“No,” he said, half sighing, “but you shall have it now.”  Then went on to relate how he had first met their mother’s mother, then a very beautiful girl of fifteen.

An acquaintance took him to call upon a young lady friend of his, to whom Elsie Grayson was paying a visit, and the two were in the drawing-room together when the young men entered.

“What did you think the first minute you saw her, grandpa?” asked Eddie.

“That she had the sweetest, most beautiful face and perfect form I had ever laid eyes on, and that I would give all I was worth to have her for my own.”

“Love at first sight,” his daughter remarked, with a smile, “and it was mutual.”

“Yes she told me afterward that she had loved me from the first; though the longer I live the more I wonder it should have been so, for I was a wild, wayward youth.  But she, poor thing, had none to love or cherish her but her mammy.”

“Grandpa, I think you’re very nice,” put in little Vi, leaning on his knee, and gazing affectionately into his face.

“I’m glad you do,” he said, patting her soft round cheek.

“But to go on with my story.  I could not keep away from my charmer, and for the next few weeks we saw each other daily.

“I asked her to be my own little wife and she consented.  Then early one morning we went to a church and were married; no one being present except the minister, the sexton, and her friend and mine, who were engaged to each other, and her faithful mammy.

“Her guardian was away in a distant city and knew nothing about the matter.  He was taken sick there and did not return for three months, and during that time Elsie and I lived together in a house she owned in New Orleans.

“We thought that now that we were safely married, no one could ever separate us, and we were very, very happy.

“But one evening her guardian came suddenly upon us, as we sat together in her boudoir, and in a great passion ordered me out of the house.

“Elsie was terribly frightened and I said, ’I will go to-night for peace sake; but Elsie is my wife, and to-morrow I shall come and claim her as such, and I think you’ll find I have the law on my side.’  Elsie clung to me and wept bitterly; but I comforted her with the assurance that the parting was only for a few hours.”

Mr. Dinsmore’s voice faltered.  He paused a moment, then went on in tones husky with emotion.

“We never saw each other again.  When I went back in the morning the house was closed and quite deserted; not even a servant in it, and I knew not where to look for my lost wife.

“I went back to my hotel and there found my father waiting for me in my room.  He was very angry about my marriage, the news of which had brought him from home.  He made me go back with him at once and sent me North to college.  I heard nothing of my wife for months, and then only that she was dead and had left me a little daughter.”