f sentiment in his whole composition; his idea was that
people came into this world to make the very best use they can of it--to
increase in wealth, prosperity, and fortune; he believed in buying well,
selling well, doing everything well, making the best use of life while
it is ours to enjoy; he believed in always being comfortable, bright,
cheery; he knew nothing of trouble; sickness, poverty, loss of friends,
were all unknown evils to him; he had a prosperous, busy, happy life.

He was one on whom no honor was ever wasted, lost, or thrown away. He
made the most of everything; he was rigid in the observation of
etiquette, and exacted the utmost deference in his turn. He talked so
long and so grandly of the honor conferred on them both that at last
Lord Chandos began to find the importance of it too.

The marriage was to take place at Berlin; and they were received with
something like royal honors. Society opened its arms to them; the
_elite_ of Berlin vied with each other in giving _fetes_ of all kinds to
the English noblemen who represented the English queen.

Still Lord Chandos made time for his letters; he would rather have gone
without food than have missed that daily letter from Leone. He wrote to
her as often as possible; and his letters would have satisfied even the
most loving and sensitive heart. He told her how he loved her, how he
missed her, how empty the world seemed, in spite of all its grandeur,
because she was not near him--words that comforted her when she read
them. Were they true or false? Who shall tell?

Then when the wedding festivities were held, it was not possible for him
to write often, his time was so fully occupied. He wrote one sentence
that consoled her and it was this--that, although he was surrounded by
some of the loveliest women in Europe, there was not a face or a figure
that could compare with hers. How she kissed the words as she read them,
as women do the written words of the men they love!

It was such a different world, this he lived in now. It was all a blaze
of color and brightness, a blaze of jewels, a scene of festivity and
mirth, a scene of regal splendor and ever-changing gayety. There was no
time for thought or reflection. Lord Chandos was always either being
feted or feting others.

The few hasty words dashed off home said but little--it was a different
world. If ever at night he found himself under the light of the stars,
if he heard the ripple of water, if he stood