Part 63 (1/2)

”Pardon et me

”JANE

”PS--Why is it that an affection like ours, which has never borne fruit even, should in the end prove stronger than any other earthly tie?

Heaven knows, and Heaven alone, how passionately I loved and love my dead child; and yet, now that my own hour is at hand, it is of _you_ that I think the most, you who are neither child nor husband I suppose that I shall understand ere long, but, O Leonard, Leonard, Leonard, if, as I believe, my nature is immortal, I swear that such love as mine for you, however much it be dishonoured and betrayed, is still the most immortal part of it!--J”

Leonard put down the letter on the table, and again he covered his face with his hand to hide his es overcame him as a sense of the depth and purity of this dead wo love sank into his heart

”May I read that letter, Leonard?” asked Juanna in a quiet voice

”Yes, I suppose so, dear, if you like,” he answered, feeling dully that it was better to make a clean breast of the s

Juanna took the letter and perused it twice, by which time she knew it as well as she did the Lord's Prayer, nor did she ever forget a single word of it Then she handed it back to the lawyer, saying nothing

”I understand,” said Mr Turner, breaking in on a silence which he felt to be painful, ”that you will be able to produce the necessary proofs of identity within the next few days, and then we can get the will proved in the usual form Meanwhile, youyou,” and he wrote a cheque for a hundred pounds and gave it to Leonard

Half an hour later Leonard and Juanna were alone in a room at their hotel, but as yet scarcely a word had passed between them since they left the lawyer's office

”Don't you see, Leonard,” his wife said al, youprophecy was like a Delphic oracle--it could be taken tays, and, of course, you adopted the wrong interpretation You left Grave Mountain a day too soon It was by _Jane Beach's_ help that you were to recover Outrahed sadly

”Don't talk like that, dear,” said Leonard in a sad voice; ”it painsthat letter?” she answered, ”for oainst a dead rival? Now also I must be indebted to her bounty all my days Oh! if I had not lost the jewels--if only I had not lost the jewels!”

History does not relate how Leonard dealt with this unexpected and yet natural situation

A week had passed and Leonard, with Juanna at his side, found hione night, o, he and his dead brother had sworn their oath All was the saed--Jane had seen to that

There chained to its stand was the Bible, upon which they had registered their vow; there were the pictures of his ancestors gazing down calh they cared little for the story of his struggles and of his strange triumph over fortune ”by the help of a woman” There was the painted ith its blazoned coats of arms and its proud mottoes--”_For Heart, Home, and Honour_,” and ”_Per ardua ad astra_” He had won the heart and home, and he had kept his honour and his oath He had endured the toils and dangers and the crown of stars was his

And yet, was Leonard altogether happy as he stood looking on these fas? Perhaps not quite, for yonder in the churchyard there was a grave, and within the church a monument in white marble, that onderfully like one who had loved hih tie difference on her face Also, he had failed: he had kept his oath indeed and fought on till the end on, but hied to his successful rival, who doubtless little dreamed of the payment that would be exacted from him by the decree of fate

And was Juanna happy? She kneell that Leonard loved her truly; but oh! it was cruel that she who had shared the struggles should be deprived of her reward--that it should be left to another, who if not false had at least been weak, to give to her husband that which she had striven so hard to win--that which she had won--and lost And harder still was it that in this ancient place which would henceforth be her hoht she must feel the presence of the shadow of a woman, a woman sweet and pale, who, as she believed, stood between her and that which she desired above all things--the complete and absolute possession of her husband's heart

Doubtless she overrated the trouble;upon the memories of their first loves--if they did, this would be a h, and re is true to the heart, it avails little that reason should give it the lie