She had thrown off his clasp, raised her hand, and turned the ring over, till the jewels glowed, then it fell back nerveless at her side.

“Minnie.”

His voice was broken, but her lustrous eyes betrayed no hint of pity.

“My wife has no pardon for her erring husband.  I have merited none, still I hoped for one kind farewell word from lips that are strangely dear to me.  So be it.  Tell my daughter, if her unhappy father dared to pray, he would invoke Heaven’s choicest blessings on her young innocent head.  And, Minnie love, let our baby’s eyes and lips successfully plead pardon for her father’s unintentional sins against the wife he never ceased to love.”

He caught the hand once more, kissed the ring he had placed there eighteen years before, and, feeling his hot trembling lips upon her icy fingers, she shut her eyes.  When she opened them—­she was alone.

“We twain have met like ships upon the sea,
Who hold an hour’s converse, so short, so sweet;—­
One little hour! and then, away they speed,
On lonely paths, through mist, and cloud and foam—­
To meet no more!”

CHAPTER XXXV.

From the window of one of those beautiful villas that encrust the shores of Como, nestling like white birds at the base of the laurel and vine-clad hills that lave their verdant feet in the blue waters, Regina watched the sunshine falling across the placid bosom of the lake.  Far away, on the sky-line opposite, and towering above the intervening mountains, glittered the white fire of the snowy Alps, as if they longed to quench their dazzling lustre in the peaceful blue sleeping beneath.

Luxuriant vines clambered along the hillsides, and where the latter had been cut in terraces, and seemed swinging like the gardens of Semiramis, orange, lemon, myrtle, and olive trees showed all their tender green and soft grey tints, and longhaired acacias waved in the evening air, that was redolent of the faint delicious vesper incense swung from the pink chalices of climbing roses.

     “No tree cumbered with creepers let the sunshine through,
      But it was caught in scarlet cups, and poured
      From these on amber tufts of bloom, and dropped
      Lower on azure stars.”

Never weary of studying the wonderful beauty of the surrounding scenery, Regina surrendered herself to an enjoyment that would have been unalloyed had not a lurking shadow cast its unwelcome chill on all.  Mr. and Mrs. Waul had returned to America, and for a month Mrs. Laurance, accompanied by Mr. Chesley and Regina, had been quietly ensconced in this lovely villa, whose terraces and balconies projected almost into the water, and commanded some of the finest views of the lake.

But anxiety had followed, taking up its dreary watch in the midst of that witchery which might have exorcised the haunting grey ghost of care; and though shrouded by every imaginable veil and garland of beauty, its grim presence was as fully felt as that of the byssus-clad mummy that played its allotted part at ancient Coptic feasts.