He missed her companionship this evening more than he had done at any time during the whole fifteen years; and it was as though instead of separation there had been constant communion with her throughout that period.

The tones of her voice had stirred his heart in a nook which had lain stagnant ever since he last heard them.

They recalled the woman to whom he had once lifted his eyes as to a goddess.

Her announcement that she had been another's came as a little shock to him, and he did not now lift his eyes to her in precisely the same way as he had lifted them at first.

But he forgave her for marrying Bellston; what could he expect after fifteen years?
He slept at Roy-Town that night, and in the morning there was a short note from her, repeating more emphatically her statement of the previous evening--that she wished to inform him clearly of her circumstances, and to calmly consider with him the position in which she was placed.