ing
downstairs into the back parlor, and as Madge was beginning again she
rushed upon her.

"Why, why," she exclaimed, "I thought Nilsson or Patti had got lost
and taken refuge here! Can it be you? You are nothing but a surprise
from beginning to end. When will the wonders cease? Are you sure that
you are Madge?"

"Yes, and equally sure that I am hungry. When _will_ you be ready for
breakfast? I've been up these two hours."

"Well, well, well, what will Graydon say? He thinks you are still
little better than a ghost."

"He will say that I have been very sensible, and he will find me very
substantial and matter-of-fact. The question now uppermost is,
When will breakfast be ready?" cried the young girl, laughing, in
a childlike enjoyment of her sister's wonder, and a loving woman's
anticipation of triumph over the man who had once called her "weak and
lackadaisical."

She responded warmly to the embrace of Mrs. Muir, who added, "You have
come back to us a princess. Why, even Henry, whom nothing moves out of
the even tenor of his way, paused in his shaving, and with one side of
his face all lathered opened the door to listen."

"You tell him," cried Madge, in merry vein, "that he has given me
the greatest compliment I ever received. But compliments are not
breakfast."

Mrs. Muir returned to complete her toilet, and her husband soon
appeared.

"Madge," he said, greeting her kindly, "you have brought about great
changes. How have you accomplished them all in so brief a time?"

"The time has not been so very brief," she replied. "I have been away
over two years, remember. It's all very simple, Henry. I went to work
to get well and to learn something, as you give your mind and time to
business. In the Waylands, my old German professor, and especially
in the magnificent climate I had splendid allies. And you know I
had nothing else to do. One can do a great deal in two years with
sufficient motive and steady effort toward a few points."

"What was your motive, Madge?"

A slow, deep color stole into her face, but she looked unflinchingly
into his eyes as she asked, "Was not the hope of being what I am
to-day, compared with what I was, sufficient motive?"

"Yes," he replied, thoughtfully, "it was; but it appears strange to
me that more girls do not show your sense. Nine-tenths of the pallid
creatures that I see continue half alive through their own fault."

"If they knew the pleasure of being thoroughly alive,"