nto a valise and left the house. Since then
he had not been heard from. Evidently Christine had warned him in her
note and he had run away to escape the suit for bigamy. Noel had not
suspected the poor girl's motive in writing, but, on the whole, he was
glad. It was the simplest and surest way of getting rid of him.

At last Dr. Belford had pronounced the patient convalescent, and she was
sitting up and even moving about the up-stairs rooms.

One afternoon Noel came to the house, as usual, to make inquiries. As he
mounted the steps he saw that by some accident the door had been left
ajar. He bethought him to go in softly, in the hope of finding Mrs.
Murray in one of the lower rooms and taking her by surprise. He had
bought a big bunch of crimson roses on the way. He crossed the hall
softly and made his way to the cozy little sitting-room, attracted by
the flickering light of a wood fire, which looked cheery and
comfortable on a day like this. It was burning rather low, but the room
was still partly lighted from without, and as he was about to cross the
threshold he saw a picture which made him pause.

On a deep lounge half turned toward the fire a girl in white was lying
fast asleep. It was Christine. Her dark hair was all gathered loosely
back and coiled in a large knot low down against her fair throat, from
which the white lace of her gown fell backward, leaving its beautiful
pureness bare. There was a charming air of foreign taste and fashioning
about the whole costume. Poor Christine! She had put it on obediently
when Mrs. Murray had brought it to her, selecting it from among the
contents of her trunk as the most comfortable and suitable thing for the
convalescent to wear. It had been long since she had worn or even looked
at it, and it had brought back sad memories of her pretty wedding
outfit, but all her clothes had sad associations for her, and the ones
she had worn more recently would have been worse than this. So she put
it on unquestioningly, too listless to care much what she wore, a fact
which did not prevent its being exquisitely suitable to her.

She was very white, and the long black lashes that lay against her cheek
made a dark shadow under her eyes that made her look the more fragile.
Her face was infinitely sad; the corners of the mouth drooped piteously,
and a look of trouble now and then slightly contracted the brows.

Noel, who had cautiously drawn near, was seated in a low chair near her
feet,