t. As he turned to
her, Faith gave him an intelligent glance, and answered like one
speaking with intention and to some secret but serious issue--

"You shall have them. Let us suppose that Helen was a woman possessed of
a stronger character, a deeper nature; the husband a younger, nobler
man; the lover truly excellent, and above even counselling the step this
pair have taken. In a case like that the wife, having promised to guard
another's happiness, should sincerely endeavor to do so, remembering
that in making the joy of others we often find our own, and that having
made so great a mistake the other should not bear all the loss. If there
be a strong attachment on the husband's part, and he a man worthy of
affection and respect, who has given himself confidingly, believing
himself beloved by the woman he so loves, she should leave no effort
unmade, no self-denial unexacted, till she has proved beyond all doubt
that it is impossible to be a true wife. Then, and not till then, has
she the right to dissolve the tie that has become a sin, because where
no love lives inevitable suffering and sorrow enter in, falling not only
upon guilty parents, but the innocent children who may be given them."

"And the lover, what of him?" asked Adam, still intent upon his purpose,
for, though he looked steadily at Faith, he knew that Sylvia drove the
shuttle in and out with a desperate industry that made her silence
significant to him.

"I would have the lover suffer and wait; sure that, however it may fare
with him, he will be the richer and the better for having known the joy
and pain of love."

"Thank you." And to Mark's surprise Warwick bowed gravely, and Miss Dane
resumed her work with a preoccupied air.

"Well, for a confirmed celibate, it strikes me you take a remarkable
interest in matrimony," said Mark. "Or is it merely a base desire to
speculate upon the tribulations of your fellow-beings, and congratulate
yourself upon your escape from them?"

"Neither; I not only pity and long to alleviate them, but have a strong
desire to share them, and the wish and purpose of my life for the last
year has been to marry."

Outspoken as Warwick was at all times and on all subjects, there was
something in this avowal that touched those present, for with the words
a quick rising light and warmth illuminated his whole countenance, and
the energy of his desire tuned his voice to a key which caused one heart
to beat fast, one pair of eye