidence,
despatched him to inform General Laurance of all that had occurred.
From that hour Peleg Peterson became my most implacable and
dangerous foe.

"Dreaming of no danger, Cuthbert and I had spent but three weeks of
wedded happiness, when, without premonition, the sun of my joy was
suddenly blotted out. A letter arrived, speedily followed by a
telegram summoning him to the bedside of his father, who was
dangerously ill. Oh, fool that I was! I fancied heaven designed to
remove a cruel parent, and thus obliterate all obstacles to the
completion of my bliss. What blind dolts young people are! Cuthbert
was restless, suspicious, unwilling to leave me, or appeared so, and
when we parted, he took me in his arms, kissed away my tears,
implored heaven to watch over his bride, his treasure, his wife; and
swore that at the earliest possible moment he would hold 'darling
Minnie' to his heart once more. Turn away your face, Regina, for it
too vividly, too intolerably recalls his image as he stood bidding me
farewell; his glossy black hair clinging in rings around his white
brow, his magnetic blue eyes gazing tenderly into mine! Oh, the
wonderful charm of that beautiful treacherous face! Oh, husband of my
love I father of my innocent baby!"

She threw herself into a corner of the sofa, and the