atiently, "the bailiff must have his change by now. Come,
Richard!" and he led the way down the winding stairs.

"You must not take offence at his ways," I whispered to the captain. For
I well knew that a year before I should have taken the same tone with one
not of my class. "His Lordship is all kindness."

"I have learned a bit since I came into England, Richard," was his sober
reply.

"'Twas a pitiful sight to see gathered on the landings the poor fellows
we had come to know in Castle Yard, whose horizons were then as gray as
ours was bright. But they each had a cheery word of congratulation for
us as we passed, and the unhappy gentleman from Devonshire pressed my
hand and begged that I would sometime think of him when I was out under
the sky. I promised even more, and am happy to be able to say, my dears,
that I saw both him and his wife off for America before I left London.
Our eyes were wet when we reached the lower hall, and I was making for
the door in an agony to leave the place, when the bailiff came out of his
little office.

"One moment, sir," he said, getting in front of me; "there is a little
form yet to be gone through. The haste of gentlemen to leave us is not
flattering."

He glanced slyly at Comyn, and his Lordship laughed a little. I stepped
unsuspectingly into the office.

"Richard!"

I stopped across the threshold as tho' I had been struck. The late
sunlight filtering through the dirt of the window fell upon the tall
figure of a girl and lighted an upturned face, and I saw tears glistening
on the long lashes.

It was Dorothy. Her hands were stretched out in welcome, and then I had
them pressed in my own. And I could only look and look again, for I was
dumb with joy.

"Thank God you are alive!" she cried; "alive and well, when we feared you
dead. Oh, Richard, we have been miserable indeed since we had news of
your disappearance."

"This is worth it all, Dolly," I said, only brokenly.

She dropped her eyes, which had searched me through in wonder and pity,
--those eyes I had so often likened to the deep blue of the sea,--and her
breast rose and fell quickly with I knew not what emotions. How the mind
runs, and the heart runs, at such a time! Here was the same Dorothy I
had known in Maryland, and yet not the same. For she was a woman now,
who had seen the great world, who had refused both titles and estates,
--and perchance accepted them. She drew her hands from mine.

"And how came you