onted
spectacle of an English nobleman, not with the more eager curiosity
that would have been attached to him had all been known.

Mr. Ward lingered a few moments, and begged for one word with Miss
Ponsonby. She could not but comply, and came to meet him, blushing, but
composed, in that simple, frank kindness which only wished to soften
the disappointment.

'Mary,' he said, 'I am not come to harass you. I have done so long
enough, and I would not have tormented you, but on that one head I did
not do justice to your judgment. I see now how vain my hope was. I am
glad to have met him--I am glad to know how worthy of you he is, and to
have seen you in such hands.'

'You are very kind to speak so,' said Mary.

'Yes, Mary, I could not have borne to part with you, if I were not
convinced that he is a good man as well as an able man. I might have
known that you would not choose otherwise. I shall see your name among
the great ladies of the land. I came to say something else. I wished
to thank you for the many happy hours I have spent with you, though you
never for a moment trifled with me. It was I who deceived myself.
Good-bye, Mary. Perhaps you will write to my sister, and let her know
of your arrival.'

'I will write to you, if you please,' said Mary.

'It will be a great pleasure,' he said, earnestly. 'And will you let
me be of any use in my power to you and Lord Fitzjocelyn?'

'Indeed, we shall be most grateful. You have been a most kind and
forbearing friend. I should like to know that you were happy,' said
Mary, lingering, and hardly knowing what to say.

'My little nieces are fond enough of their uncle. My sister wants me.
In short, you need not vex yourself about me. Some day, when I am an
old man, I may come and bring you news of Lima. Meanwhile, you will
sometimes wear this bracelet, and remember that you have an old friend.
I shall call on Lord Fitzjocelyn at the office to-morrow, and see if we
can find any clue to Robson's retreat. Good-bye, and blessings on you,
Mary.'

Mary rejoined Louis, to speak to him of the kind and noble man who so
generously and resolutely bore the wreck of his hopes. They walked up
and down together in the cool shade of the trees in the Consul's
garden, and they spoke of the unselfishness which seemed to take away
the smart from the wound of disappointment. They spoke sometimes, but
the day was for the most part spent in the sweetness of pensive, happy
sile