at misfortunes may befall us, or what misunderstandings may
arise to destroy our mutual affection and part us."

"But surely you don't anticipate such a calamity?" he asked, looking
into her handsome countenance, his eyes fixed upon hers.

"Well, I--I hardly anticipate it, yet I cannot get rid of this
ever-increasing dread of the future which seems so constantly to obsess
me."

"Ah, I think it may be your nerves, darling," he remarked. "You had a
great strain placed upon you by the London season. All those
entertainments of yours must have run you down. You must go to
Monplaisir. The bracing air there will benefit you, no doubt. Here, in
Devon, it is highly relaxing."

"No, it is not my nerves," she protested. "It is my natural intuition.
Most women can scent impending danger."

He was inclined to laugh at her fears, and bent again to kiss her upon
the cheek.

"Take no heed of such unpleasant forebodings," he exclaimed cheerily.
"I, too, sometimes look upon the darker side of things, yet of late I've
come to the conclusion that it is utterly useless to meet trouble
half-way. Sufficient the day when misfortune falls."

"But surely we ought always to try and evade it?"

"If you are foredoomed to misfortune, it cannot be evaded," he declared.

"That is exactly my argument," she replied. "I feel that one day ere
long a dark shadow, perhaps of suspicion, I know not what, will fall
between us."

"And that we shall be parted!" he cried, starting. "You are certainly
cheerful to-day." And he smiled.

"I ought to be, after your lovely present," she said, touching the
pearls upon her neck with her white hand. "But I confess to you,
dearest, I am not. I am too supremely happy, and for that reason alone I
dread lest it may pass as all things in our life pass, and leave only
bitter regrets and sad disappointments behind."

"You speak in enigmas, Jean," he said, bending earnestly to her again.
"Tell me what really distresses you. Do you fear something real and
tangible, or is it only some vague foreboding?"

"The latter," she responded. "I seem always to see a grim, dark shadow
stretched before my path."

Bracondale remained silent in wonder for some time.

Then with words of comfort and reassurance, he again pressed his lips to
hers, and urged her to enjoy her happiness to its full extent, and to
let the future take care of itself.

"Have no care to-day, darling," he added. "It is your birthday, and I am
with you