with his part of the service, betraying no emotion whatever, until the solemn words which made them one were uttered.  Then, when it was over—­when he was bound to her forever—­he seemed suddenly to awake from his apathy and think of what he had done.  Crowding around him, they came with words of congratulation—­all but ’Lena, who tarried behind, for she had none to give.  Wretched as she was herself, she pitied the frail young bride, whose half-joyous, half-timid glances toward the frigid bridegroom, showed that already was she sipping from the bitter cup whose very dregs she was destined to drain.

In the recess of a window near to John Jr., Mr. Douglass and Durward stood, speaking together of Nellie, and though John shrank from the sound of her name, his hearing faculties seemed unusually sharpened, and he lost not a word of what they were saying.

“So Nellie is coming home in the autumn, I am told,” said Durward, “and I am glad of it, for I miss her much.  But what is it about Mr. Wilbur’s marriage.  Wasn’t it rather unexpected?”

“No, not very.  Nellie knew before she went that he was engaged to Miss Allen, but at his sister’s request she kept it still.  He found her at a boarding-school in Montreal, several years ago.”

“Will they remain in Europe?”

“For a time, at least, until Mary is better—­but Nellie comes home with some friends from New Haven, whom she met in Paris;” then in a low tone Mr. Douglass added, “I almost dread the effect of this marriage upon her, for I am positive she liked him better than anyone else.”

The little white, blue-veined hand which rested on that of John Jr., was suddenly pressed so spasmodically, that Mabel looked up inquiringly in the face which had no thought for her, for Mr. Douglass’s words had fallen upon him like a thunderbolt, crushing him to the earth, and for a moment rendering him powerless.  Instantly he comprehended it all.  He had deceived himself, and by his impetuous haste lost all that he held most dear on earth.  There was a cry of faintness, a grasping at empty space to keep from falling, and then forth into the open air they led the half-fainting man, followed by his frightened bride, who tenderly bathed his damp, cold brow, unmindful how he shrank from her, shuddering as he felt the touch of her soft hand, and motioning her aside when she stooped to part from his forehead the heavy locks of his hair.

That night, the pale starlight of another hemisphere kept watch over a gentle girl, who ’neath the blue skies of sunny France, dreamed of her distant home across the ocean wave; of the gray-haired man, who, with every morning light and evening shade, blessed her as his child; of another, whose image was ever present with her, whom from her childhood she had loved, and whom neither time nor distance could efface from her memory.

Later, and the silvery moon looked mournfully down upon the white, haggard face and heavy bloodshot eye of him who counted each long, dreary hour as it passed by, cursing the fate which had made him what he was, and unjustly hardening his heart against his innocent unsuspecting wife.