bury the past in forgetfulness, now that she knew it
would have no interest for her lover.

X

THE DREAM

The marriage was fixed for the thirtieth of the month, immediately
after which Tryon and his bride were to set out for North Carolina.
Warwick would have liked it much if Tryon had lived in South Carolina;
but the location of his North Carolina home was at some distance from
Patesville, with which it had no connection by steam or rail, and
indeed lay altogether out of the line of travel to Patesville. Rena
had no acquaintance with people of social standing in North Carolina;
and with the added maturity and charm due to her improved
opportunities, it was unlikely that any former resident of Patesville
who might casually meet her would see in the elegant young matron from
South Carolina more than a passing resemblance to a poor girl who had
once lived in an obscure part of the old town. It would of course be
necessary for Rena to keep away from Patesville; save for her mother's
sake, she would hardly be tempted to go back.

On the twentieth of the month, Warwick set out with Tryon for the
county seat of the adjoining county, to try one of the lawsuits which
had required Tryon's presence in South Carolina for so long a time.
Their destination was a day's drive from Clarence, behind a good horse,
and the trial was expected to last a week.

"This week will seem like a year," said Tryon ruefully, the evening
before their departure, "but I'll write every day, and shall expect a
letter as often."

"The mail goes only twice a week, George," replied Rena.

"Then I shall have three letters in each mail."

Warwick and Tryon were to set out in the cool of the morning, after an
early breakfast. Rena was up at daybreak that she might preside at the
breakfast-table and bid the travelers good-by.

"John," said Rena to her brother in the morning, "I dreamed last night
that mother was ill."

"Dreams, you know, Rena," answered Warwick lightly, "go by contraries.
Yours undoubtedly signifies that our mother, God bless her simple soul!
is at the present moment enjoying her usual perfect health. She was
never sick in her life."

For a few months after leaving Patesville with her brother, Rena had
suffered tortures of homesickness; those who have felt it know the
pang. The severance of old ties had been abrupt and complete. At the
school where her brother had taken her, there had been nothing to
relieve the strangene