h her to his arms and rain kisses
of comfort upon her, he let the cold little hand drop, and in a moment
more had left her.

CHAPTER VIII.

THEO'S FIRST TROUBLE.

He had been gone three days, and, in their lapse, Theo felt as if three
lustrums had passed. Their parting had been so unexpected a one, that
she could not get used to it, or believe it was anything else but a
painful dream. After all, it seemed that Fortune was crueller than she
had imagined possible. He was gone, and to Priscilla Gower; and she had
never been able to believe that some alteration, of which she had no
very definite conception, would occur, and end her innocent little ghost
of a love-story, as all love-stories should be ended. It had never been
more than the ghost of a story. Until that last night he had never
uttered a word of love to her; he had never even made the fine speeches
to her which she might have expected, and, doubtless, would have
expected, if she had been anybody else but Theodora North. She had not
expected them, though, and, consequently, was not disappointed when she
did not receive them. But she found herself feeling terribly lonely
after Denis Oglethorpe left Paris. The first day she felt more stunned
than anything else. The second her sensibilities began to revive keenly,
and she was full of sad, desperate wonder concerning him--concerning how
he would feel when he stood face to face with Priscilla Gower; how he
would look, what he would say to her. The third day was only the second
intensified, and filled with a something that was almost like a terror
now and then.

It was upon this third day that Lady Throckmorton was unexpectedly
called away. A long-lost friend of her young days had suddenly made her
appearance at Rouen, and having, by chance, heard of her ladyship's
presence in Paris, had written to her a letter of invitation, which the
ties of their girlhood rendered almost a command. So to Rouen her
ladyship went, for once leaving Theo behind. Madam St. Etunne was an
invalid, and the visit could not be a very interesting one to a young
girl. This was one reason why she was left--the other was the more
important one, that she did not wish to go, and made her wishes known.
She was not sorry for the chance of being left to herself for a few
days--it would be only a few days at most.

"Besides," said Lady Throckmorton, looking at her a trifle curiously,
"you do not look well yourself. Theo, you look feverish