st satisfaction.

"Then take my advice, Ralph," she went on. "See her again before it is
too late."

"You refer to her fresh lover--eh?" I inquired bitterly.

"Her fresh lover?" she cried in surprise. "I don't understand you. Who
is he, pray?"

"I'm in ignorance of his name."

"But how do you know of his existence? I have heard nothing of him,
and surely she would have told me. All her correspondence, all her
poignant grief, and all her regrets have been of you."

"Mrs. Henniker gave me to understand that my place in your sister's
heart has been filled by another man," I said, in a hard voice.

"Mrs. Henniker!" she cried in disgust. "Just like that evil-tongued
mischief-maker! I've told you already that I detest her. She was my
friend once--it was she who allured me from my husband's side. Why
she exercises such an influence over poor Ethelwynn, I can't tell. I
do hope she'll leave their house and come back home. You must try and
persuade her to do so."

"Do you think, then, that the woman has lied?" I asked.

"I'm certain of it. Ethelwynn has never a thought for any man save
yourself. I'll vouch for that."

"But what object can she have in telling me an untruth?"

The widow smiled.

"A very deep one, probably. You don't know her as well as I do, or you
would suspect all her actions of ulterior motive."

"Well," I said, after a pause, "to tell the truth, I wrote to
Ethelwynn last night with a view to reconciliation."

"You did!" she cried joyously. "Then you have anticipated me, and my
appeal to you has been forestalled by your own conscience--eh?"

"Exactly," I laughed. "She has my letter by this time, and I am
expecting a wire in reply. I have asked her to meet me at the earliest
possible moment."

"Then you have all my felicitations, Ralph," she said, in a voice that
seemed to quiver with emotion. "She loves you--loves you with a
fiercer and even more passionate affection than that I entertained
towards my poor dead husband. Of your happiness I have no doubt, for I
have seen how you idolised her, and how supreme was your mutual
content when in each other's society. Destiny, that unknown influence
that shapes our ends, has placed you together and forged a bond
between you that is unbreakable--the bond of perfect love."

There seemed such a genuine ring in her voice, and she spoke with such
solicitude for our welfare, that in the conversation I entirely forgot
that after all she was only trying to