until they had dined and were alone;
then, as he sat serenely smoking one of Mr. Burrell's finest cigars,
she said:

"I hope you are come back to me, Roland. I hope you have left that
woman for ever."

"Who do you mean by 'that woman,' Elizabeth?"

"De--You know who I mean."

"Denas! Left Denas! Left my wife! That is absurd, Elizabeth! I wanted
to see you. I could not bear to be 'out' with you any longer. You
know, dear, that you are my only blood relative. Denas is my relative
by marriage. Blood is thicker than--everything."

"Roland, you know how I love you. You are the first person I remember.
All my life long you have been first in my heart. How do you think I
liked to be put aside for--that fisher-girl? It nearly broke my heart
with shame and sorrow."

"I ought to have told you, Elizabeth. I did behave badly to you. I am
ashamed of myself. Forgive me, darling sister." And he pulled his
chair to her side, and put his arm around her neck, and kissed her
with no simulated affection. For he would indeed have been heartless
had he been insensible to the true love which softened every tone in
Elizabeth's voice and made her handsome face shine with tender
interest and unselfish solicitude.

"I ought to have told you, Elizabeth. I believe you are noble enough
to have accepted Denas for my sake."

"I am not, Roland. Nothing could have made me accept her. I have taken
a personal dislike to her. I am sure that I cannot even do her
justice."

"She has been very ill. She is still very weak. I have been unable to
get her all the comforts she ought to have had--unable to take her to
the sea-side, though the doctor told me it was an imperative
necessity. We have been very poor, but not unhappy."

"I understood she was making a great deal of money with her trashy,
vulgar little songs."

"She was until she fell ill. And whatever her songs are, they have
been very much admired."

"By her own class. And you let her sing for your living! I am amazed
at you, Roland!"

"I do not see why. You wanted me to marry Caroline Burrell and let her
support me out of the money old Burrell worked for. Denas loves me,
and the money she gives me is given with love. Old Burrell never saw
me, and if he had I am quite sure he would have hated me and despised
me as a fortune-hunter. Denas is a noble little darling. She has never
inferred, either by word or look, that she sang for my living. It took
you to do that, Elizabeth. Besides, I