ans was seldom stilled, any more than the murmuring hum of
bees and the screech of crickets; but Nature's voices are never
inharmonious, and all these, and more, blended to perfection in a chorus
of praise for a spring-reviving world.

"No--that is too far from you, dearest," objected the girl, as Wyvern
dragged forward the most comfortable of the cane chairs for her in the
vine-trellised shade of the stoep. "Now, you sit there, and I'll sit--
here," flinging down a couple of cushions beside his low chair, and
seating herself thereon so as to nestle against him. "Now we shall be
quite comfy, and can talk."

She had taken from his hand the pouch from which he had begun to fill
his pipe, likewise the pipe itself. This she now proceeded to fill for
him.

"Aren't you afraid of quite spoiling me, darling?" he murmured tenderly,
passing a caressing hand over the soft brown richness of her abundant
hair. "Would you always do it, I wonder?"

She looked up quickly.

"`Would you,'" she repeated "Oughtn't you rather to have said `Will
you'?"

"My sweet grammarian, you have found me the exact and right tense," he
answered, a little sadly, wondering if she really had any approximate
idea as to how badly things were going with him.

"That's right, then. This is getting quite worn out," examining the
pouch. "How long ago did I make it? Well, I must make you another,
anyhow."

"That'll be too sweet of you."

"Nothing can be too sweet to be done for you."

If it be doubted whether all this incense could be good for any one man,
we may concede that possibly for many--even most--it would not. But
this one constituted an exception. There was nothing one-sided about
it, for he gave her back love for love. Moreover, it was good for him;
now, especially, when he stood in need of all the comfort, all the
stimulus she could give him; for these two were engaged, and he--was
tottering on the verge of ruin.

He looked down into her eyes, and their glances held each other. What
priceless riches was such a love as this. Ruin! Why ruin was wealth
while such as this remained with him. And yet--and yet--Wyvern's
temperament contained but little of the sanguine; moreover he knew his
own capabilities, and however high these might or might not stand for
ornamental purposes, no one knew better than he did that for the hard,
practical purpose of building for himself a pecuniary position they were
_nil_. Nor was he young enough