The woman was dying when we arrived, and her drunken husband was sitting in stupid unconcern in the corner of the fireplace.

A little after midnight she breathed her last.
"In the mean time the storm had grown more violent; there was a blinding snow-fall in the air; and we could feel the jar of the great waves as they broke upon the beach.
"'It is a terrible night for sailors on the coast,' I said, breaking our long silence with the dead.

'God grant them sea-room!' "Julia shuddered as I spoke, and by the dim-flashing firelight I saw she was weeping.

Her thoughts, I knew, were with her old friend and playmate on the wild waters.
"'Julia,' said I, 'do you know that Robert Barnet loves you with all the strength of an honest and true heart ?' "She trembled, and her voice faltered as she confessed that when Robert was at home he had asked her to become his wife.
"'And, like a fool, you refused him, I suppose ?--the brave, generous fellow!' "'O Doctor!' she exclaimed.

'How can you talk so?
It is just because Robert is so good, and noble, and generous, that I dared not take him at his word.