rge, our subscription-list prospered. Friends, and even strangers
sometimes, opened their hearts and their purses when they heard Ariel's
melancholy story.

The day which followed the day of Mr. Playmore's visit brought me news
from Spain, in a letter from my mother-in-law. To describe what I felt
when I broke the seal and read the first lines is simply impossible. Let
Mrs. Macallan be heard on this occasion in my place.

Thus she wrote:

"Prepare yourself, my dearest Valeria, for a delightful surprise.
Eustace has justified my confidence in him. When he returns to England,
he returns--if you will let him--to his wife.

"This resolution, let me hasten to assure you, has not been brought
about by any persuasions of mine. It is the natural outgrowth of your
husband's gratitude and your husband's love. The first words he said
to me, when he was able to speak, were these: 'If I live to return to
England, and if I go to Valeria, do you think she will forgive me?' We
can only leave it to you, my dear, to give the answer. If you love us,
answer us by return of post.

"Having now told you what he said when I first informed him that you had
been his nurse--and remember, if it seem very little, that he is still
too weak to speak except with difficulty--I shall purposely keep my
letter back for a few days. My object is to give him time to think,
and to frankly tell you of it if the interval produce any change in his
resolution.

"Three days have passed, and there is no change. He has but one feeling
now--he longs for the day which is to unite him again to his wife.

"But there is something else connected with Eustace that you ought to
know, and that I ought to tell you.

"Greatly as time and suffering have altered him in many respects, there
is no change, Valeria, in the aversion--the horror I may even say--with
which he views your idea of inquiring anew into the circumstances which
attended the lamentable death of his first wife. It makes no difference
to him that you are only animated by a desire to serve his interests.
'Has she given up that idea? Are you positively sure she has given up
that idea?' Over and over again he has put these questions to me. I have
answered--what else could I do in the miserably feeble state in which he
still lies?--I have answered in such a manner as to soothe and satisfy
him. I have said, 'Relieve your mind of all anxiety on that subject:
Valeria has no choice but to give up the idea; the