d on the instant, and with a sharp
movement of the head that was habitual to him he brought his one good
eye to bear upon her.

Lloyd repeated her statement, answering his remonstrance and
expostulation with:

"You are almost perfectly well, and it would not be at all--discreet for
me to stay here an hour longer than absolutely necessary. I shall go
back to-morrow or next day."

"But, I tell you, I am still very sick. I'm a poor, miserable, shattered
wreck."

He made a great show of coughing in hollow, lamentable tones.

"Listen to that, and last night I had a high fever, and this morning I
had a queer sort of pain about here--" he vaguely indicated the region
of his chest. "I think I am about to have a relapse."

"Nonsense! You can't frighten me at all."

"Oh, well," he answered easily, "I shall go with you--that is all. I
suppose you want to see me venture out in such raw, bleak weather as
this--with my weak lungs."

"Your weak lungs? How long since?"

"Well, I--I've sometimes thought my lungs were not very strong."

"Why, dear me, you poor thing; I suppose the climate at Kolyuchin Bay
_was_ a trifle too bracing--"

"What does Campbell say?"

"--and the diet too rich for your blood--"

"What does Campbell say?"

"--and perhaps you did overexert--"

"Lloyd Searight, what does Mr. Campbell say in that--"

"He asks me to marry him."

"To mum--mar--marry him? Well, damn his impudence!"

"Mr. Campbell is an eminently respectable and worthy gentleman."

"Oh, well, I don't care. Go! Go, marry Mr. Campbell. Be happy. I forgive
you both. Go, leave me to die alone."

"Sir, I will go. Forget that you ever knew an unhappy wom--female, whose
only fault was that she loved you."

"Go! and sometimes think of me far away on the billow and drop a silent
tear--I say, how are you going to answer Campbell's letter?"

"Just one word--'_Come_.'"

"Lloyd, be serious. This is no joke."

"Joke!" she repeated hollowly. "It is, indeed, a sorry joke. Ah! had I
but loved with a girlish love, it would have been better for me."

Then suddenly she caught him about the neck with both her arms, and
kissed him on the cheek and on the lips, a little quiver running through
her to her finger-tips, her mood changing abruptly to a deep, sweet
earnestness.

"Oh, Ward, Ward!" she cried, "all our unhappiness and all our sorrow and
trials and anxiety and cruel suspense are over now, and now we really
have each other and love ea