me."

"I will do anything you tell me, Lance. You will let me write to you
every day, and you must write often to me."

"I will, sweet; but you will not be uneasy if my letters are not so
frequent as yours; the foreign post is not so regular as ours; and if we
travel in Germany I may not always be able to write."

"I will trust you," said the loving voice. "I am sure you will never
fail me."

She was proud as an empress, she had the high spirit of a queen; but now
that the moments of parting had come, both failed her. She clung to him,
weeping passionate tears--it was so cruelly hard, for she loved him so
well. Her tears rained on his face, her trembling lips could utter no
words for the bitter sobs. Never was sorrow so great, or despair so
pitiful. She kissed his face with all the passion of her love.

"Good-bye, my love," she sighed. "Oh, Lance, be true to me--my life lies
in yours."

"If ever I prove untrue to you, my darling, let Heaven be false to me,"
he said. "Leone, give me one smile; I cannot go until I have seen one."

She tried. He kissed the white lips and the weeping eyes.

"Good-bye, my beloved," he said. "Think of the thirteenth of June, and
the roses I shall bring back with me."

And then he was gone.

CHAPTER XXI.

WAITING FOR THE DAY.

How the days of that dreary summer passed Leone never knew; the keenest
smart of the pain came afterward. At first she was too utterly stunned
and bewildered by the suddenness of the blow to realize all that
happened. It was impossible to believe that her marriage had been set
aside, and that her husband, as she called him, had gone away; but, as
the days rolled on, she slowly but surely realized it. There was no
break in the terrible monotony. The voice that made such music in her
ears was silent, the footsteps that had made her heart beat and her
pulse thrill were heard no more; the handsome face, always brightened
with such tender love for her, no longer brought sunshine and warmth; it
was as though the very light had gone out of her life, and left it all
bleak, dark and cold.

For some days the proud heart, the proud, unyielding spirit gave way,
and she longed for death; life without Lance seemed so utterly
unbearable. Then youth and a naturally strong constitution triumphed.
She began to think how much she could learn so as to surprise him on his
return. Her soul was fired with ambition; in a few months she would
achieve wonders. She set her