appy wedding-day.'

'Did Amy tell you his last words to me?'

'No,' said Laura.

'God bless you and my sister!' he repeated, so low that she could hardly
hear.

'Amy left that for you to tell,' said Laura, as her tears streamed fast.
How can we speak of her, Philip?'

'Only as an angel of pardon and peace!' he answered.

'I don't know how to tell you of all her kindness,' said Laura; 'half
the bitterness of it seemed to be over when once she was in the house
again, and, all the winter, going into her room was like going into some
peaceful place where one must find comfort.'

'"Spirits of peace, where are ye" I could have said, when I saw her
drive away at Recoara, and carry all good angels with her except those
that could not but hover round that grave.'

'How very sad it must have been! Did--'

'Don't speak of it; don't ask me of it' said Philip, hastily. 'There
is nothing in my mind but a tumult of horror and darkness that it is
madness to remember. Tell me of yourself--tell me that you have not been
hurt by all that I have brought on you.'

'Oh, no!' said Laura 'besides, that is all at an end.'

'All an end! Laura, I fear in joining your fate to mine, you will find
care and grief by no means at an end. You must be content to marry a
saddened, remorseful man, broken down in health and spirits, his
whole life embittered by that fatal remembrance, forced to endure an
inheritance that seems to have come like the prosperity of the wicked.
Yet you are ready to take all this? Then, Laura, that precious, most
precious love, that has endured through all, will be the one drop of
comfort through the rest of my life.

She could but hear such words with thrills of rejoicing affection; and
on they walked, Laura trembling and struck with sorrow at the depth of
repentance he now and then disclosed, though not in the least able to
fathom it, thinking it all his nobleness of mind, justifying him to
herself, idolizing him too much to own he had ever been wrong; yet the
innate power of tact and sympathy teaching her no longer to combat
his self-reproaches, and repeat his former excuses, but rather to say
something soothing and caressing, or put in some note of thankfulness
and admiration of Amy and Guy. This was the best thing she could do
for him, as she was not capable, like Amy, of acknowledging that his
repentance was well-founded. She was a nurse, not a physician, to
the wounded spirit; but a very good and gentle nur