courage to speak to you, Marion?" Mr. Atherton said as he
stood by the bulwark with her that evening taking their last look at New
Zealand.

"I should not have let you go, sir," his wife said saucily; "didn't I
know that you cared for me, and had I not refused all sorts of offers
for your sake? I don't know what I should have done, or what I should
have said, but I am quite sure I should not have let you go unless I
found that I had been making a mistake all along. It would have been
ridiculous indeed to have sacrificed the happiness of two lives merely
because you had some absurd ideas about your age."

"I never thought you cared for me, Marion, never."

"That is because you never took the trouble to find out," his wife
retorted. "Men are foolish creatures sometimes, even the wisest of
them."

Marion Atherton's life was one of almost perfect happiness. Mr. Atherton
entirely gave up his wanderings abroad, and by dint of devotion to
racquets and tennis in summer, and of hunting and shooting in winter, he
kept down his tendency towards corpulence. He was an energetic
magistrate, and one of the most popular men in the county. Mr. Renshaw
resumed his former studies in archaeology, but they were now the
amusement instead of being the object of his life, and he made an
excellent agent to his son-in-law. Standing in the relation he did to
Mr. and Mrs. Atherton, he and Mrs. Renshaw shared in their popularity,
and occupied a good position in the county.

Three years after their return to England they received the news that
Kate Mitford had changed her name, and was installed as mistress at The
Glade. Every five years Wilfrid and his wife, and as time went on his
family, paid a visit to England. He became one of the leading men of the
colony. A few years after his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mitford had returned
to England for good, and James Allen and Wilfrid succeeded to his
business as a trader, and carried it on with energy and success, Mr.
Atherton advancing Wilfrid sufficient capital to enable them to extend
their business largely. In time The Glade became Wilfrid's summer
residence only, the head-quarters of the firm being established at
Napier. It is now conducted by his sons, he himself having returned home
with his wife and daughters with a fortune amply sufficient to enable
them to live at ease. Marion was pleased when, two years after her
arrival in England, she heard from Wilfrid that Bob Allen had married
the daught